Replacing Vista with XP

Hi guys,

My sister just bought a Dell desktop and wants to replace Vista with XP Home Upgrade Edition. Customer Service at Dell told her it was easy, that anybody can do it. Well, my sister is verrrry computer illiterate. My question is should she use the Upgrade edition or the full version? And should she expect any serious problems? Thanks for any advice offered!

 

There is a pretty decent chance that the Vista CD will not count as qualifying media for an XP Upgrade.

Plus, you cant upgrade over it, so...

 

I am surprised that Dell said it would be easy.
If you have the Vista CD,for the Dell then it might not be too difficult, but if it is on a hidden partion for recovery purposes, you might find it difficult.
Putting XP on after Vista can be very trying.
Putting Vista on after XP- NO PROBLEM.
As Adrenalyne says, XP comes under 'earlierversions of Windows' - and I am certain it will not 'update.'
You will probably find it easier to use Vista's partitioning from disc management console to partition the hard drive, and, set XP up on another partition- Dual boot setup.

 

Check out http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=127528 for some of the "joys" of going from Vista to XP.

As said earlier, a dual-boot system might be a lot easier in the long run. Bazza

 

I bought a new Sony Vaio with Vista home premuim. In Dos is reformatted the HDD to NSTF, and install XP home. The problem i am having is that all the driver support Sony provides asks for Vista - the os i removed. I really want to run XP, but i cant even find a driver for my Ethernet controller. What should i do?

 

As was stated above,

 

I would set up another partition, and reinstall Vista on that partition, and dual boot until you find compatable drivers, or, alternatives.

Microsoft Or, Wikepedia, have lists of compatable programs, and software.I did a reply to post by Studiot, a few weeks ago, giving several links.

 

Thanks to all of you for your expert advice. Sounds like replacing Vista with XP is definitely not a task for a novice. My sister has decided to send the Dell back and pay Best Buy to upgrade her old pc (which has Win ME) to XP along with additional memory. She should be good to go for a couple more years hopefully.

Thanks again for all your help.