Member Avatar for Bick

Hi friends, My laptop support only vista operating system. Can I change this into windows xp? And the other question is when I connect my laptop to internet it automatically begin updating windows, How can I disable this updating?

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Short answer: installing Windows XP on a laptop that shipped with Vista is usually possible, but it’s a clean reinstall and requires planning. The most common blockers mentioned in this thread by and are driver availability and the disk/BIOS storage mode; the auto-update question is already covered by and .

Practical preflight checklist:

  • Make a full disk image (so the OEM recovery partition can be restored if needed) and copy the Vista COA/product-key sticker or any recovery media.
  • Gather drivers onto USB: chipset, mass‑storage (SATA/AHCI), LAN, wireless, video, audio, touchpad, and vendor power/key utilities.
  • Confirm a valid XP license (OEM vs retail) and whether the vendor supports XP for that model.

Two reliable ways to handle the storage-controller issue (when the XP installer “can’t see” the hard drive):

  • Temporarily switch BIOS SATA mode to IDE/Compatibility (if present). Note: changing this can stop Vista from booting until drivers/repairs are applied.
  • Create an XP install ISO with the SATA/mass‑storage driver injected (slipstreaming with tools like nLite). The old F6 floppy method still exists but isn’t practical without a floppy.

A safe install workflow:

  • Image the disk, remove recovery partitions if recovery image saved elsewhere, boot XP installer and do a clean install to the Windows partition (NTFS).
  • After install, install drivers in this order: chipset/mass‑storage → LAN → video → audio → wireless → vendor utilities. Reboot between major driver installs.
  • Verify Device Manager has no unknown devices and keep a copy of all drivers on a USB stick.

Alternatives and troubleshooting:

  • If no native XP drivers exist for key devices, run XP in a virtual machine on Vista (keeps the original system intact).
  • If network drivers are missing during setup, download them on another PC and transfer via USB.
  • Preserve the OEM recovery image before overwriting the drive.

This complements the thread replies: it focuses on preparation, driver order, and concrete workarounds (BIOS mode vs driver slipstream) so the install is predictable and reversible.

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Member Avatar for PcPro12

So you want to downgrade from VISTA to XP??? I never did that, as I like vista, so I don't really know how you would do that...

Disabling auto update, follow these directions...

If you are using the default control panel, follow these directions...
1. Click START.
2. Click CONTROL PANEL.
3. Click SECURITY.
4. Fine WINDOWS UPDATE.
5. Under WINDOWS UPDATE, click TURN AUTOMATIC UPDATING ON OR OFF.
6. Choose your option from the 4 available options.
7. Click OK .
8 Close the CONTROL PANEL window and you are done.

If you are using the classic control panel, follow these directions...
1. Click START.
2. Click CONTROL PANEL.
3. Double-Click WINDOWS UPDATE (should be at the bottom of the page).
4. On the left side panel, click CHANGE SETTINGS.
5. Choose from the 4 available options.
6. Click OK.
7. Close the CONTROL PANEL windows, and you are done.

I hope this helped you...

Member Avatar for sophiya

my laptops os is xp iwant to change it to vista how to change it pls give some idea

Member Avatar for PcPro12

oh, your title says to change from vista to xp...you mean from XP to VISTA???

thats easy, first off you need an UPGRADE DVD for which vista you want...than put it in, and launch it from MY COMPUTER, than follow directions on there...

Member Avatar for coolraj003

But....make sure your laptop has the required spec for handling vista, at least 1gb ram(recommended but still not enough as mine is s**t with 1gb ram), around 10-15gb disk space, dvd drive.

I personally would rather have xp than vista though.

Raj

Member Avatar for Smalls

WOW!!!

There are a lot of people asking this one on here

If you've bought the pc with Vista on it there is something about it having drivers that only work with vista

so you need to find the drivers for XP

there is also something about the formatting of you HDD
Its probably set to SATA or something... I forget
But Xp can't see it
Xp is said to not be able to read this
then again if you bought the pc w/ vista the format is one that XP doesn't know
so you need to go into the pc bios and change it
but be extra careful in the bios
its about like editing the registry

So Install the XP drivers and change the HDD bios format thing
then you should be able to run the XP disc w/o a hitch

Best of luck!!!

Member Avatar for bungek84

i also wanted change my VISTA to XP because got problem with vista. can u guys explain more detail steps in order for me to change it??

Member Avatar for oalee

Being a technical support for Toshiba Notebooks, one problem with downgrading a notebook from vista to xp is where to get the drivers or even if there are any for the devices on your notebook. Just check on the manufacturer's website and see if there are any available drivers for XP.

Member Avatar for x3mario

my laptops os is xp iwant to change it to vista how to change it pls give some idea

Just to make sure first that your laptop passed the specification required in installing vista. In my experienced, my desktop PC which is xp before and now changed to vista, got slower to boot and shut down. Sometimes it is hanging in the middle of my work. Not good experienced in using vista.

Member Avatar for sohel08

Hi friends, My laptop support only vista operating system. Can I change this into windows xp? And the other question is when I connect my laptop to internet it automatically begin updating windows, How can I disable this updating?

10qs! Sign with LOVE!!

I can answer your second question. Go to vista windows security panel. There you can find a option to disable automatically window update.

Member Avatar for wainrob

Yes that is true.. Very well explained.. yes you can install windows Xp to your system just make you got XP drivers for your notebook..

Member Avatar for Smalls

So far I've seen several threads on how to do this

Look around you'll certainly find some

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