My first post...

Any laptop sold with vista business/ultimate will retain downgrade rights to windows xp professional or tablet edition (not a retail upgrade like Vista Home-->Ultimate). You just have to obtain the OEM install disks of either XP editions and call microsoft to get a new key.

refer to the following document under OEM (preinstalled vista business/ultimate on the computer)

download.microsoft.com/download/d/2/3/d23b9533-169d-4996-b198-7b9d3fe15611/downgrade_chart.doc

You also need to refer to the EULA of your specific machine to see if you are granted those rights.

However you can not have both vista and XP running under this situation, one or the other. Running both would require a separate license.

Obtaining the install disk for XP is probably the most difficult step unless your buddy buddy with some computer shop friends.

Another difficulty in downgrading is the acquisition of XP drivers. I have a TX1000 tablet, good luck getting those drivers. It will take a considerable effort to obtain the necessary drivers for some computers that are preloaded with Vista. The tech support will not usually help you.


Geoffrey Thomas, DO

PS the downgrade rights exist beyond yesterday's doomsday for Windows XP

Last edited by thomgeo1; 07/02/2008 3:13 AM.