Deathtoll

According to Microsoft you need to have purchased Vista Business OEM or Vista Ultimate OEM to have the rights to "downgrade" to XP. See the downgrade FAQ below (in English). http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/8...sion-020707.pdf Alternatively, call HP support in your country.

Great post! Thank you guys for posting your knowledge here! This thread has been very helpful. I have learnt a lot about installing Mass Storage devices during the TEXTMODE portion of Windows XP Pro setup from CD. I have been trying to run up Lenovo M58 machines that do not have an ATA compatible mode and MUST run in AHCI mode and I have not been able to find a method that works. Until now! For me, two things are essential to get this to work: The ISO character set MUST exist on the CD The TEXTMODE directory MUST be in the i386 AND root directory I tried to use Nero to burn the CD using your settings but it kept failing to boot. All my system images are created using CDImage GUI. It works, is simple and creates an ISO which can be burnt and modified just about anywhere. I use the CDImage GUI method described in MSFN's Unattended Windows but with a few modifications. cdimage -h -n -c -bC:\boot.img -m -lXPVOL_EN This will ensure that the character set can be read by the TEXTMODE portion. File names beyond the DOS 8.3 format and in ANSI. All files will be written in capitals, but at least be readable by both portions of setup. Hopefully this thread will help others trying to install AHCI hardware.