Vista to XP?

[Xenogear900]

I got a new laptop, and like so many people, I want to get rid of Vista and put on XP Pro.

I have the XP Pro install CD. Its one of those dual-core/processor? computers, its a Toshiba. What do I need (to reformat) and to do to install XP Pro on it?

Weltall900@yahoo.com

[Richard_G]

It should boot from the XP install CD and will give you the option of formatting the drive before installing. If it won't, you may have a problem. I normally boot from a Windows 98 floppy and run fdisk to remove the existing and then recreate the drive partitions. XP install then sees the drive as unformatted and you have to format it. However, I doubt that a new laptop has a floppy drive so that might cause you the odd problem.

[redwudz]

If the XP install disc won't let you re-partition and format the laptop drive and you don't have a floppy, you can boot from a bootable Windows PE disc. Do a Google search for ' bart pe ') Use Windows Explorer there to delete the Windows folder. Then you should be able to re-partition and format the laptop drive with the XP disc.

You can also do this with a bootable Linux disc if you can see the Windows folder. Make sure you have all your XP laptop drivers ready after installing XP. You should be able to get them from the laptop manufacturer.

[Xenogear900]

Isn't there something I can use to just clear the hard drive and start over with the XP install CD?

[edong]

In the event that you are successful in formatting your hard drive, I suggest that you partition it to at least two then dual boot with XP and Vista if you have the Recovery disc. It is less complicated if XP is installed first then Vista second but I'm not sure if the Recovery disc will allow you to do that. So, if you have to install Vista first, search for the guides in installing XP after Vista. I do not know how you hate Vista but in the future, you might encounter a software/s that will run only or will run better in Vista, then you are covered. And there are claims that Vista is more secure. Not to mention that you paid for Vista when you bought your laptop.

[redwudz]

Isn't there something I can use to just clear the hard drive and start over with the XP install CD?

You have to have an OS installed to be able to have a program loaded to 'clear' it out. And if you are logged into Vista (Or most any OS) it won't let you delete itself.

So you need to use some sort of boot disk to start up on, either on a CD or floppy. This will enable you to load a small OS to run the programs to do the clearing. If you have a floppy drive, a Win 98 startup disk and the fdisk program, as mentioned, does it. Or a Win PE or Linux OS disc. You may also have to go into BIOS and set the computer to boot from either a CD or a floppy if it's not presently configured that way.

Have you tried to use the XP install disc to do all this? Repartition, reformat, install the OS? And make sure XP drivers are available from the laptop site before you do all this.

If you want to consider a dual boot option: http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about88231.html

BTW, I run Vista on one of my computers and have had no problems with the OS.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I also recommend making another partition for XP but if you insist on wiping your HDD clean then use Killdisk:
http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

[prouton]

You will probably also need to download drivers from the Toshiba website. A standard Windows XP install CD won't have some of the drivers needed by a recent motherboard (or laptop in this case), and the video driver may be Toshiba specific.

[redwudz]

Good point about the floppy startup, MOVIEGEEK. I just use it to partition, not to format. It uses FAT32 format and most computers these days are NTFS format. FAT32 has the 4GB filesize limitation.

All you would really use the Win98 startup disk and the fdisk program for is to disable the existing partition on the hard drive by re-partitioning. Re-partitioning is the fastest way to disable the old OS.

BTW, most laptops have two partitions. One is for the OS and the second is a recovery partition. You can remove that, but it's usually fairly small. And if it is removed, your Vista restore discs will likely never work again.

[ahhaa]

Nothing against the above advice, but I'd really recommend finding somebody at Toshiba support, or a Toshiba forum, who has actually done this before. There could be something in BIOS, or drivers, or display, etc that could cost you a lot of trouble to fix...

also, there are a couple threads here that suggest that folks are much happier with VISTA after adding more memory.

good luck!

[MOVIEGEEK]

You will probably also need to download drivers from the Toshiba website. A standard Windows XP install CD won't have some of the drivers needed by a recent motherboard (or laptop in this case), and the video driver may be Toshiba specific.

That's a good point that I forgot about,if the laptop came with Vista then the Toshiba website will NOT have XP drivers.