I need immediate help formatting my Windows Vista hd back to XP.. HELP

[Monkstro]

please NO ONE suggest KILLDISK or anything like that, PLEASE... the last time i formatted my hard drive was 2 years ago and i actually did this same thing. went from Windows Vista BACK to my XP.. i just cant remember how i did it.. i know i was in some sort of MS DOS looking thing.. and i chose to partition my Vista HD or whatever and straight up formatted it... the entire Vista was GONE and once it was gone, i restared or it restarted for me and i had my XP disc in the CD/DVD-Rom drive and it automatically started installing that on the new and clean partition.. Vista was gone, as well as everything i once had.. but i DID back everything important up...

either way, i need some immediate help in doing this.. i know SOMEONE out there knows what im talking about and how to do it this way without KILLDISK or any other software... i just want to use what i already have, like ive done in the past.. format the partition tha Vista is on and start over fresh and new with XP...

my computer came with XP on it and about 2 months later i received the Vista upgrade in the mail and upgraded to it.. well, i hate it and always have and am now just like, screw it, yes, after 2 years.. but i dont care.. better late than never...

so can someone PLEASE help me out?!?! thank you soooo much! you have no idea how badly i need to get this done today..... thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!

 

[Matan Eldan]

Take a look in these links: (every one of them are step-by-step guides tech you how to downgrade Vista to XP)

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/06/22/how-to-downgrade-windows-vista-to-xp/
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800505316_499495_NP_52fdda11.HTM

 

[digitalprospecter]

I just read thru the mydigitallife link that Matan Eldan supplied in the above post and it looks like Comment #16 contains the instructions you require. The only thing is you will have a few abandoned folders and a whole useless vista operating system cluttering up your drive, but you can carefully delete those after to transfer your data to the appropriate new folders.

I still think backing up your data to an external media and reformatting the drive is the best way to downgrade because you don't leave alot of junk files behind, you fix any existing file system errors, you refresh the magnetic charges on most of your disks surface area, not to mention the files are non-fragmented on a fresh install which helps improve performance.

However, those instructions Matan supplied are the Best Answer to your request for sure.

 

[aford10]

Take a look at this link. It's got step by step instructions, with pictures.
http://www.buildeasypc.com/sw/windows_xp.htm

Before starting this, you'll need to set the CD/DVD drive as the first boot device in the BIOS. To do this, continuously tap the delete key on startup, untill you enter a blue BIOS screen. Yours should look similar to this, but all are a little different.
http://www.spotmausupport.com/wp-image/How%20to%20set%20CD-ROM%20as%20the%20first%20boot%20device/How%20to%20set%20CD-ROM%20as%20the%20first%20boot%20device2.jpg

 

[Mousemonkey]

Best answer selected by mousemonkey.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey