Vista trick

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

you can boot to a vista DVD and select language->next->repair windows->command prompt to get access to a non bootable XP machine

things that worked:

could read/write NTFS partitions of the XP install

regedit

taskmgr

DVD drive

hot plugging a USB drive (no notification of it - had to guess the drive letter in cmd though)

copy to/from hard disk/usb drive using DOS copy/xcopy

things that didnt work:

networking (duh)

mmc

explorer

hijackthis!

MSOffice12 (yeah i tried it)

still not a huge breakthrough but kinda worth noting incase you ever catch yourself with a XP box that wont do safemode, a vista DVD and no PE type cd

oh and 1 other 'DidYouKnow' type thing:

the hostname used during Vista initial setup (before networking is actually installed) is "MINWINPC"

[spacesurfer]

cool

[MAVERICKS CHOICE]

Must give it a try, thanks for the tip.

[trickytwista]

excellent tip which i no doubt shall use sometime in the future. nice 1