Okay, so you've gone out and upgraded from XP to Vista. The operating system you either love or hate. Despite Microsoft's claims, you find yourself wishing that your computer was running Windows XP again. Well you can! You can uninstall Vista and reinstall your previous operating system. Many people claim that their previous version of the Windows operating system was more stable and find that after installing Vista that the programs they use on a daily basis won't run under the new version. If you bought a computer with Vista preinstalled it is still possible to uninstall Vista from the hard drive. You will need to provide an operating system disk to install a new operating system. Make sure that you go into BIOS and set the disk loading priority to search the CD/DVD drive first. Here are the steps how to uninstall Vista and reload Windows XP onto your computer: Before you start, make sure that you have the following:  * Copy of the XP Installation disk  * Boot disk - you can download and make a bootable CD at Microsoft Downloads  * Make sure that you have backed up all important files. You will not be able to find that picture of Aunt Mildred at the beach if you don't. Please note! The following are instructions for those that upgraded their computer from XP to Vista and would now like to uninstall Vista from their computer. 1. Start up your computer with the Windows XP installation disk in the CDROM drive. 2. The setup screen will appear. Type R to repair an existing installation. 3. Now type the following: fixboot C:\ (It should be noted that C is the drive which has Vista loaded. If another drive is the one with Vista, use the corresponding letter) 4. Type fixmbr C:\ 5. Type EXIT 6. You can now close your Windows XP setup. Once closed, restart your computer with the bootable floppy or CD that was mentioned before. 7. Once your boot disk is loaded, you will be at the command prompt. Type the following: format C:\ (This will erase your entire hard drive so make sure all important data is backed up) 8. Insert your Microsoft Windows XP installation CD into your CDROM and restart the computer. The Windows XP install splash screen will come up and guide you through the initial set up process. 9. Follow the prompts and install Windows XP as usual. Once complete, you will have completed the uninstall vista operation and you will have successfully reinstalled Windows XP. Uninstall Vista by PC Apprentice 2009 - 2017 Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except the things in the world that just don't add up.  - James Magary Click Image to Enlarge