back to xp

[tantraman]

anyone know how to go back to xp from vista beta?

[MrGuy]

I'm kind of wondering the same question. I'm sure there's an uninstall option somewhere if not going into add/remove programs and un-installing it there. There has to be a return to previous operating system option. I'm going to install Vista Beta and remove is once the trial period expires.

[nitroshift]

this is exactly why i always recommend making a ghost image of the OS before upgrading. that way you can always restore it. as for restoring back to xp, i doubt you will do that as vista wrote its (newer) files in the windows folder and modified the registry. however, if anyone manages the restoration i'll be interested to know how they did it.

[Crash Override]

Microsoft has never supported a downgrade path. As with any version of Windows, if you performed an upgrade and chose to save your previous OS then you will have the option to uninstall. If you just got click happy and zipped through the install of Vista beta without backing up your previous install, your only option is a complete reinstall from scratch.

[TheFlash428]

As far as I know it is not possible, as the vista image overwrites the existing OS files.

Microsoft has warned that the once the Vista beta is installed, you will not be able to revert to an older operating system without a reinstall and that the public beta expires in 1 year (June 2007). Once the public version is released, Microsoft has said, you may or MAY NOT be able to apply the upgraded version over the beta, meaning that a complete re-install may also be required at that time. The beta is meant for testing purposes only and should not be used on a computer that you don't mind having to reformat.

*This is just a personal summarization of what I have read on the vista beta release, and because I'm not actually supplying any links to official documentation, it should only be considered hearsay--but I stand by these recommendations.

[Andromeda43]

I read many different forums and in each one I've seen one Guru after another admonish readers to NOT install Vista Beta on the OS drive. Never! Nada! Nunca! Nicht!

Absolutely NEVER install any beta version of anything unless you have a backup of your hard drive on another HD or DVD.

Even though I have Ghost backups of my own HD going back over two years, I wouldn't dream of putting Vista Beta on my C: drive. When the DVD gets here (whenever) it will be installed on a new drive....NOT my C: drive.

Microsoft has warned that the once the Vista beta is installed, you will not be able to revert to an older operating system without a reinstall and that the public beta expires in 1 year (June 2007). Once the public version is released, Microsoft has said, you may or MAY NOT be able to apply the upgraded version over the beta, meaning that a complete re-install may also be required at that time. The beta is meant for testing purposes only and should not be used on a computer that you don't mind having to reformat.

Microsoft has never supported a downgrade path. As with any version of Windows, if you performed an upgrade and chose to save your previous OS then you will have the option to uninstall. If you just got click happy and zipped through the install of Vista beta without backing up your previous install, your only option is a complete reinstall from scratch.

I wish I could say I have some kind of a quick fix for the problem......But, alas, I don't.

My only "Quick Fix" would be to get out your Ghost backup Image of your HD that you made before you installed Vista and do a restore.

Good Luck,

Andromeda B)