"Downgrade" to XP Pro

After using 64bit for about 2 months, I have come to the conclusion that I
need to go back to using XP Pro - mainly because the majority of my income is
provided by photography, and at the moment I cannot edit my photos as I would
wish on my own laptop, because the Nikon software I need does not run on
64bit computers.

Therefore, I would like to "downgrade" to XP - is this possible? However, I
don't know if it is, becuase the laptop I have (Acer Ferrari 4000) came pre
installed with XP64bit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Clean install only if you plan to revert back to XP x86 and you need a new
license also.

 

sorry - i'm almost completely useless with computers - by clean install I
presume you mean a complete wipe of everything on my computer (eg my
documents etc).

Also, as XP 64bit came pre installed, would that mean I would need to
download the 32 bit drivers for all my original hardware if I reverted to XP
Pro?

Thanks

 

"David Leigh-Pemberton" <>
schrieb im Newsbeitrag

You would have to copy your documents over to an other computer or store it
on any external media, i.e. cd, usb-stick, ... , wipe your whole disk, buy a
xp prof 32bit license, install xp prof, get 32bit drivers for all your
hardware, install them and reinstall all your applications.

 

Yes, the entire hard disk has to be wiped out. What you can do is back up
your data, to secondary storage, such as Blank disk or to a network location
if possible. You will have to obtain drivers for your Acer to support 32 bit
Windows since the ones provided with Acer were specifically for 64 bit
Windows, shouldn't be a problem since Acer provides drivers on their
website.

http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/ferrari4000.html

 

NO. The entire HD does NOT need to be wiped out. The Ferrari ships with 2
partitions, C: and D:, each 50 Gb in size. The OP needs to wipe out C:, but
can put all his "stuff" on D:. It will be fine.

 

The Ferrari comes with two partitions, a C: drive and a D: drive. You'll
need to wipe out everything that is on the C: drive, but your D: drive
should be OK. (the usual caveats, do a good backup first, of course!)

You'll need a retail copy of Windows XP Professional. You should also
download all the 32-bit drivers and utilities for the Ferrari from the Acer
site ahead of time, and copy them onto your D: drive as well. Also, if you
are attached to the screen saver (I am NOT), or the Ferrari sound (couldn't
live without it), you'll want to copy them off of your C: drive as well,
along with any documents and images you want to keep.

Boot off the retail XP CD, and format your C: drive and install XP there.

 

You could use the partion software that is in windows x64 and partion your
drive. Then install XP pro on the partion.
I have done this because I also have busness software that does not work in
x64 but does in XP pro.

 

Make careful you get the FULL retail license and not the upgrade license.

 

But thats what I said, back up the data to secondary storage, the only drive
that needs to be wiped is the one Windows is on which is the most likely
place he install his applications and data on.

 

correct.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64

 

Just bought a new computer preinstalled with Windows xp Pro x64 edition.
Before doing so was assured it "runs all 32 bit apps no problem". Of course
I attemtped to install the app I bought this box for and it failed b/c
"cannot run with 64 bit version of windows".

Do I basically have to wipe and re-install Standard XP pro, following the
advice in this thread? (why all the noise about WOW64 and other stuff if this
is basically hit or miss to discover if my key programs will run?)

 

Sorry it doesn't work, but some do not, and Microsoft has not done anything
about a designation for programs which DO run perfectly on x64. I would
suggest you install a dual boot option and you can be ready as more programs
and drivers become available. It has been slow so far.

 

Good advice on both counts, I should have known better. I've asked the
software mfr for "a 64-bit driver", which I gleaned from another post is
necessary when one's application requires a driver. Meantime I will proceed
setting up a dual-boot option. Thanks.

 

You could also install it in a Virtual environment using VM Ware Workstation
5.5 or Microsoft Virtual Server Standard 2005 R2

 

Hi, Andre.

That's what you meant, but what you said was:

Since David already claimed to be "almost completely useless with
computers", he might not realize how loosely the term "drive" is used. :>{

In this context, you meant to wipe the partition or logical drive, NOT the
entire hard disk. Wipe out the first partition (C and leave the second
partition (D) on the same hard disk intact.

David, as the others have said, another alternative is to install WinXP x86
(the 32-bit version) into D: and dual-boot until all the 64-bit drivers you
need are available, then delete x86 if you like to reclaim the extra hard
disk space. Most likely, your 64-bit and 32-bit programs will be able to
share the same data (photos) and quite possibly most applications, too, so
that you won't need space to duplicate all of those.

Unfortunately, this violates the Golden Rule of dual-booting: Always
install the newest Windows LAST. The newer version (x64) knows how to
handle the older one, but x86 Setup knows nothing of x64, which wasn't even
invented when the older CD was produced. So, after installing x86, you'll
need to boot the Recovery Console from the x64 CD and run FixBoot to restore
the newer versions of the startup files.

I'm surprised to hear that any recent software won't run in x64. The only
software that has given me problems are very old 16-bit programs. Hardware
drivers, though, are definitely a problem! I have a Nikon camera, but it's
only a COOLPIX since I'm about as "useless" with cameras as you claim to be
with computers. I've not even tried to load the Nikon software in x64. I
just use Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, which runs fine.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP

 

Yes this seems to be a good option. Tried do find and download but R2 doesn't
appear to be out yet; available "early december". Can I do this with VSS 2005
(not R2)? Seems like VSS R2 is/will be priced at $99, while VSS is currently
priced at $499. Should I just try the 180 day eval version of Virtual Server
Standard and see if it works until R2 is available?

 

The Virtual Server 2005 trial edition presently available is not the R2 and
won't run on x64. When it is available it will be identified with a
prominent red R2.

 

Where is this x64 partition software exactly? Right now I have one OS (x64),
and one volume (C. Since I only have one volume, don't I have to reformat
the volume / drive anyway in order to create two partitions and then install
the two OSs? Or can I in effect keep x64 in place and carve out another
partition, and then install XP Pro there?

 

Consider installing a second drive. Otherwise you will have to use
third-party software to partition the disk without losing the system on C:.
The Disk Manager in XP x64 will not allow you to divide up C:. Commercial
disk management software costs about the same as another hard disk anyway,
depending on its capacity. After you decide what you want to do, folks in
this ng can guide you to installing x86 on your system. As a rule you would
need to install the x86 edition first and then x64 (older OS's should be
installed before newer), but there are procedures for use if you have
already installed the newer OS first. First decide what you want to do.