Switching back to xp

[HI-TEKKSOLUTIONS]

I have a customer who has a dell laptop which came with vista home on it, but he wants to switch to xp because he is used to it and he likes it better. My question is, what is the best route to take switching back to xp? should i call dell and order an xp cd, or just order and pay for an oem copy from newegg or somewhere like that. I was wondering if dell would just send a copy, but i dont know. Can anyone give some advice.

 

[abe]

I doubt dell wil give you the cd unless that model was also shipped with xp, besides you have to remember to get drivers for the computer and do some research if that model has a problem finding drivers for xp

Abe

 

[NYJimbo]

You might want to review this as its pretty much from the horses mouth:

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/...iness/xp_smb?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=2#3rd

Be sure to read the FAQS part.

 

[computergeek1]

I do know that you can downgrade have not tried it but have read it some where, say if you have windows premuim you can downgrade to windows XP home, so you install XP on the machine, then you have to phone microsoft and speak to a adviser and tell then that you want to downgrade from Vista to XP, you give them you Vista key and then they give you a key for your XP.

 

[usacvlr]

Just put xp home oem on it and be done with it. Charge him 100 bucks or whatever for the software depending on your cost and something for labor. Drivers are easy in downgrading once you've built up a small collection. Most people have trouble with the hd audio ones but I keep all the ones that work on a usb drive and try one after another until the hd audio magically comes to life.

 

[Edge Tech NY]

I just did work on Gateway Ones and couldnt find drivers for XP anywhere.. only Vista

 

[Doctor Micro]

A couple points here:

1. Go to the Dell support site and make sure there are XP drivers available for that model Dell. Had a customer just a couple weeks ago with a Dell Studio laptop and wanted to install XP for nearly the same reason... he just "liked it better". Luckily for me, I checked with Dell first and discovered that the XP "Downgrade" option was not available on that model, and there were zero XP drivers available. You might be able to scout around for various hardware drivers for each individual component, but it would be very time-consuming and frustrating. If that is the case here, I'd recommend explaining the situation to the client and do your best to convince him to stick with the Vista he's aready got and licensed for. Which leads me to my next point:

2. When your customer bought the Dell, he also purchased a license for Vista and Vista only. For Dells that offer the "XP Downgrade" option, you are actually purchasing two licenses; one for Vista, and one for XP. Hence the $99 charge for the "downgrade". If you had a Dell XP Pro SP2/SP3 CD, it would install (though you'd still potentially have the driver issues I mentioned above), but it wouldn't be legal unless you also purchased a licensed copy of XP for the client.