OT: Getting rid of Windows Vista

[captain ron]

I just bought a new laptop today and want to wipe the hard drive and put my old hard drive info on the new one including windows XP.
any pointers and advice will be appreciated.

[Songman]

If you are formating the HD and starting fresh, there is nothing to it. That takes Vista out of the equation. Just make sure you have your discs and drivers for all of your peripherals.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Ron,

Vista takes some getting used to.. I'm now all Vista, laptop, 2 office, and 1 home, and it's not so bad now.

The security is better and sooner or later you may have to go through the change....lol

Good Luck
Nick-

[4106-123]

you need to be aware that xp does not have the drivers for the  new sata hard drives you will need to have the drivers on a floppy disk before you start. do a google search for xp sata drivers

[Songman]

I like Vista too. I was a beta tester so I used it many months ago. At that time it wasn't ready. There were no drivers to handle all of my equipment. I had to take it back off of my main business computer but I left it on secondary computers. Since the retail version came out, the only issue I have had at all is with Vista/XP network connectivity. It's not really a problem, just takes a bit more setup to get it working. Vista does take some getting used to though because quite a bit of it works differently than XP.

[TomCat]

I just bought a new laptop today and want to wipe the hard drive and put my old hard drive info on the new one including windows XP.
any pointers and advice will be appreciated.

Or...Put your old hard drive into a USB adapter and have access to all your old info, while you learn to embrace Vista.

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[captain ron]

Ok let me try this again, computer shut dopw in middle of post doing an auto upgrade    The main reason I don't want Vista is I can't run some programs I got for "free" (mainly Photo Shop) and some of my midi and mp3 files I've had for years won't work (says I don't have permission) I was able to run them on a friends Vista system off of one of my usb memory sticks but only from that particular memory stick and not the others. Also vista is very cumbersome and takes up too much speed. I bought a hard drive cage so I could use my old hard drive but I don't think it's going tgo work like I hoped. I wanted to be able to run XP from it and use my Firefox and all of it's settings and run all of my "free" programs.

[TomCat]

Hey Ron...Sounds like you would like to have XP loaded on your machine as well as Vista, and be able to boot up either operating system.
I know it is possible by using partitions on your new hard drive, but it is beyond my scope.
Someone here has the skills you need, and hopefully will chime in soon.

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[larryc]

Personally I have no compassion for people who are running "free" software (as I understand your meaning of "free").

[captain ron]

not asking for compassoin. bet you've never coppied a cd or wached a movie for free have you?  I don't download pirated software but if a friend buys it and gives me a copy then so be it. It's funny how a movie has a warning about a $50,000 fine and 5 years in jail for copying a movie then a road sign says kill or injure a worker and get a $5,000 fine and 1 year in jail. It's funny how movies , cd's, computer programs and trees are more important and valuable than a human being. If I ever get busted for piracy I'll just run over the person and kill them for a l;ighter sentence. (of course I'm just kidding for those of you who don't share my sense of humor)

[Dallas]

Hey Ron,,, I like your sense of humor!

I don't always understand it, but I like it!

I feel the same way about software, movies, music, etc.

As to your problem with MS Vista, according to my contacts.. goodluck! It seems that Vista is the next version of ME only worse.

As was mentioned earlier, you can run a dual boot system by installing a copy of XP on another partition. In order to do that, you'll need to have the partitioning software to split your hard drive. You'll also need to have the XP drivers for your SATA hard drive. those are downloadable from MS, your computer manufacturer or the hard drive manufacturer.

Another option is to do a low level format using the hard drive manufacturers setup software available on line for download. Then install your XP system as a new install or copy your old systm over to the new drive using the same software.

There are other options but those are the two easiest to explain on the board and for a non technician to be able to do.

I hope that helps,

Dallas

[Songman]

The part I am missing is why your Photoshop and mp3 aren't working with Vista. Whether or not it is pirated (and it is none of our business anyway) it should still run. I had Photoshop and mp3s even back on the beta versions and they worked fine. Sounds like there is some other problem to me.

[ArtMaybee]

Put together a list of things needed before you start the xp install.
Xp installation media
XP drivers for you SATA hard drive controller (you will need this in the beginning of setup)
Any other required drivers (most important will be the network card driver)
       If you don't have internet it is hard to download drivers and stuff. You should be able to
       get the XP drivers for your laptop from the manufacurer's web site.    

You most likely will not be able to boot directly from the old hard drive on the new laptop. Newer MS operating systems tend to dislike major hardware changes without reinstallation (chipsets cpu type etc). XP and newer is where the most problems come from. I've seen problems when changing to a different chipset. It doesn't want to boot. Your best bet if you want XP is to format and install XP as suggested.

If you want to play midi and MP3 files you might want to use a different player. Windows media player isn't the best solution out there anyway. You should be able to associate those files with a different player. I've heard that XP has some strong new DRM built into it so maybe those old players are having issues. I'll find out when I look under the hood of vista at some point.

I've been lucky that our company is slow to adopt new software and OS's and have yet to be forced to mess with Vista. I'm not excited about the prospect of supporting that operating system.

I'd be happy to walk you through an installation/setup if need be.

I'm in the IT department of one of the large defense contractors.
A+ certified
7 HP certifications
3 IBM certifications
13 years in the field.

I've worked in web design, co-owned a web hosting company, run the support department for a medium sized internet service provider, etc, etc, etc.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Guy's

My 2 new office computers are HP with "duel corr" I'm told I can run both Vista and XP if I wanted.  ?? Not sure..

I'm also glad that my bussiness software works with Vista, because if it didn't, it would cost me about $25k to repurchace...

Anyway, the Vista system is working and with no glitches so far. It's far better then XP in alot of ways like, ease of opening files,

security, networking, and um..um.. games.

Good Luck
Nick-

[captain ron]

As far as my Photo Shop not working I have not tried it myself. I was told if you ran any pirated programs on vista your computer would be locked down as vista suposedly goes online and reports this to microsoft  I just didn't want to take a chance. The mp3's and midi files did come up with a window saying I did not have permission to use those files. I was however able to use them off of one of my usb sticks. I can probably change file names and make them work.