Hi
i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday, but
i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and downgrade to
XP Pro?

No. See the following:

Windows Vista Downgrade Rights Explained:
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...rencesheet.pdf

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Allenjamieson" <my email allenjamieson********.com> wrote in message news:72816E70-7B03-4508-81F7-59AC34DE44F1@microsoft.com...
Hi
i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday, but
i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and downgrade to
XP Pro?

Allenjamieson wrote:

> Hi
> i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday,
> but i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and
> downgrade to XP Pro?

General information about replacing Vista with XP:

On an OEM (HP, Sony, etc.) computer:

1. Go to the OEM's website and look for XP drivers for your specific model
computer. If there are no XP drivers, then you can't install XP. End of
story. If there are drivers, download them and store on a CD-R or USB
thumbdrive; you'll need them after you install XP.

2. Check with the OEM - either from their tech support website or by calling
them - to see if you will void your warranty if you do this. If you will
void the warranty, you make the decision.

3. If the OEM does support XP on the machine, call them and see if you can
have downgrade rights and have them send you an XP restore disk. This will
be far the easiest and best way of getting XP on the machine.

4. If XP is supported on the machine but the OEM doesn't have an XP restore
disk for you, understand that you'll need to purchase a retail copy of XP
from your favorite online or brick/mortar store.

5. Also understand that you will need to do a clean install of XP so if you
have any data you want, back it up first.

6. If none of the above is applicable to you because you can't run XP on
that machine (see Item #1 above), return the computer and purchase one
running XP instead. Some OEMs still offer XP as an option on business-class
machines.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...alling_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

"Allenjamieson" <my email allenjamieson********.com> wrote in message
news:72816E70-7B03-4508-81F7-59AC34DE44F1@microsoft.com...
> Hi
> i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday,
> but
> i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and downgrade
> to
> XP Pro?


Before attempting to change to XP, tell us what you do not like about Vista,
and we will try to help you get around your problems with it..



--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default...help&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:17:01 -0700, Allenjamieson <my email
allenjamieson********.com> wrote:

> i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday, but
> i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and downgrade to
> XP Pro?


No.

Moreover one day's experience with a new operating system (or with
almost anything new) is nowhere near long enough to make an
intelligent decision as to whether you like it or not. Of course Vista
feels different from XP, and of course you are more comfortable with
what is old and familiar. It takes time to learn and become accustomed
to anything new.

I strongly recommend that you be fair to both yourself and Vista and
give yourself a couple of months of use and learning before deciding
you want to go back to XP.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Hi mike

basically vista is a bit of a resource hog, also i didnt notice that vista
home premium dosent have any support for adding it to a domain,

i do have a machine on XP pro, can i swap licences over and have vista on
the pc and xp pro on the laptop?

"Mike Hall - MVP" wrote:

> "Allenjamieson" <my email allenjamieson********.com> wrote in message
> news:72816E70-7B03-4508-81F7-59AC34DE44F1@microsoft.com...
> > Hi
> > i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday,
> > but
> > i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and downgrade
> > to
> > XP Pro?
>
>
> Before attempting to change to XP, tell us what you do not like about Vista,
> and we will try to help you get around your problems with it..
>
>
>
> --
> Mike Hall - MVP
> How to construct a good post..
> http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
> How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
> http://support.microsoft.com/default...help&style=toc
> Mike's Window - My Blog..
> http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx
>
>
>
>
>

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:58:01 -0700, Allenjamieson <my email
allenjamieson********.com> wrote:

> Hi mike
>
> basically vista is a bit of a resource hog, also i didnt notice that vista
> home premium dosent have any support for adding it to a domain,


Just like XP. XP Home doesn't support joining a domain either.


> i do have a machine on XP pro, can i swap licences over and have vista on
> the pc and xp pro on the laptop?


Probably not. You can only if they are *both* retail copies, not OEM
(for example, if the computer came with Windows pre-installed, it's
OEM) *and* drivers for the other operating system exist. At least the
laptop probably came with Windows installed, and on the laptop in
particular, you are likely to run into the driver problem.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Don't bother, Vista is better than XP. By necessity (battery, that is) most
notebooks have poor graphics, audio, slow hard-drive. Just turn off some of
the eye candy and it'll speed up (or appear to) quite a bit - or try to run
without Aero and see the difference.
Michael

"Allenjamieson" <my email allenjamieson********.com> wrote in message
news:72816E70-7B03-4508-81F7-59AC34DE44F1@microsoft.com...
> Hi
> i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday,
> but
> i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and downgrade
> to
> XP Pro?

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:56:05 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
<kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:


>I strongly recommend that you be fair to both yourself and Vista and
>give yourself a couple of months of use and learning before deciding
>you want to go back to XP.

Vista sucks out of the box as well as a couple of months later.
There's no way that it's an improvement over XP.

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:28:32 -0700, Malke <malke@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

>Allenjamieson wrote:
>
>> Hi
>> i have a new laptop with vista home premium, and activated it yesterday,
>> but i really dont like vista, am i able to use the same licence and
>> downgrade to XP Pro?
>
>General information about replacing Vista with XP:
>
>On an OEM (HP, Sony, etc.) computer:
>
>1. Go to the OEM's website and look for XP drivers for your specific model
>computer. If there are no XP drivers, then you can't install XP. End of
>story. If there are drivers, download them and store on a CD-R or USB
>thumbdrive; you'll need them after you install XP.

If there are no XP drivers, you may still be able to install by
hunting them down at the manufacturers site (e.g. if you have an ATI
video card, you can probably find drivers). It's not for the squeamish
though.

>2. Check with the OEM - either from their tech support website or by calling
>them - to see if you will void your warranty if you do this. If you will
>void the warranty, you make the decision.

If it doesn't run, you can always reload from the system restore disk.
I don't see how it would be possible for software to cause a hardware
problem. Unless you flash the BIOS, I don't see any potential issues.

>3. If the OEM does support XP on the machine, call them and see if you can
>have downgrade rights and have them send you an XP restore disk. This will
>be far the easiest and best way of getting XP on the machine.

Definitely!

<snip>

>6. If none of the above is applicable to you because you can't run XP on
>that machine (see Item #1 above), return the computer and purchase one
>running XP instead. Some OEMs still offer XP as an option on business-class
>machines.

Only Dell AFAIK. You now pay for the luxury.

"+Bob+" <uctraing@ultranet.com> wrote in message
news:nv7l84pfki25jif1tul5s2ooui4k5d1iht@4ax.com...
>>6. If none of the above is applicable to you because you can't run XP on
>>that machine (see Item #1 above), return the computer and purchase one
>>running XP instead. Some OEMs still offer XP as an option on
>>business-class
>>machines.
>
> Only Dell AFAIK. You now pay for the luxury.
>
>

Lenovo was too the last time I checked, but it's not cheap. You have to buy
Vista Ultimate or business from them to get the "downgrade" to XP. I was
looking at doing this after my Dell laptop died. Glad I did not. Wife found
this laptop for $500.00. said buy it, she would take it if I did not like it
and give me her XP. This runs fine, but it has plenty of processor and RAM.
That seems to be the sticking point with Vista. MS should never have told
people Vista would run on 512 Megs of RAM. It does, but at a snails pace.
Give it enough RAM it seems to work great.
--
To err is human.....
But to blame someone else shows management potential.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:48 -0400, +Bob+ <uctraing@ultranet.com>
wrote:

>
>>6. If none of the above is applicable to you because you can't run XP on
>>that machine (see Item #1 above), return the computer and purchase one
>>running XP instead. Some OEMs still offer XP as an option on business-class
>>machines.
>
>Only Dell AFAIK. You now pay for the luxury.

Correcting myself: It appears that HP also offers the XP downgrade
option, but only on "business class" machines like Dell (note that
business class does not necessarily mean that they are more expensive.
Levano is also offering a downgrade.

On the license issue, VIsta does have a downgrade option that
apparently licenses you - however, doing this yourself on a practical
basis without a retail CD would be difficult. I haven't read the
clause specifically looking for any limitations.

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:54:26 -0400, +Bob+ <uctraing@ultranet.com>
wrote:

> On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:56:05 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
> <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:
>
>
> >I strongly recommend that you be fair to both yourself and Vista and
> >give yourself a couple of months of use and learning before deciding
> >you want to go back to XP.
>
> Vista sucks out of the box as well as a couple of months later.
> There's no way that it's an improvement over XP.


Your opinion is noted. I still recommend to Allenjamieson that he take
the time to learn it and make up his own mind. Nobody else's opinion,
neither yours nor mine, should matter to him.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:a3hm841n39j14tlmnrtpj6colp0fd6uap2@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:54:26 -0400, +Bob+ <uctraing@ultranet.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:56:05 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
>> <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:
>>
>>
>> >I strongly recommend that you be fair to both yourself and Vista and
>> >give yourself a couple of months of use and learning before deciding
>> >you want to go back to XP.
>>
>> Vista sucks out of the box as well as a couple of months later.
>> There's no way that it's an improvement over XP.
>
>
> Your opinion is noted. I still recommend to Allenjamieson that he take
> the time to learn it and make up his own mind. Nobody else's opinion,
> neither yours nor mine, should matter to him.
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>
>
IMHO, MS did this to themselves with Vista. The first one I tried was a new
Laptop a co worker bought from Dell right after Vista hit. It was a POS. It
took forever to get it set up, it was so slow I often thought it had frozen.
Problem was it had 512 Megs of RAM, because MS told everyone Vista needed
512. They IMHO, would have been far better off to just tell people the truth
right from the start. Tell them "if you try it with 512 it will run VERY
poorly". Tons of new PCs went out like this. Often of course these were
bought by people either new, or very inexperienced, and soon you got a hell
of a lot of people bitching saying the OS was crap. I have since found the
problem was not the OS, it was putting it in a machine with 25% of the
memory it needed. Hell I am VERY much an amateur where it comes to PC's and
when I got this Vista machine it was actually fun to set up. The learning
curve was no big deal because the machine ran, not sat there all the time
like it was locked up.
I have a recommended book on it on the way, and I'm sure as I start
reading it this will get even better.
--
"Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites.
Moderation is for monks."
[Lazarus Long]

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:56:39 -0700, "Alex Clayton"
<alexx1400******.com> wrote:

> IMHO, MS did this to themselves with Vista. The first one I tried was a new
> Laptop a co worker bought from Dell right after Vista hit. It was a POS. It
> took forever to get it set up, it was so slow I often thought it had frozen.
> Problem was it had 512 Megs of RAM, because MS told everyone Vista needed
> 512.


Microsoft has always cited the *minimum* configuration need to operate
their operating systems. That's very different from what's recommended
to run it acceptably. There is nothing new in this respect with Vista.


> They IMHO, would have been far better off to just tell people the truth
> right from the start. Tell them "if you try it with 512 it will run VERY
> poorly".


Although information on recommended amounts of RAM has always been
available too, I agree that they could have done a much better job of
making that clear.

But again, there's nothing new here, exactly the same was true of
Windows XP, and of other Windows versions before it.


> Tons of new PCs went out like this. Often of course these were
> bought by people either new, or very inexperienced, and soon you got a hell
> of a lot of people bitching saying the OS was crap. I have since found the
> problem was not the OS, it was putting it in a machine with 25% of the
> memory it needed. Hell I am VERY much an amateur where it comes to PC's and
> when I got this Vista machine it was actually fun to set up. The learning
> curve was no big deal because the machine ran, not sat there all the time
> like it was locked up.
> I have a recommended book on it on the way, and I'm sure as I start
> reading it this will get even better.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup