BleepingComputer.com: Windows Vista Back To Windows Xp?

Well I'm a bit dissapointed with Vista. Most of my games don't work, and quite some drivers are missing.
Like my microphone doesn't work. And some games keep crashing.

Anyways...

Would it be 'safe' for me to go back to Windows XP from Vista?
Not doing a clean install, beacause I want to save my games and videos and other misc stuff.
Would I be able to do an Upgrade or a Standard Recovery ( Which is installing XP without losing any data, I think. )

Thanks in advance!

Try to see if you can uninstall vista and revert back to xp. It should be an option I should think.

hi,
you might like to read this......Uninstalling Vista it might make things a bit clearer.

Hey ive had the same thing with my laptop, what i tend to do is create a new logical partition and put the files i wish to keep in that little section, format and create a clean install of windows xp (or whichever window you wish to install, that way you get a fresh install of windows which (IN THEORY) should perform better then an upgrade or downgrade. a good proram is partition magic for creating partitions; although i ahvent tried it in vista....

hope i helped a bit in options to take :-)

For the future - ensure that you use a disk imaging utility before major system changes. It makes life much easier!

I used an image to switch back and forth between Vista and XP once a day for 5 days last week (2 different builds) and had no problems at all (but I saved any work during that week to removable media).

If you upgraded from 98 to XP it was cool that you could just go to the control panel and uninstall XP.

However: This can not be done in Windows Vista.\

YOUR ONLY OPTION HERE IS A FORMAT / CLEAN INSTALL. ONLY

-Your best bet is to back up your data (somewhere) and get started with a clean install.

If backing up data is an issue. Vista has some neat features which may help in this process if file size is an issue

More help available on request

Foolishoverlord, on Jul 7 2006, 11:03 AM, said:

Vista can do this itself from Disk Management
-You can expand / shrink / delete and create partitions

Upgrading from XP to Vista is no longer an Upgrade... its a "Migration"
-it doesnt just replace files and away you go.
-it takes all of your apps/programs/files etc, and stores them in a temporary directory / drive and then once Vista is installed it then migrates the stuff back.

So in theory it doesnt make a difference if you upgrade or clean install... it just takes longer to migrate your files back from the temp directory (X:)

I am in the market to purchase a Dell XPS M1210 laptop computer. Dell is now selling their computers standard with Vista. I do not want to have Vista for a large number of reasons, including some of the ones listed above. I was thinking it should be easy to format when I get the computer (keeping anything I might have needed that was preinstalled) and install Windows XP, but then I started thinking about things like the drivers etc. that would be specific to the computer and OS.

Anyone know if it would be a simple process or whether I am correct in being worried about the drivers? Should I be able to find these drivers, or am I SOL? I am hoping that I can get rid of Vista... don't know if I could get the computer if I could not remove it.. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

EDIT: A point I may not have made is the fact that I do not have any important files on the computer yet. I will move them over from my old desktop computer after I am able to get XP up and running on the 1210. If it will be as simple as formatting and installing XP, horray! I don' t think it will be quite that simple though.

IMO your research should include checking to see if you can get a complete set of drivers from Dell (for XP).

I did find the drivers soon after posting, but I have found out in talking to Dell reps that formatting and installing XP will void my warranty. So, I suppose this is all a moot point. If you don't think so, I would be glad to hear from you.

Tilgare, on Feb 16 2007, 07:33 PM, said:

If that true and you really want xp install ? I would just buy a hard drive , use that hard drive alone ( remove the original vista drive ) and install xp , If for what ever reason you might need warranty ? Just place back the original hard drive with Vista install , Hard drives are pretty cheap now

xpdude, on Feb 17 2007, 08:54 AM, said:

That is a good idea. I will consider that.