Comments on: How can I downgrade from windows 7 to Windows XP or Vista?

By: Jim Maryland

Jim Maryland — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:27:01 +0000

Noticed a lot of thumbs down for anyone actually trying to answer your question. Guess jcurrieii is right about Ikaros and Love32′s bias toward Vista and Windows 7. I’ve noticed that they are always negative toward Windows XP, even though XP is still a dominant OS in both business and home environments. Most computers that are running Vista weren’t an intentional upgrade by users, they just happened to buy a PC that had Vista by default (many users barely understand the difference between a PC and the operating system in the first place).

@ Ikaros and Love32 – XP IS and WILL be around for a long time. Microsoft WILL support it, mainly because business customers will demand it. Vista is not the horrible OS that some make it out to be, but it certainly isn’t the “golden OS” that you two claim it to be.

@ Jordan – Vista and Windows 7 do not have an upgrade path from XP. There have been fundamental changes in the OS that essentially make it a clean install. While you can buy an upgrade license, you really are doing a clean install. As for a downgrade, Microsoft (at least as long as I can recall) always reports downgrade attempts with a message that you are trying to install an older version. You can’t downgrade by simply running the installer from the newer OS version. You will need to either run a virtual version (an OS in an OS) or you will need to do either a multi-boot option or a clean install of the older operating system. In whatever path you choose, there are plenty of online resources to help you walk through the process.

By: dewcoons

dewcoons — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:51:44 +0000

Microsoft does not include a process from downgrading your versions of Windows. To go from Windows 7 back to an early version of Windows you have to completely format the hard drive (which will wipe all your files and others programs) and do a clean install of the earlier version of Windows.

If you all need XP or Vista for one program, a simpler solution may be to “dual boot” the computer. This involves creating a new partition on your current hard drive or adding a second hard drive. Then installing XP or Vista and the Pro Tools on that second partition. Every time you start the PC will have an option to run either Windows 7 or the earlier OS.

By: Love 32

Love 32 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:13:04 +0000

windows vista the best. windows XP is out of date….

By: bmuscedere

bmuscedere — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:08:59 +0000

Simply put, you can’t without wiping your computer. (Guessing this is the Beta Version)

You could try installing the program and then going to where your program is installed to (C:\Program Files\ProTools…for example) then right clicking on the protools exe and selecting properties.Then select the compatibility tab and check the box “Run in compatibility mode for” then select XP

Hope that helps

By: Jim Maxwell

Jim Maxwell — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:49:54 +0000

XP is okay for your basic everyday computing, such as using MS office programs …

Windows 7 is a “fixed” version of Vista, which in the eyes of many IT engineers was a bit of a disaster ….. so now Microsoft have repaired most of the bugs in the OS and re named it Windows 7.

If you are installing from scratch,
then by all means try out Windows 7,
but be warned …. anything out of the ordinary in your PC and Windows 7 will not detect it, for instance ……
I have an M AUDIO 1010LT studio audio PCI card in mine, and I could not get it to work at all with Windows 7, My Pinnacle DC10 video analogue recording card had the same fate, so good old XP saved the day …..

Basically, if your PC is working OK and has no problems, then wait a while until all the update packs and re – released versions of windows 7 is complete, at the moment Microsoft are still “playing” with the windows 7, and fixing all the bugs as they are discovered ….

Hope this has been of some use to you …..

Jim Maxwell

By: brayden

brayden — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:19:38 +0000

To install a different OS, you need to purchase the software, insert the CD into the CD/DVD drive, and boot up with the CD in the drive. But before you do this, go into your BIOS and set CD as being the first drive the computer reads, or else it’ll bypass the CD and just boot up normally.

If your PC used to have Vista on it, and your program ran with Vista, then it should run with Win 7. But there is probably some sort of driver incompatibility nuance that screwed up when you loaded the beta version. My suggestion is to just reload your Vista (using the same steps in para 1). Then later you can get the actual upgrade version back to Win 7 and try again. But don’t, don’t, don’t go back to the dark ages to XP.

Make sure you back up all of your files before you do any of this. Copy them to an external HD, another PC, a CD, memory stick, DVD, etc (not your system files, I’m referring to your files like pictures, music files, word files, excel files, etc etc)

By: Sundi

Sundi — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:16:07 +0000

like everyone else said- you’ll have to reinstall.
I’ve tried Windows 7 already- I’ve reinstalled three times and I think it’s crap. I work on computers for a living so I know what I’m doing.
I’ll be staying with XP on my work computers. I just bought a new computer at home which came with Vista Premium and I decided to keep it. If I get frustrated then I’ll put XP on this also. If I decide to later upgrade to 7 at least I know I have it for free as a Vista Premium owner

By: ikaros

ikaros — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:57:33 +0000

From 7 to XP! Oh boy,another genius!

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:44:23 +0000

Windows 7 has not been released yet.

You need to reinstall Windows Vista or XP

By: David S

David S — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:35:39 +0000

The difference between Windows XP and Windows Vista was from the ground up, making it difficult for programs and drivers from XP to work in Vista cus everything fuctioned in a different way and system files were replaced or located in different folders. And a bunch of new features were added.

HOWEVER

This is not so with Windows 7, 7 is not a radical redesign of the OS, its basically Windows Vista with a new interface and slightly optimised resource management to improve speed…. That is why everyone rants about how Windows 7 is so smooth and bug free for a new OS…. its not actually anything significantly new besides the GUI, Libraries (which are basically shortcuts) and a few other niggles…

The only programs that dont work with Windows 7 are programs that deal directly with the inner working of the PC (for things like Tune-Up programs, Anti-virus and Disk partitioning software) – Not for things like photoshop, Pro-Tools and Solidworks

I installed Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools regular on Windows 7 with no hassle, however if u still have problems i recommend going to the program files folder that contains ProTools.exe or ProToolsLE.exe , right clicking on it, Properties>Compatibility then in the “Compatibility Mode” area click “Vista Service Pack 2″ from the drop down menu, then click in the box below “Run as administrator”

Althought im doubtful there would be any issues cus i dont have any (on my 64bit systems) this should solve any problem

Also check that your not trying to install the 64bit (x64) editions on a 32bit (x86) PC