help for newbie XP install over Vista

[diasurfer]

hi, I am planning to use nLite and a Windows XP with SP1 disk to install XP over my new Acer Aspire 1610 that came with Vista.

A couple of questions:

1. I am expecting to be able to download SP2 after nLite prompts. Can I expect that it will have the necessary drivers for CPU, SASA HDD, chipset, etc? The Acer site only provides drivers for what look like video and sound cards.

2. Once I create my install disk with nLite, should I reformat disk and install XP clean, OR create a disk partition using Vista and install XP in the partition, thereby preserving Vista?

3. Do I need to add SP2 and then RyanVM's SP3 update, or does the SP3 update contain SP2?

thanks

Edited January 24, 2008 by diasurfer

[Kelsenellenelvian]

OK here goes my 2 cents.

First off if acer is only offering those dl's for XP then most likely SP2 has all the rest Acer is pretty good at that.

I am pretty anal about my installs so I would install xp or vista, whatever and then mix your full disk. SP3 is super but please remember that it is BETA material so you will be reformatting once it goes final if you wish to use it. Ryans is a super way to go and the way I have gone for well over 2 years now.

Then you will want to test your disk using a Virtualization program like VMWare (30 day trial, also my fav) VirtualPC (Which is free) or one of the others like Parallels.

Once you decide on your full mix make sure you gather it all together and have at it in one go first off. Most likely you will be pleasently suprised and it will all work well.

If not then you would be reduced to going at it in steps and testing between each step.

OH and SP3 contains all of SP2 and SP1's fixes and updates.

Edited January 24, 2008 by Kelsenellenelvian

[diasurfer]

thanks for the reply

OK here goes my 2 cents.

First off if acer is only offering those dl's for XP then most likely SP2 has all the rest Acer is pretty good at that.

I am pretty anal about my installs so I would install xp or vista, whatever and then mix your full disk.

Not sure what you mean by "then mix your full disk". You're saying just pick one and install it right?

SP3 is super but please remember that it is BETA material so you will be reformatting once it goes final if you wish to use it. Ryans is a super way to go and the way I have gone for well over 2 years now.

What do you mean by "reformatting once it goes final". I think I'll just install SP2 and wait for SP3 because I don't know what this is about.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

I mean by mix your full disk having everything all in one go and installlation. Windows XP, Service pack, Windows Media Player 11, Internet Explorer 7 and several addons (Third party upgrades and programs) plus drivers. By "Mix" I mean using nLite and Having it mix all that stuff together.

Reformatting once it goes final is because you won't be able to install the final SP3 over a SP3 beta slipstreamed disk.

Welcome to MSFN.

Edited January 24, 2008 by Kelsenellenelvian