Just got the $399 sony laptop from the Bestbuy on BF. want to downgrade to Windows XP. Only problem is don’t know the best way to get a windows xp cd or dvd. I do have XP dvds for my other PCs but not sure if compatible. Any suggestions?
As long as it’s not an OEM cd, such as from Dell or Compac, etc. then it should be okay. The license key is the only thing that is not transferable. Even then you can contact Microsoft and get them o transfer your license if you’re going to sell/destroy your old PC.
Don’t quote me, but I think you might be able to transfer an OEM license if you are persistant enough. The trick in that situation is finding a disk to install from.
I got like 2 xp dvds from desktop emachines, and 1 from toshiba notebook. They probably are OEM CDs. Might need to find a place to get a XP CD or maybe i should just buy 2GB of memory to put in there.
If the Emachines DVDs are plain vanilla XP, you should be able to install it fine. You’ll probably have to hit up the Sony page for some specific drivers after the fact, but the OS should run fine.
I’ve installed XP off of a Toshiba DVD as well; that particular one was basically plain vanilla (the extra stuff was optional installs). Other Toshiba disks might be different though.
The question is: do you or anyone else use any of those three computers still? If they are up and running you won’t be able to activate windows on the new laptop.
Yeah, i’m still running these 2 emachines and I’m replacing the toshiba with the new sony. How do you check if the cd is vanilla?
You’re pretty much limited to using the Toshiba disk then.
The only way I know to test based on the information we have is to try it and see. Worst case scenario, you have to reinstall Vista from the disks that came with your Sony.
I worked on so many of those sonys at geek squad. You may not want to install xp until you check for xp drivers.
Very good advice. download all drivers first, save them on cd/usb drive and THEN downgrade. I did this a few weeks ago. Best thing that’s happened to my laptop.
Why do you keep calling it “downgrading”? Vista -> XP is an UPgrade.
That’s true but that’s the official “call”. The sony laptop doesn’t come with any cd so unless i can create a recovery dvd from the system partition otherwise I might have to request one from sony.
There’s a built in utility to make recovery disks. Your main concern is checking the Sony website to see if they have drivers for Windows XP.
Yeah, I just check sony’s site. It seems there are no xp drivers for this laptop. I guess I’m stuck with vista for now.
Not really. Just go out there and buy a full copy of XP. I did it for my laptop(howbeit that I got my copy from a friend), and I’ll do it again when I build my new PC. It may cost more, but in the end you will get the downgrade that you always wanted minus the crapware.
Oh, and one more thing, I know that you checked Sony’s site, but did you check each parts manufactuer for the drivers(like NVIDIA for vid card)?
Errm… no. He already has payed for TWO copies of the same software. Why should he have to pay more for the same thing? Make the OEM give you another copy and make Microsoft let you install it on whatever system you desire. Or like Jion said, download a copy of Linux and learn how to use that. It’s a great OS, but still a lot of trouble if you already payed twice for something in the first place.
Any specific problem/issue you’re running into, or just randomly want to move back to XP?
well I just got the laptop and with its specs, it’s kinda sluggish running vista. Of course i haven’t had any chance getting to know how to use vista yet.
Did you get the opitimized one, or just a plain Sony? I know must of the shit us Geek Squad people say is complete BS, but the optimization we do is actually pretty good.
If you want to try and accomplish the same thing on your own, you should probably use Windows Classic mode instead of the Vista theme. Also use msconfig, to clean out various startup items that aren’t necessary. And go through the Window’s uninstaller and get rid of anything that isn’t essential to running the system. (Wild Tangent, Google Desktop, etc)
Unfortunately all our ‘Agent Tweaks’ cost money, but they do a lot to speed up the system as well.
just go upgrade to 2gb and be happy
the sony model is VGN-NR110E/S.
After much consideration, I’m going to install XP to make it dual boot, just so i can still use xp comfortably while learning how to use vista.
I was wondering about this myself. Everyone is telling me Vista is horrible. But I’m sure it beats this piece of shit Windows 98 computer I’m running now. I got a new HP with Vista on it, am I going to hate it? Haven’t gotten a chance to hook it up yet.