vista... how i hate thee

[Ben]

so i want to get vista off of my unit.
I want to erase my hard drive.
I want to install XP again.
I want to be happy again.

You see....Vista dosent support Downgrading.

Some dude on a tech forum said to me "go to DOS, and RUN FDISK"
dos is apparently different on vista or something. It dosent recognize the run command.

Vista Home Basic.

So some dude recomends that i partition my drive. Turns out it already is partitioned.
However, how to acess the other part of my drive is beyond me. You see, im stupid.

Some other dude tells me i need an XP disk, and a Vista Disk. The computer didnt come with a vista disk. It was just....already installed.


I dont care if i lose things. I really dont. The **** on my computer can be easily backed up, or re-gotten.

Can somebody help a guy out with some advice, or a series of intructions? Ive been plugging at this all frakin day and getting nowhere

[cherko]

Can't help you. However, I can on the other hand post some information that is barely related to your problem at all.

I'm getting a computer with Vista next week. From what I've seen, it seems far too flashy and full of unneccessary features. If I want a huge clock on my desktop, I'll download some kind of software for that. An OS should just be all the basic stuff.

Either way, it can't be worse than the crap computer I'm stuck with now.

[Dragonium]

My suggestions.

1) I know I've discussed this with you already, but if possible, upgrade to Vista Home Premium. It is far superior to Basic.

2) Taken from Vista Help:

Open Computer Management.  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

In the Navigation pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.

Right-click the volume that you want to format, and then click Format.

To format the volume with the default settings, in the Format dialog box, click OK, and then click OK again.

3) Ask the computer place to let you borrow a Vista disc. In the likely event that they cannot do this because of "policies", take the computer in. They should have a tech service or something. Get them to do it.

4) Sometimes when I boot up my Vista-loaded laptop, it gives me a menu where it lets me choose which operating system to load and run. I'd love to tell you how to do this, but so far I've only succeeded in doing it by accident. This at least suggests that you can have more than one OS on there, you just have to figure out how.

5) Useful stuff, also taken from Vista help:

Click to open Computer Management.  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

In the Navigation pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.

Right-click the volume that you want to format, and then click Format.

To format the volume with the default settings, in the Format dialog box, click OK, and then click OK again.

Install more than one operating system (multiboot)

When you install the new version of Windows, you can keep an older version of Windows on your computer. This is often called a multiboot or dual-boot configuration.

Before you begin: Make sure that your hard disk has a separate partition for each operating system that you want to install, or that your computer has multiple hard disks. Otherwise, you will either have to reformat and repartition your hard disk or install the new operating system on a separate hard disk. Also, make sure that the partition or disk where you plan to install the new version of Windows is formatted with the NTFS file system. To create and format a partition, see Create and format a hard disk partition.

Warning
Reformatting and repartitioning your hard disk deletes all information on that disk. If you are running a previous version of Windows and want to partition your hard disk without reformatting it, use disk partitioning software, which is available from various manufacturers. Some disk partitioning software allows you to keep your information. If you’re already running the most recent version of Windows and want to partition your hard disk, see Can I repartition my hard disk? Before installing Windows, be sure to disable all antivirus software and back up your files to an external hard disk, a CD or DVD, a USB flash drive, or a network folder.

Turn on the computer running your current edition of Windows, and then insert the installation disc into the computer's CD or DVD drive.

On the Install Windows menu, click Install now.

On the Get important updates for installation page, we recommend getting the latest updates to help ensure a successful installation and to help protect your computer against security threats. You must be connected to the Internet to receive installation updates. This page might not appear if your computer is not connected to the Internet.

On the Type your product key for activation page, we strongly recommend that you type your 25-character product key to help avoid problems during activation.

On the Please read the license terms page, if you accept the license terms, click I accept the license terms.

On the Which type of installation do you want? page, click Custom.

On the Where do you want to install Windows page, select the partition or disk where you want to install the new Windows operating system.

Click Next to begin the installation. You might see a compatibility report.

Notes
To set up a multiboot configuration on a computer that does not yet have an operating system, partition the hard disk so each operating system you want to install has a partition, and begin by installing the oldest operating system first.

Any programs and drivers that you want to use must be installed on each operating system that you want to use them in.

If you have more than one operating system installed on your computer, you can choose which one starts when you turn on your computer. More than one operating system installed on a computer is often called a multiboot configuration.

Click to open System.

Click Advanced System Settings.  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.

Under System startup, in the Default operating system list, click the operating system that you want to use when you turn on or restart your computer.

Tip
To be able to choose which operating system to use when you turn on your computer, make sure the Time to display list of operating systems check box is selected, and then click the number of seconds that you want the list of available operating systems displayed before the default operating system starts automatically.

Hope that helps.

[ZeroKirbyX]

*Mac* XD

[Archem]

That's exen worse than Vista!

[ZeroKirbyX]

I thought you were my mac buddy!

[Archem]

Yeah, well... I don't really feel too bad about Vista, either. Not that I would want to get it any time soon.

[Osmose]

1. Command prompt in Vista is in the same place as it's been since Windows 95: Start->Programs->Accessories. Alternatively, hit the Windows key, type in "cmd", and hit enter.

2. Yes, your drive is already partitioned, you can't use the drive without partitioning it. But that doesn't mean that you have more than one partition, meaning that there is no "other partition" for you to get to. Right now it probably has a single partition that has Windows and all your files on it.

3. Vista Home Basic is the most horrible version of Vista next to the gimped ones they're selling to third world countries. I suggest you give Vista Home Premium or any of the other editions a try before making judgment on the OS.

4. If you really want XP, there's two options.:

 A. The "Save all your data" way.
 B. The "Really easy lose your data" way.

Path A:

Take all your important files and burn them to a CD. Note that programs and stuff that has to be installed can't just be copy-pasted into your new OS, so either save the installation files or just get them later, assuming they're available somewhere on the internet. You may also look into online backup sites to store your info, although that is slower and more annoying. There is the third option of extending your partition to a second one and keeping your data there, but you don't seem to be too worried about keeping your data, so I'm not going to go into it.

Next, go get yourself a CD with Windows XP on it. Buy it, download it, burn it, whatever you want to do (I suggest buying it, as XP is cheap as hell these days, and having a legit copy of software gives one a warm fuzzy feeling after years of pirating software).

Next step might be a little tricky. Stick the CD into your drive and restart your computer. If it gives you the option to boot from the CD, go for it. If not, you'll have to edit your BIOS to allow you to. When your computer starts up it should say somewhere "Hit DEL to enter setup" or "Hit DEL to enter the BIOS". Usually the key is DEL but it may be different. Either way, when your computer boots up it should give you the option to go to the BIOS somehow - do so.

Browse around your BIOS until you find something that looks like "Boot Priority" or something similar. It should have a list including "Removable Drive", "Hard Disk", and "CD Rom Drive". Make sure CD Rom drive is ahead in priority of the Hard Disk, and exit the BIOS after saving your settings (It should tell you which key near the bottom will save and exit).

Your computer should restart and either automatically boot from the CD or give you the option to. Do so, and it should load up. From here, you follow the installation instructions. When a partition management console pops up at some point (Which it should, look for the option to go to it if given), go to it and format the drive, giving it one new partition (Two if you're feeling dangerous or want to utilize it for, say, keeping data you don't want erased in between system updates or new OS installations).

Install, and enjoy.

Path B is just Path A without the backup part.

[Ben]

wow, thanks moose.

you clairified alot that was confusing to me.

Ill give home premium a shot at some point. But today Im gonna pick up a bag of XP

[lonewolf]

vista  i dont like it but it's got one thing one it thats good that my old pc did not have dvd's work
a hell lot good and you have a good sound card in it

but the only thing i dont like is when i making a chipset
or charaset you have to move a way from the screen
i like to see what im doing so i have to be near the screen
so to to see what it is im doing
so it's not all good but the game's video look's cool