[OT] downgrading from vista to xp
[OT] downgrading from vista to xp
hi,
i have (at work) a pc which i should downgrade from vista to xp,
the reason is that i have to install a tv content management system which is uncompatible with vista.
i have the desktop with vista and a xp cd.
how do i start?
should i format C:// and install xp?
or just put the xp cd in?
thanks in advance
i have (at work) a pc which i should downgrade from vista to xp,
the reason is that i have to install a tv content management system which is uncompatible with vista.
i have the desktop with vista and a xp cd.
how do i start?
should i format C:// and install xp?
or just put the xp cd in?
thanks in advance
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- Posts: 967
- Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 2:09 am
- Location: London, UK
thanks for replying!
i tried to do so but after starting to retreive the drivers (i assume from the windows xp cd) it stops, shows blue screen and says there is an error which could "corrupt" my computer... actually is what i want
now i'm formatting the hard disk with a dos utility called "killdisk" and hope that then i can install xp.... it is very long and boring, and i have to install xp on 2 other machines
i tried to do so but after starting to retreive the drivers (i assume from the windows xp cd) it stops, shows blue screen and says there is an error which could "corrupt" my computer... actually is what i want
now i'm formatting the hard disk with a dos utility called "killdisk" and hope that then i can install xp.... it is very long and boring, and i have to install xp on 2 other machines
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- Posts: 967
- Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 2:09 am
- Location: London, UK
I would adise that you grab a copy of Norton Ghost. After you've set the whole thing up, ghost the drive - complete with drivers and software if you like - then you can just return to that "clean" slate whenever you need to, and its a LOT quicker than reinstalling everything from scratch.bip wrote:thanks for replying!
i tried to do so but after starting to retreive the drivers (i assume from the windows xp cd) it stops, shows blue screen and says there is an error which could "corrupt" my computer... actually is what i want
now i'm formatting the hard disk with a dos utility called "killdisk" and hope that then i can install xp.... it is very long and boring, and i have to install xp on 2 other machines
use the new Vista feature "shrink" to create a new partition if you dont already have a blank partition, then
download a freeware program called EasyBCD which lets you easily change the bootloader and easily control it - you will need this for dual booting between vista and XP
I wouldnt totally do away with vista if you dont have to - it will catch up at some point (meaning auto update will bring it up to scratch in time) and it will be worth having both
I installed vista on a different partition and have both
but most of all do some proper googling with a tabbed browser like mozilla, there is so much info around about doing all these things you wont have any problems tracking it down
download a freeware program called EasyBCD which lets you easily change the bootloader and easily control it - you will need this for dual booting between vista and XP
I wouldnt totally do away with vista if you dont have to - it will catch up at some point (meaning auto update will bring it up to scratch in time) and it will be worth having both
I installed vista on a different partition and have both
but most of all do some proper googling with a tabbed browser like mozilla, there is so much info around about doing all these things you wont have any problems tracking it down
.bip wrote:the problem is that i have already uninstalled vista using "killdisk"... but there is somethin like a bootlog that doesn't want to let me start from
the xp cd rom.
how can i start the pc directly from dos?
you need to set your BIOS to boot from CD and boot from the WIN XP CD
but i fWIN XP is still on the machine boot it and try and find an XP version of EasyBCD or similar - seriously, it took me about 12 seconds to find all this shit on Google - not being funny, just saying there's shitloads of info out there
setting the bios to start from the cd rom drive was the first thing i made
it comes to a point where i get an error message
*** STOP: 0x0000007b
since i'm lucky and i have also have google i found the page with the description of this error message
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103/de
but it doesn't really help that much
any other suggestions?
it comes to a point where i get an error message
*** STOP: 0x0000007b
since i'm lucky and i have also have google i found the page with the description of this error message
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103/de
but it doesn't really help that much
any other suggestions?
oh crap - sounds like this "kill disk" has corrupted the boot sector but not actually wiped it which might freak out WIN XP
so the startup CD doesnt run at all?
sounds like you need to go from floppy now - if you dont already have one, you might need to create the setup floppy disks from another machine
A long while since Ive done it but I did it many times in the past and I have a feeling XP doesnt actually allow you to create these anymore and only uses CD and WIN2000 was the last to allow you to create floppies
I'm pretty sure I used to do it from the WIN98 or win2000 startup floppies
have you used DOS FORMAT or FDISK to partition or format the drive before? That is a straight forward way of going back to the beginning
If you have another PC (or a friend who does) you could take the hard drive out and just format it in the other PC that would be the easiest option of all - or if you have an external caddy you could plug it in to a laptop or whatever as an external drive
if it's a laptop that's obviously a bit trickier, but I got a lead for about £5 that goes from 2.5" hard drives to a 3.5" socket
TBH - if it was me today I wouldnt stuff around too much - I have an external caddy which cost me hardly anything (about £15-20 I think years ago so they'd probably be even less now) and it was one of the best purchases I made because it always gets you out of these kind of problems, I can stick any hard drive in and fromat it, or use it as an external or I can clone/backup a drive, or rip it out and stick a DVD-R in it - it's easy
what's your setup and how many computers do you have? Or old copies of WIN98 startup floppy in the attic?
there are lots of solutions
if all of the solutions I have suggested so far arent possible, to be honest I'd try the Vista install again just to fix the boot sector - I have a feeling the vista one is a bit more resiliant and that's why killdisk didnt get rid of it properly
another thing you could try is booting from a Linux CD and install Grub
so the startup CD doesnt run at all?
sounds like you need to go from floppy now - if you dont already have one, you might need to create the setup floppy disks from another machine
A long while since Ive done it but I did it many times in the past and I have a feeling XP doesnt actually allow you to create these anymore and only uses CD and WIN2000 was the last to allow you to create floppies
I'm pretty sure I used to do it from the WIN98 or win2000 startup floppies
have you used DOS FORMAT or FDISK to partition or format the drive before? That is a straight forward way of going back to the beginning
If you have another PC (or a friend who does) you could take the hard drive out and just format it in the other PC that would be the easiest option of all - or if you have an external caddy you could plug it in to a laptop or whatever as an external drive
if it's a laptop that's obviously a bit trickier, but I got a lead for about £5 that goes from 2.5" hard drives to a 3.5" socket
TBH - if it was me today I wouldnt stuff around too much - I have an external caddy which cost me hardly anything (about £15-20 I think years ago so they'd probably be even less now) and it was one of the best purchases I made because it always gets you out of these kind of problems, I can stick any hard drive in and fromat it, or use it as an external or I can clone/backup a drive, or rip it out and stick a DVD-R in it - it's easy
what's your setup and how many computers do you have? Or old copies of WIN98 startup floppy in the attic?
there are lots of solutions
if all of the solutions I have suggested so far arent possible, to be honest I'd try the Vista install again just to fix the boot sector - I have a feeling the vista one is a bit more resiliant and that's why killdisk didnt get rid of it properly
another thing you could try is booting from a Linux CD and install Grub