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My sisters computer came from Dell with XP loaded and Vista on a disk and the product key tag stuck on tower was only the Vista Prod Key.
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I have yet to see anyone install XP "over" Vista. I've seen a clean install and as that is so widely discussed I think you were looking for the "over" the other OS method which has yet to be done.
Bob
If you would read again. ..please...I want to know:
But there has never been an uninstall feature. I bet you could not find it. That's why we install the OS we want and just delete the old partition. Again, this is widely documented so I don't duplicate that here.
As to the product keys, it may or may not work. If this is a Dell then you would need Dell's issue of XP to avoid that product key mess since their version installs without trouble.
Bob
Deleting the old partition is at about step 5 of installing XP at http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPHome/installxphome1.htm
A delete feature is there and works very well.
This will get you a clean install and with that we are done. However later you may want to install drivers such as video and more. Those are over at Dell.com and easy to find by going to dell.com, entering in your service tag.
Frankly I find restore media to be best for folk today. Installing windows is sadly not fully documented. We have guides but some folk can't believe that after 20 years we don't have a step by step.
Bob
You write "She did not have XP disk". You do? Then you're practically ready to go, unless:
1. This computer has a SATA drive, and you can't set it to IDE emulation in the BIOS
2. You XP disk is not SP1 or higher and the disk is > 127 GB.
3. It's not a retail version of XP or it's a not-Dell OEM.
In those cases there's a very good chance it won't work.
Just boot from that disk and install the OS. Then all drivers from the Dell site.
Kees
Dell probably told you that you don't need an XP disk and a product key because you have a recovery partition on your computer. If you did not delete this partition when you installed Vista, you should be able to undo what you did. If you did delete the partition, then you will have to order recovery disks from Dell. The recovery partition does not need a product key and the official Dell recovery disks for your pc do not need a product key as well. Does this help get you started with finding out what you need to do?
Tony
What you say seems correct. But you still didn't tell anything about where that XP that you want to install comes from. As said, if it comes from the recovery partition, that's by far the easiest. I think it's ctrl-F11 during boot to start that recovery process, but your Dell user manual should tell about it.
Kees
You asked about where the XP comes from...if you read I bought computer with XP loaded on it from dell
No I must have deleted Partition when Vista was installed....so how much do you think this recovery disk is????
In my experience this disk costs about $19.95 including shipping costs.
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