Removing Vista and installing XP

[stdvd]

I now have the windows xp disk that came with my previous HP computer. How do I go about uninstalling the windows vista, from my new computer and then installing windows xp with the xp disk? can anyone give me a step by step instruction, on this? I have the original HP disk, and the windows XP disk that came with the computer. Appreciate any help, Thanks.

[MrChris-]

It is possible but before you install Windows XP over pre-installed Vista,you should take care of following points:

1. You should have a licensed copy of Windows XP.

2. Read your warranty document carefully or consult the customer care to make sure that warranty remains valid when you install a second OS on your computer.

3. You’ll need to create a separate partition (or overwrite an existing one) for installing XP . Make sure there’s enough space on the hard drive.

[Solomon]

3 Points you need to consider:

1. You can format your C:\ drive (or the drive in which Vista is installed) and then install Xp in it. Ideally you would want to leave other partitions as they are. No need to format other drives.
   
   
2. That bring me to point number two: If this is an OEM "recovery system" then you may not have the ability to reformat just one partition...it may wipe the entire drive. Thus, I'd double-check what copy of Windows XP you have.
   
   
3. Finally, since you only have one OS installed, Vista, you cannot use Computer Management to format the C:\ drive...you can't use the OS to destroy the OS. You can, however, format the drive by using either your Vista or XP CD.

In short, I would insert my Windows XP CD and tell it to proceed with installing Windows XP. At the point where you can create and delete partitions, I would delete C:\ and then create a new partition from the unpartitioned space. Tell it you want to install XP on that partition, and choose the formatting option you prefer. (I would just do a quick NTFS format.) Proceed with the installation and setup and you should be fine. Just make sure that you have backed up all of your important files to another hard drive, CD/DVDs, etc before doing this...you do not want to risk the loss of all your data.

[Yogesh]

Please note:
Thread moved from Windows Software to Operating Systems