Want XP instead of Win 7

[Geek-9pm]

let me Google that for you   

http://tinyurl.com/yboxzss

[Allan]

When I use CMD and type "fromat c:" and tell it yes a new screen comes up and wants to know if I want to force a dismount? When I type "Y" the next line says, "Cannot lock the drive. The Volume is still in use."
Thanks

THAT's what we needed to know!. As patio said, you cannot format from within the OS - every living creature (including Windows OS's) has the instinct of self-preservation. You must boot to the OS cd and start from there - as I told you in my first post in this thread. If you'd pay attention you could have had this problem over and done yesterday.

[Geek-9pm]

If you'd pay attention you could have had
this problem over and done yesterday.

I tried to warn him. 

[patio]

What his goals are and how he wants to achieve them are diametiically opposed right now,,,

[jkolak]

I see trouble myself. My Acer came with XP. The 40GB HDD was partitioned into 20GB C: in NTFS and 20GB D: in FAT32.

I didn't like the arrangment and wanted one NTFS partition, so I elected to erase the HDD and start over.

Unfortunately, the System Restore CD set halted due to a scratch on the surface. No options to do anything but reboot. So all I could do was get my old original (as in not even SP1 or Blast Fix) XP Pro CD.

It loaded in, and then I ran all of the Service Pack and updates, but it was really unreliable in network connections. Downloading all of Acer's XP drivers did not help. I finally solved the problem with Acer's Vista upgrade DVD offer.

Just sharing this to reinforce Geek's post that generic installations on a laptop are not always successful.

I further agree with him that XP is getting long in the tooth. The two machines I still have on XP are starting to get applications error messages asking for driver updates, but developers have moved on and the most recent drivers for the critical hardware are 5 years old.

[rus]

When I put in the Win 7 recovery disc 1 of 3 it begins to format and then asks for disc 2 of 3 and then disc 3 of 3. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm not stupid, I'm just not as computer wise as some of you. Please understand.

Thanks,

Rus

[jkolak]

Don't feel bad about inexperience Rus. The main problem is for us to understand what your situation is when you don't have the knowledge to articulate it precisely, so please be patient with us, too.

Regarding your last post, we need to clarify the difference between recovery disks and the factory supplied System Restore disk. A recovery disk is something that you make yourself so you can get your computer running again in case of a system crash or corruption. If you haven't done this, you won't have any recovery disks.

The System Restore disk that the computer manufacturer provides with new computers will wipe your computer clean and restore it to the same condition it was in when it left the factory. So if you are running this process, of course it will ask you to keep inserting the CDs until the process is finished. I think my Acer had a 6 disk System Restore. If this is what you are doing, you will end up with Windows 7 on your computer when you are finished.

This is probably not what you wanted to do, unless you changed your mind and want to keep Windows 7. I'm guessing that you tried to follow the advice above about booting with your Windows 7 DVD so you can reformat your hard drive in preparation for installing Windows XP. The Catch 22 here is that it sounds like your computer manufacturer gave you a System Restore disk instead of a Windows 7 DVD.

But that's okay, because the same thing can be accomplished with the Windows XP installation CD. If you still want to switch to Windows XP, just boot the computer with your XP installation CD and follow the onscreen instructions to erase your hard drive and start with a fresh XP install.

[rus]

When I initially turned on my Compag CQ60-615DX computer I created three restore discs. I don't have a recovery disc.
When I boot to my OEM XP DVD it begins loading all the files until it displays a blue screen with an error message that says it can't continue because it will mess up the current operating system. I'm using my Acer to communicate here so I can't quote the error message exactly.
My OEM XP disc never asks me what I want to do before it starts loading files.
I hope this is a better explanation of what I'm attempting, which is to get rid of Win 7 and install XP as my OS.

Rus

[jkolak]

Right. That's curious about your OEM XP disc. I'm also surprised it doesn't offer to let you continue after detecting the existing OS. So you don't have an actual XP installation or even XP upgrade disc.

It sounds like you need to find a proper CD or you need to download some kind of live CD that will allow you to erase your hard drive before you can proceed with the XP disc you have.

You might do a forum search. I've read some recent recommendations here for sources for such a utility, but don't remember off hand where. Or maybe someone else will come in and post in this thread.

[rus]

I went into my BIOS and there is no access to make any changes to the HHD to IDE or anything else. I suspect the HHD is restricted to Win 7 only, if that is possible.

Rus

[jkolak]

No, you are barking up the wrong tree, so to speak. There is nothing you need to do in BIOS. You need the right installation CD, or you need a utility CD that will erase your hard drive so you can use the install disk you have.

[ImnoGuru]

Rus thank you for posting this question here.

I had reservations about using vista and wanted to change back to XP because I was more familiar using XP. I didn't want to change or move ahead to Vista and was very resistant to it.

BUT after seeing the drama you have caused, I have decided to move into the future, leave my laptops with Vista and learn something new.

Geek-9pm had some sound advice, early in the thread and I took that onboard. 

I wish you every success with your endeavours and congratulate you in particular for enlightening me about the challenges, that going backwards would present to myself.

[jkolak]

I've spent a few days debating the issue myself. I have 5 computers on my LAN, 2 XP, 3 Vista. Interoperability issues as well as XP and Vista issues have had me researching the question, with even a thought or two cast towards Mac OS and Linux.

What I have learned is that Win7 is the best Windows made yet and generally upgrading from Vista will solve whatever problems Vista has been causing on your machine. I will upgrade all 5 at once as soon as I get a couple of more product keys.

I, too, have spent the last 7 or so years coming to somewhat of a familiarity with XP and resist the need to master a new OS. It isn't much different from Vista, but I haven't dug into Vista as much as XP. I felt the same way with my smartphone - didn't want to be troubled with mastering a new technology, but time marches on and the future is here. I have to accept that XP is not up to the demands of the present and move up.

[BC_Programmer]

I started using vista extensively now that I don't have XP on anything but my Virtual machines (windows 7 on my laptop, Vista on my desktop). I've found it can be a interesting learning experience for backwards compatible programming; I have a few routines that are nearly 2 or 3 pages of code to perform the same task that some built-in Vista Functions do. So I just say, "if we're running < windows vista, use these functions I wrote, otherwise, use the API functions) and it works great on both platforms. Certainly has improved my consciousness with regards to the "proper" location to store INI files; not in the programs folder, but rather in appdata. (turns out this has been the standard in nearly all NT versions, just only now being enforced with permissions).

[jkolak]

I think protection of the OS is a big issue in today's security environment. Coming from the early days of computer where you were the master of your OS and hard drive, I first resented all the permissions problems, but since everyone else on the net wants to be master of my computer, I see that XP is more vulnerable.