Microsoft will have almost one billion users on Windows by the end of this year, most running Windows XP, after the total failure of Vista. Those who tried to upgrade their PCs feel cheated.

But, of course, they would feel that way. Windows XP is much faster than Vista on the same hardware, and works using much less RAM and hard drive space. Service Pack 3 makes XP even faster. However, the same cannot be said of Vista Service Pack 1.

So we need to step down. The problem is downgrading a Vista PC to Windows XP can be a tedious process, the more so if you want to do it without reformatting your hard disk.

This is how you go about it.

Make sure you have several gigabytes of free space on your C:\ drive from where your computer will boot. You will need a genuine Windows XP installation CD; if all you have is a recovery disc that came with your computer, use the “Start from Scratch” process.

Option 1

Back up your entire hard drive; if you have Vista Business or Ultimate, you can do it with the Complete PC Backup and Restore tool. There is a reason for this. Should this process run into a snag you can jump back into Windows.

Take a deep breath. Insert the XP disc into your drive and turn on your PC, then press the spacebar when it says “Press any key to boot from CD...”.

(If you don’t see this message, you will have to enter your PC’s BIOS setup. Change the boot options so that your CD drive appears above your hard drive in the boot sequence list.)

When XP Setup starts, press R on the first page to open the Recovery Console. If you are asked to choose a Windows installation, type a number (usually 1) and press Enter. In some cases, you may be asked for the Administrator password at this point. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following commands to prepare your hard disk for XP:

fixboot

fixmbr

cd \

ren windows winvista

exit

When your PC restarts, boot into your XP CD once again, and then proceed with setup normally. When you are through, copy your My Documents folder, the contents of your desktop, and any other personal data that you will need from Vista’s now-defunct C:\Users folder into XP’s C:\Documents and Settings folder. Also, reinstall all your applications and device drivers, and finally delete the abandoned C:\Winvista folder.

Option 2

Start from Scratch: Without a proper XP Setup disc, you cannot use the Recovery Console. Your best bet is to use your PC’s recovery disc, applicable, if your PC originally came with Windows XP.

Again, back up any files you want to keep. Unfortunately, you cannot use any of Vista’s built-in backup software for this, because XP does not have any tools that can read Vista backups. The best way to go about this is to copy your data onto an external hard disk manually so that you can easily get it back once XP is up and running.

Make sure you back up the entire C:\Users folder, which will have your Documents directory, anything on your desktop, and application data such as stored e-mail.

There are several recovery procedures depending on the make of your PC, so consult your PC’s manual for details. Typically, the recovery software cleans the hard drive and places a preinstalled copy of Windows onto the drive. It will have all the drivers and demo software that you got with your PC when it was new. When it’s done, connect to your backup drive and copy the files back into their respective positions.

Option 3

Virtual Machine: The other option, and a good one, is to use a virtual machine, such as Microsoft Virtual PC (free from www.microsoft.com/virtualpc) or VMware Workstation (30-day trial at www.vmware.com) to run XP in a window from within Vista. To set it up in Virtual PC, click New, and then use the New Virtual Machine Wizard to create a virtual machine. When prompted, choose Windows XP as the platform and specify at least 512MB of RAM. Complete the wizard, and click Start to open the new virtual machine. Insert your Windows XP Setup CD, and from the CD menu, select Use Physical Drive D:.

Now you will be able to install XP as if the drive D: were a separate computer. When you’re done, you will have a functional virtual XP PC that you can start from your Vista desktop any time you need it; you can even copy and paste between both platforms and share files over its virtual network interface.

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