how to downgrade aspire m5640 to xp

our office bought an acer aspire m5640 with windows vista...we have
encountered many problems because some of the programs use in the
office are designed only in xp...i tried to downgrade to xp but an
error occured...pls help me...thanks in advance...




jandyman

Before doing anything drastic, try running the legacy applications in the
Compatibility mode.

If still no joy, you'll probably have to do a clean install of Windows XP. But
before doing that, be sure that Acer can provide drivers for Windows XP.

On Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:20:14 +0000,

Two different OS`s ; what did the error say ?

There could be a couple possible adverse repercussions of which you
should be aware. First and foremost, if the specific computer model in
question was designed specifically for Vista, there may well be no
WinXP-specific device drivers available to make the computer's diverse
components work properly. Consult the computer's manufacturer about the
availability of device drivers. Secondly, removing an OEM-installed
operating system and replacing it with another will almost invariably
void any and all support agreements and, in rare cases, possibly even
the warranty. You would, at the very least, have to re-install Vista
before getting any support from the manufacturer. Again, consult the
computer's manufacturer for specifics. Thirdly, there will be the
additional cost involved in purchasing a WinXP license for this new
computer.

After backing up any data you wish to transfer to the new OS
installation, simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be
offered the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part
of the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of
boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

Then, assuming you were successful in obtaining WinXP-specific
device drivers so that the computer can be made to work with WinXP, the
backed up data can be restored and applications (those that are
WinXP-compatible, that is) re-installed.



Bruce Chambers

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Downgrade means you MUST erase the Vista and then start to install the
XP via a standard install CD. You can not "set up" to install within
a running Vista system.

Quick trip to Acer's web site shows that they do not have any drivers for XP
for your Acer desktop "Aspire m5640", only Vista and Win 7 drivers. You
can't downgrade the OS on the computer unless the component manufacturers
have XP drivers which I would doubt as this is a newer computer.

On 12/17/09, jandyman posted:
VMware Reader is free and can be used to create a Windows XP Virtual
Machine inside of Vista to run the older applications. You will need a
valid (previously unused) Windows XP license to install XP in the VM.

OTOH, I am running a lot of applications written for XP on my Vista
machine with no problems, so I don't know what your difficulty might be
(you didn't give us much info to go on).

I do have a couple of applications that require hardware drivers that
aren't available in Vista; they run very nicely in my VM.

Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com

I just checked and Acer DOES NOT support drivers for XP on your system.
I would try your best to get it working on Vista because if you want XP
you will be dealing with third party drivers and some won't work or
cause errors and there will simply be some drivers you cannot find.