downgrading a vista license to XP pro?

dpidcoe · Post by **dpidcoe** » Thu May 03, 2007 11:30 pm

So I just built my dad a new computer. The network admin at his workplace talked him into buying an OEM copy of vista ultimate. He said that my dad could call up microsoft and they'd give him an XP pro cd key so he could stick XP on until vista was more stable. I just called microsoft today and after running around in circles with a tech who couldn't understand I was the manufacturer of the computer he finally said something to the effect of "eee'm sorry sir but unless you are weeling to purchas a copee oov xp pro vee canoot give yooo an xp key, yoo need to contact zee manufacturer". I think he also said that since it was OEM they couldn't support it but I'm not sure.

So did the network admin not know what he was talking about or did I just get unlucky and talk to the wrong support person? It's also a possibility that my dad confused something either in talking to me or his network admin.

Post by **Chrisax** » Fri May 04, 2007 12:02 pm

I never heard of a possible commercial downgrade from Vista to XP while Vista is not more stable. I don't mean it can't happen, just that I never heard about it.

Fuze is right, and to be honest, there is very little interest in using Vista at the moment, especially with the configurations required.

teredoc · Post by **teredoc** » Fri May 04, 2007 1:00 pm

I've never heard of any company giving you software (license) because you are not pleased with what you bought in the first place. I'm sure some companies do it, but I'm also sure the majority don't. At least when you are "just" a normal user.

I'm not a defender of Microsoft and Vista in any way mind you. I don't use either except for work - where I have to (Vista in VMware is pure torture).

The Alky Project currently is a one-man project that will take forever to finish unless he starts releasing source and not requiring 50$ to get the latest development trunk. Everyone should refuse to use anything but OpenGL

Lostyouth · Post by **Lostyouth** » Fri May 04, 2007 1:21 pm

indeed, what chris, fuze and tered said is right...i guess your network admin mixed something up. there was only an option to receive a windows vista key for free if u order a new copy of windows xp professional, but that was only for those who ordered xp prof from vista release date until 15th of March this year.

Doom_Eater · Post by **Doom_Eater** » Fri May 04, 2007 10:14 pm

Bad thing cuz XP > Vista...
Vista looks nice but got a record of bugs that FC could be proud of... and it whines more then the older versions of ZoneAlarm...

hope you get it fixed Dpid!

dpidcoe · Post by **dpidcoe** » Sat May 05, 2007 10:21 pm

Unfortunentally I listened to my dad/dad's network admin and am now stuck with a copy of vista. But I don't really care at this point since it's my dads computer (and money) and I won't be using it (except to play with the voice recognition feature

). He's either going to be stuck with vista, or he'll talk to his network admin and get a company copy of XP (most likely).

I should know the full story about the downgrade/exchange thing by monday.

Alphacenta · Post by **Alphacenta** » Mon May 07, 2007 1:50 pm

dpidcoe wrote:Unfortunentally I listened to my dad/dad's network admin

But but.. any good "youngster" should know better than to listen to parents

Doom_Eater · Post by **Doom_Eater** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:11 pm

Alphacenta wrote:But but.. any good "youngster" should know better than to listen to parents

Listen + parents!? *brain malfunction*

dpidcoe · Post by **dpidcoe** » Tue May 08, 2007 5:33 am

as near as I can figure it out, he's trying to tell me that all versions of windows have "downgrade rights". So I could pop in an XP disk, run the setup program, and install xp using an exsisting upgrade key. I don't quite know how that would be helpful (might as well have gotten xp full and vista upgrade?) unless it worked in a such a way that it doesn't matter who's upgrade key I use as long as the vista install is legit.

that explanation still doesn't make a lot of sense to me and I've gone over it with my dad about 12 times (and he thinks I don't listen to him), I think next time I build him a computer I'm going to write up a contract that specificly excludes free tech support.

Post by **Chrisax** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:00 pm

When you install a version of Windows that is an upgrade disk (not a full version), the install program looks for a product granting you the rights to that upgrade.

This product can be already installed on your hard disk, or you can insert a CD (or in the past, even a floppy) with the product allowing you to upgrade.

It is possible that a Win XP UPGRADE installation CD-ROM accepts a Windows Vista disk (or even an installed version) to start installing XP (because it looks for a code number and Vista should have the correct code number). I'm not sure about that.

If you have a full Win XP CD-ROM, the above is useless. You can scratch Windows Vista, and just install XP.

Lostyouth · Post by **Lostyouth** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:32 pm

When we installed Vista on some computers in our company it was neither possible to upgrade an existing installation of XP to Windows Vista neither to install any components of XP into an existing Vista installation, so i doubt a downgrade from vista to xp is possible (as the core works completely different with all the new security checks an installation of applications or windows components has to pass in Vista).

As a suggestion to your father:
Vista is the total horror. Just a few weeks ago ALL our vista computers crashed in the same second and were not bootable afterwards, so we had to do a windows installation all over again (with XP of course). There was no specifical reason and we still have no clue what caused this crash.

Hardware-wise, it didnt matter if it were old or new components, the hardware detection failed in at least 10% of all cases. Only thing that didnt require deep investigations was the latest Acer notebook.

Personally, i think some things of Vista are really cool. Beside the quiet nice look it brings a lot of new features. BUT: stability?! As usual this word is still not written in Microsofts lexicon...and a few changes to the administration of quiet important components are extremely bad, e.g. a taskmanager that is more a multimedia application now than simply a component that lists your current windows tasks...but anyway, everyone has to find out him- or herself...i did it...unfortunately

Alphacenta · Post by **Alphacenta** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:43 pm

Lostyouth wrote:When we installed Vista on some computers in our company it was neither possible to upgrade an existing installation of XP to Windows Vista neither to install any components of XP into an existing Vista installation, so i doubt a downgrade from vista to xp is possible (as the core works completely different with all the new security checks an installation of applications or windows components has to pass in Vista).

I do remember however, when installing win ME/98 from scratch, we always had to insert a win95 CD to "prove" that we were eligible to use the upgrade CD..

Lostyouth · Post by **Lostyouth** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:58 pm

It was more to be meant as "there were technical issues when trying to upgrade from XP to Vista"...

confirmation of a legal bought XP was still required