Installing XP on a Vista machine

Discussion in 'Software' started by natetaylor1435, Nov 13, 2007.

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  1. natetaylor1435

    natetaylor1435 Private E-2

    I recently bought an HP Pavilion dv6500z. It came with Windows Vista on it. I would like to put XP on it, but when i go to reformat with my XP cd it tells me that it cant find any hard drives. Is there a way of reformatting my hard drive and putting XP on it? I have tried reformatting with the Vista disk and then installing XP, but it will not let me. Is there any way to down grade my OS?

    Thanks,
    Nate
     
  2. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    I found you'll get that message because the computer has a SATA hard drive and XP doesn't natively support SATA drives.
    You'll have to wait from someone who knows where to get SATA drivers and what to do to load them before you can install windows.
     
  3. cuzndupree

    cuzndupree Private E-2

    I wonder if it might be hard to find drivers that would make Vista hardware backwards compatible for XP. I'm not sure companies would be interested and willing to spend resources since most if not all new pcs are built for Vista. Seems like they've got their hands full trying to get up to speed with Vista.
     
  4. natetaylor1435

    natetaylor1435 Private E-2

    Where would I go about finding someone that could make XP run on an SATA hard drive?
     
  5. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    You need the appropriate drivers. If they don't exist, then XP cannot be installed.
     
  6. grouchydruid

    grouchydruid Private E-2

    you can down load Virtual PC free from Microsoft and run 2 OS --- Vista and XP --- BUT you must have the right Vista version for it to work. There is all kinds of information on the Microsoft site. Home Premium will not work ---Ultimate will and Business will. Be careful, I have a mess on my hands because I have the wrong version and was given bad info from Dell. Grrrrr
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2008
  7. Doofus

    Doofus Private First Class

  8. cuzndupree

    cuzndupree Private E-2

    Just my views on trying to make XP work on a Vista pc. We recently bought a new pc and was given the option to get it installed with xp or vista. I knew vista would be kind of a pain and some programs were still not ready for it but I decided that it would be better in the long run to go with vista and spend the time working to get the vista machine up and running knowing that it was going to be the os that all the apps would be programmed for. Although your situation may be different I now have my old pc running xp and the new one running vista. By the time my old one dies vista should be optimized and running smoothly.

    After a short period of adjustment I have to say that the vista pc is running much better and the programs that have been updated for it are stable and running without any problems. I have had to do without some of the programs that I used with xp though but I feel that as far as technology goes you have to look forward and learn how to make it work or you will fall behind and very quickly have a lot of catching up to do.
     
  9. grouchydruid

    grouchydruid Private E-2

    I agree about the new system and learning the new processes. My idea was to learn and gradually switch to Vista. Not all businesses are changing so quickly and much of what I need seems to be pushed further and further back. XP is so much easier, quicker and I have the programs already. My brand new work computer is XP not Vista Vista is still a waiting game on somethings and slows me down as it is a learning curve. But this way when the time comes I will be ahead of the game. I bought a very nice computer with Vista in it---just need to hang on to XP til my work changes over.
     
  10. jammin

    jammin Private E-2

    Might be doing the same myself soon.My thoughts go back to old school....first you need to format harddrive use fdisk and burn as an image onto cd.Go into bios and switch first boot to cd rom.(basiclly go back to dos commands basically your hardrive is blank.Then by using fdisk in dos commands prepare it for xp pro to install .At the moment you cant see the harddrive to install xp because you are ntfs file form.If I have to do this my self will give u full sp with attachments.My other worry is-I get xp pro working the components of the pc are incompatible-will I find enough hotfixes and patches to get over it.(do not try yet).
     
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