Reformatting a Vista laptop to XP

tendoboy101

So my sister's boyfriend recently bought a Vista laptop and wants xp on it. I have an xp disc but the problem is the drivers for his laptop are all labeled vista, no mention of xp. Compaq also provided him with no vista reinstall or driver discs, so I'm afraid if I install XP and these vista drivers don't work I'm boned. Before I wipe the vista partition do I have any options?

blackranger3d

Why does he want XP? Is he a techie guy?

If no good reason for XP over Vista I would suggest you trick him. If I'm not mistaken there are several ways to make Vista look and act like XP try a google search for something like "Make Vista look like XP"

wunderbar

dont' put XP on it. He's probably just one of those "zomg I heard vista is so bad I don't want it" people. Tell him to actually use the bloody thing for a month and it'll be fine.

Apogee

Vista is fine now. Put SP2 on it and you're good. Vista pre-SP1 was OS-rape, nowadays it's perfectly good. Save yourself the time.

One caveat - better have at least 1 GB of ram. 2 GB if gaming.

autono-wally, erotibot300

vista works pretty damn well. most people somewhere heard that it sucks and thus don't want it.
but when you've worked with it on a system that has >=2GB RAM (less IS annyoing in vista), and then go back to XP... those rose-tinted glasses go away pretty fast :P

DekuStick

I had to go back to XP (lost my Vista Ultimate 64bit disc) and it has been the most painful experience ever.

Ask for his reasons on going back to XP before doing anything to his laptop.

ArcSyn

How recently did he get this laptop? He may qualify for the Win7 free upgrade through whatever retailer he bought it from. Tell him to use Vista for now and use Win7 when it drops in October.

XP, at this point, should only be used for old computers before Vista was made and stuff like netbooks. Once Win7 is released there won't be a point to running XP or Vista, so he may as well just move forward rather than backwards.

Mr_Rose

Seconding all the "don't bothers" but will put forward a "give him W7" as an alternative.

SlightlyOffTrack

The problem is that new computers come with new parts that were made in a post-XP world. A lot of the newer stuff isn't going to have drivers for XP because that's an old OS.

Why does this guy want XP so badly? Really, the only reason I use XP on any of my machines is that I'm more familiar with the OS and with locking it down for family use. This guy doesn't seem to be a geek if he's asking his girlfriend's brother to do it, though.

The best option is to not format the partition. If anything, perform a backup of everything to prepare for what seems to be the inevitable. And/or grab a Windows 7 update if he's so dead set against Vista.

tendoboy101

Guess I should have clarified a bit. He likes Vista, but he works as a mechanic, and at the garage they have software that lets them open and close work tickets but it isn't vista compatible. It isn't life or death, and he likes Vista, he was just asking if it was possible. I tried but even in compatibility mode the program just borks.

I'll just tell him no dice. Thanks!

RBach

If that one app is all he needs then this sounds like a perfect candidate for making an XP virtual machine using Virtualbox and that spare XP copy you said you had.

Mr_Rose

Or using XP mode in W7.
...
What?
I like W7.

Seeks

Yeah, XP mode could work.

But otherwise, check and see if it's one of those dealies where it has a "restore" partition or whatever. If so, go ahead and try XP (or XP mode with W7), and restore if it doesn't work.