It is possible to switch from Vista back to XP.
computer image by Andrey Rakhmatullin from Fotolia.com
When Microsoft released Windows Vista, it was supposed to not only be Windows XP's successor but really knock the socks off of it and impress everyone with its new look and capabilities. Sadly, for many people it had the opposite effect, due to many of the changes made and errors that came with the new OS (operating system). In turn, some people wanted to return to using Windows XP. Luckily, this is not a difficult thing to do.
Adjustments and Installation
Step 1
Right-click "My Computer" in Vista and select "Manage." In the left pane of the window that comes up, select "Disk Management."
Step 2
Right-click the hard disk, select "Shrink Volume" and set how much space you want free. You will want to set at least 5 gigabytes for the OS and pagefile. You can always merge both partitions later. Once the space is created, click on the empty area and select "New Simple Volume."
Step 3
Right-click the CD-ROM entry, and select "Change Drive Letter or Path," then click "Remove" and then "Add." Give your CD-ROM a drive letter further down the alphabet, like "J:". Do the same for the Vista partition. Now give the new partition the drive letter "C:".
Step 4
Place the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive and reboot. Install Windows XP as normal, making sure to specify the new empty 5 gigabyte partition you just created. When this is finished and you have backed up all of your old documents and files, you can delete the old Vista system folders from the other partition to reclaim that space. You can then use the old Vista partition as your applications and data partition and re-install your applications there, or you can use one of the many free partition utilities available to combine the two partitions so you have one large drive again.
References
Photo Credits
- computer image by Andrey Rakhmatullin from Fotolia.com
