Windows Vista to Windows XP

[ricka01]

I know this must have been discussed here thoroughly, but I can't find it. My questions are in regards to a T60/T60P that I might be purchasing, and which has Windows Vista installed on it.

1. Is it possible to get rid of Windows Vista and install Windows XP? Is there a guide somewhere that discusses this?

2. Is this advisable? I am assuming that all drivers required to operate these computers are available in XP and Vista versions.

Thanks,
Rick

[andyP]

Here's a good thread about downgrading;
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... =downgrade

Don't forget to create the Vista recovery discs beforehand.

"adviseable?" - if you feel you need to downgrade, why not?

[steveg47]

1. Is it possible to get rid of Windows Vista and install Windows XP? Is there a guide somewhere that discusses this?

2. Is this advisable? I am assuming that all drivers required to operate these computers are available in XP and Vista versions.

1. Yes, but be sure to create Vista recovery disks before you wipe the drive and install XP.

2. The T60 was available before Vista was released so all the XP drivers you will need are readily available from the Lenovo website.

IBM/Lenovo has always provided excellent driver support.

[amardeep]

Does anyone know how much the "downgrade" XP Recovery CD costs ?

[ryengineer]

Does anyone know how much the "downgrade" XP Recovery CD costs ?

$45 (excluding state tax and shipping), will vary for UK.

[mgo]

I know this must have been discussed here thoroughly, but I can't find it. My questions are in regards to a T60/T60P that I might be purchasing, and which has Windows Vista installed on it.

1. Is it possible to get rid of Windows Vista and install Windows XP? Is there a guide somewhere that discusses this?

2. Is this advisable? I am assuming that all drivers required to operate these computers are available in XP and Vista versions.

Thanks,
Rick

Vista really isn't all that bad. It has some annoyances, but once it is set up and running they tend to fade.

My favorite trick with Vista is to run it in "Classic" mode. This gets rid of the visual clutter and helps the computer (and you) concentrate on running programs rather than the overly busy Vista "features".

Run Vista's Windows Explorer in "Classic", too. It's cleaner and less jumpy and more responsive, too.

For copy jobs use the built-in RoboCopy rather than the old XP style copy and paste.

There is a big bug in copy and paste in Vista and it's slow as hell. Robocopy, however is really fast and works great. It's a snap to create the little batch jobs for Robocopy. I could give you some examples if you like.

You could also use the SyncBack SE freeware if you want a GUI-based copy program. It's fast in Vista and simple to set up.

No reason to spend more time and money installing XP when a few little adjustments will make Vista run pretty well for you.

Vista handles graphics really well. Text and other things look really nice in Vista, even with the plain vanilla video drivers.

[amardeep]

Thanks for the info ryengineer.

The UK cost is £40. As I am currently in the US for a couple of weeks I called the US number and it is indeed $45 plus tax. However, US support cannot send out UK versions of the CD (even to a US address using a US credit card).

I am quite surprised that the CD's are region specific, and as I have a UK model Thinkpad, the UK CD would seem to be the one to get. I would imagine the differences aren't earth-shattering, but I don't know what they are.

I've seen it suggested online that the cost of such CD's for other brands is fairly nominal, so it's annoying that Lenovo's are $40 in the US and $80 in the UK.

[bill bolton]

I've seen it suggested online that the cost of such CD's for other brands is fairly nominal, so it's annoying that Lenovo's are $40 in the US and $80 in the UK.

Its similar here in Australia!

Cheers,

Bill B.

[amardeep]

Aarghh ! My recovery CD's finally turned up 15 days after I called. They've shipped me the US set anyway, and on a follow up call to them they say that the CD's are the same, except the UK set has the modem disabled (!?) but apart from that are basically the same, though I was advised that I may need to set up the keyboard to be a UK keyboard after install.

This all sounds a bit strange, but I have seen the UK part (43T8164) listed on the Lenovo site somewhere as UK, modem disabled, though curiously not on the specific page for my Thinkpad (type 8889), where it is just listed as UK.

I guess it'll be fine, I'll give it a go this weekend. Still a bit annoyed that not only did it cost me £40, but I also could have payed $45 for exactly the same thing. And shipping is not exactly speedy, especially when you are itching to get your new machine set-up. Oh well, let's hope the install goes smoothly.

[amardeep]

After a bit of confusion with Rescue and Recovery (see http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=51610) I've successfully used the XP recovery cd's to install XP Pro.

Strangely I had to install the graphics card driver and the turbo memory (off) drivers by hand, having obtained them from the Lenovo website. This was after using the recovery cd's (I thought the point was that absolutely everything was done by them).

The turbo memory shows up as a pci memory device. Both it and the graphics card are found by XP as new hardware and the user is prompted to install drivers. It was also very evident that there was something initially wrong with the graphics as window drags weren't smooth at all.