Vista to XP?

[blinky88]

Why not tell HP you are a cash buyer and want XP Pro loaded not Vista or you will look elsewhere. Most companies today are bending over backwards to get business, I don't believe they will let you walk away because of an OS.

[vid83]

P.S. I have been using this site for years but I just joined this spring. Untill this string of posts I don't think I had commented more than 2 or 3 times total. But this has been kind of fun. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

You guys have been tremendous help. Thanks for all the replies.

[vid83]

Is Acronis and Norton Ghost a software that creates recovery discs?
If so, where do you put your image? On a DVD? If so, how many discs does it take?

Also, there are so many bad reviews for both softwares.

[vid83]

So I am going to get a desktop with Windows Vista. I am going to erase the drive and install Windows XP 32-bit.
Does it matter whether my computer ships with Vista 32bit or 64bit?

Assuming that I successfully install XP and get all the drivers for my desktop, will XP operate ok? I don't mean compatibility. I mean will my saved files be safe and not corrupt when saved in XP?

[vid83]

But there us another problem I've encountered with installing XP back on some HP notebooks that came with Vista: the part in the installation process that is supposed to say a hard drive is detected and would you like to format it blah-blah instead says no fixed disk was detected and so installation is aborting! It seems HP, among others, implicitly want to discourage going back to XP by not enabling rudimentary SATA drivers in this manner so that any attempts at deliberate XP installation are futile. To get around this, the key is a USB flash drive or floppy drive, where ACHI and SATA drivers have earlier been downloaded and put on (from the Intel website for that particular chipset, if that, or HP, okay if they're up to it). In the XP installation process where it says "press F6 to load additional drivers, etc." this is where you get those crucial fixed disk drivers to be loaded in the temporary RAM drive XP installation creates so as to even get to the point where the hard drive is indeed recognized and you're given a choice of what to do next.
Some HP models do not want a flash drive, and only USB floppy drives work with this detour. Some Toshiba and Dell laptops also behave like this, not detecting the hard drive in XP installation. All Acer notebooks I have encountered so far (with and without pre-installed Vista) behave properly where XP installation is concerned, that is, the hard drive is recognized as expected and the USB floppy route is never needed (not surprising considering that some Acer models still come ONLY with Linux here in Saudi Arabia, implying that you can put your choice of OS and damn if the HDD is not recognized as is).
The floppy disk still lives, after all.

I am confused. You mentioned flash drive and floppy drive. What am I supposed to put on it?
I know that I am supposed to put drivers on a CD before trying to install XP. Then install drivers after XP is installed.
But what are you talking about here? What do I put on a flash drive? Also, can I write a CD with theses files instead of putting it on a flash drive?

[qpskfec]

vid83,

I wouldn't recommend doing this yourself unless you are really sure of what you are doing.

You would be better off taking the advice of the poster who mentioned buying a Dell and having them install xp for $99.

[turk690]

Some elementary drivers are part of the BIOS contents of any PC and are supposed to be loaded in memory when turning on the PC. These drivers include, but are not limited to, keyboard and mouse drivers, a VGA driver, a fixed-disk driver (with which to initially recognize and identify your hard drives), and in nearly all cases nowadays, USB drivers. These simple drivers, along with all else the BIOS does, are just there to kickstart (in a manner of speaking) your computer in preparation to installing and/or booting an OS. Ideally, while installing an OS, it should provide all drivers beforehand. But XP is an old OS (from Microsoft's POV) and its installation CD doesn't have SATA drivers because SATA standards didn't exist then, so depending on the scenario, the installation may abort when it's time to look for and identify your hard drive.
As buckeye pointed out, you can choose IDE in the BIOS prior to booting from and installing XP from its CD. This sometimes works, but my experience has shown that some BIOSes do not present choices (and they assume your OS installation CD has SATA drivers, which XP doesn't). It's convenient to put pre-downloaded SATA and AHCI drivers from the appropriate site of the manufacturer that made the chipset (nearly always Intel, but you also have AMD, nVidia, VIA, etc. to contend with) on a USB flash drive. During XP installation, you may be able to nudge it during the "press F6 to load additional drivers..." part to see this USB flash drive and proceed from there (prior to this, again, it may be necessary in BIOS setup to choose "recognize USB flash devices as removable disks" if this choice is present). However, some computers resolutely refuse to accept anything but an actual physical floppy drive, so this means these files have to be put on a floppy. Then again the next step branches out to whether there is a floppy connector present so that a conventional floppy drive can be used, or as is more likely, especially for laptops, only a USB floppy drive can be used. This is why you have to choose between a USB floppy drive or a USB flash drive. Intel, among others, includes a floppy disk with its mainboards that contain SATA, AHCI, and RAID drivers; I've always used this floppy succesfully so long as the PC chipset is Intel.
It is only after the SATA/AHCI drivers for XP on the floppy (if that) has been loaded that actual OS installation commences. This is not the same situation as installing drivers when you already have an OS. At this point you still don't have XP. Its CD can't see your hard drive. Kind of like a catch-22. You can't write these files to a CD because then you will have to remove the XP installation CD to insert that one and may not recognize it just yet. It's entirely possible, if you're saavy enough and have an existing valid XP installation, to create an XP installation CD where all drivers will be slipstreamed into it (entire sites are devoted to this), SATA/AHCI included, so that if the hard drive gives its ghost up in the future, you do not have to go the floppy route again if that was taken in the beginning. But that is another topic.
As qpskfec said, installing XP on a computer that came with Vista may or may not be a very involving task. That depends on the computer and your skill level. I'm not promoting Acer, but its laptops, in my experience, has given me the least sweat in XP installation compared with HP and others (floppy not needed, see related buckeyefan's entry why this may be so). If you do not absolutely feel you are up to this, that $99 Dell bet may be a good deal. But, if you have time, why not go out and wage the war for all it's worth?