Vista upgrade to XP

[icantux]

Is the Vista Home Premium eligible for a down(up)grade to XP Pro or are there costs involved when asking for this of Lenovo customer service when ordering a system? Would Vista Business be eligible for a free down(up)grade?

Thanks

[Ken Fox]

Is the Vista Home Premium eligible for a down(up)grade to XP Pro or are there costs involved when asking for this of Lenovo customer service when ordering a system? Would Vista Business be eligible for a free down(up)grade?

Thanks

Your Vista Home Premium license entitles you to use XP instead, however Lenovo has an inconsistent policy on providing recovery disks in this situation and generally will try to charge you ($48 US delivered in the USA) for the XP recovery disks. With Vista business one is entitled to use XP Pro, but with Vista Home Premium you might be entitled only to the Home version of XP (not sure on that). If you do a search on the Microsoft website (or possibly Lenovo's) I'm sure that you can find the answer to that question.

If you are sure that you will use XP, then get a system configured with XP. If you are unsure which OS you will end up using then you could try to obtain a copy of someone's XP Rescue Disks from a forum member (for a similar system to what you have or will be obtaining) and could then order the system with Vista. Most probably you will be able to get a copy of these disks for a small fraction of what Lenovo would charge you, if you post a request in the Marketplace forum.

[proaudioguy]

Is the Vista Home Premium eligible for a down(up)grade to XP Pro or are there costs involved when asking for this of Lenovo customer service when ordering a system? Would Vista Business be eligible for a free down(up)grade?

Thanks

The last time I checked Vista Business and Vista Ultimate were eligible for downgrade to XP Pro, TE, etc. All other Vista versions were not eligible for the downgrade. Either way you had to bring your own media. Lenovo/ IBM would not give me restore discs. I showed them the document and they promised to send it up the chain to see what could be done. 2-3 months later they were putting XP restore discs in with new computers that had Vista business preloaded. I can only assume I was not the only one that brought this to their attention.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... _chart.doc

"Can I downgrade my OEM version of Windows Vista Business to Windows XP Professional?
Yes. OEM downgrade rights for desktop PC operating systems apply to Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate as stated in the License Terms. Please note, OEM downgrade versions of Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate are limited to Windows XP Professional (including Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP x64 Edition). End users can use the following media for their downgrade: Volume Licensing media (provided the end user has a Volume Licensing agreement), retail (FPP), or system builder hologram CD (provided the software is acquired in accordance with the Microsoft OEM System Builder License). Use of the downgraded operating system is governed by the Windows Vista Business License Terms, and the end user cannot use both the downgrade operating system and Windows Vista Business. There are no downgrade rights granted for Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Home Premium."