Removing Vista to Install XP

Last Updated: 2/14/10

Date: June 2007
Model Tested: eMachines W3619

Note: If you don't backup your comptuer before removing Windows Vista it may make it hard to reinstall Vista later unless your computer came with a Windows Vista install disk.

Many people have found too much of their software and hardware to be incompatible with Windows Vista to use it for long. I was recently approached by a friend with the same problem on his newly purchased eMachine W3619. So I began the process of removing Windows Vista and installing Windows XP. The first thing to note is that Windows Vista using a different boot process (Vista does not use the XP syle MBR to NTLDR process), so it works best to delete all partitions from the computer before attempting to install Windows XP. I only partitioned and formated 40% of the drive so that I could install Windows Vista on the other partition later if it was needed. If you want a dual boot system with Windows Vista and Windows XP be sure to install XP first and Vista second!!

Installing Windows XP went smooth like expected, but finding all the drivers was a headache. It seems that Microsoft has convinced a lot of hardware manufacturers to not create XP drivers to force people to use Vista. Even if they do make XP drivers they seem to make them really hard to find. This paticular computer uses an Intel Chipset (Intel ® 945GC) which had XP drivers available, but not from eMachines website. I had to download them from Intel's website. The Vista drivers from eMachines website worked well for the modem and the sound card. The graphics drivers (Intel ® Graphics Media Accelerator 950) were located on Intel's website.

Keywords: removing vista, install xp over vista, install vista drivers on windows xp, deleting vista, erasing vista, dual boot xp and vista, xp drivers for emachines actiontec modem Vista2Xp