Vista n00bie! A little help please

E

Eminemdrdre00

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
75
I finally downloaded Vista RC1 and received a key. I just got a brand new laptop (about 2 weeks old) with Media Center 2005. Im very tempted to install Vista however. Is it possible to go back to XP Media Center if I dont like Vista, or will I be stuck with it? Also is Office 2003 compatible? Thanks!
 
yeah you should be able to go back to XP by running your recovery cd. Before you install vista, make sure you have all the cd's and you are not required to create any special driver cd's off the computer from within windows that way you dont get screwed when it comes time to restore it back to xp. As for Office it should be compatible.
 
a lot of off the shelf laptops and pc's I've seen lately have no cds, but its hidden in a special hidden partition. You can still roll back, just be sure not to blow away that partition during the install. Otherwise you'll have to order cds from the manufacturer for a fee.
 
Eminemdrdre00 said:
I finally downloaded Vista RC1 and received a key. I just got a brand new laptop (about 2 weeks old) with Media Center 2005. Im very tempted to install Vista however. Is it possible to go back to XP Media Center if I dont like Vista, or will I be stuck with it? Also is Office 2003 compatible? Thanks!
Click to expand...

If by going back to Media Center you mean completely reinstalling everything then yes :D You cannot uninstall Vista if you upgrade Media Center. May I suggest you make a separate partition for Vista and leave Media Center alone if you really want to try it.
 
Ok so right now I have 35gb of 60gb free. Should I make a partition of say 15gb for Vista? Would that be enough? And what should I use to do it. Can I really make a partition with the Vista DVD? My big concern is getting that 15gb back when I decide Im done experimenting with Vista.
 
Use something like GPart to break off a new partition. Then Vista's setup will allow you to chose and format the unallocated space. Keep in mind, that if you decide to dump Vista, you'll need to run GPart to remove that partition, and resize your old partition back to use the whole disk. Then, you'll need to boot from your XP CD again, to repair the boot sector using the Recovery Console.

If you don't want to hassle with that, your other option would be to use something like Ghost, and make an image of your drive now to another computer or an external USB drive. Then install Vista. If you don't like it, wipe the drive, and restore your XP image.

Office 2003 works fine with RC1. I have it installed on my test laptop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top