Remove Vista Install XP Pro

[zaineyma]

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-TX56GN which comes prebuilt with Windows Vista Business. I wish to install XP Pro and have the disc. However, it wont boot from the disk or even recognise a dvd drive in the boot menu. If I try to run the install te disk when logged in it greys out the install windows xp option. What is the way to do this? I do not want dual partition and want to get rid of vista. Any ideas anyone?
Much appreciated and many thanks in advance.

 

[linney]

What options in the Bios for booting do you have set?

Is your CD/DVD Drive a Combo drive or do you have two separate drives, one for CD and one for DVD?

The bios must be set to boot from the appropriate media ahead of the hard drive. Some Bios even have a special F key that you can use to choose the media you boot from without actually changing the boot order in the Bios setup. Your normal Booting screen might display such information, or the manual from the manufacturer might have it. On my machine it is F8 at early stages of the booting startup screen when the options to enter the Bios setup are available.

The only way you will be able to remove the Vista Partition, create a new Partition and install XP is by booting from the XP CD.

You could use third party software to remove the Vista Partition, but XP's Setup, when booted from the XP CD, will do all that for you.

HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q313/3/48.asp

Read the paragraph,
"How to Partition and Format Your Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup."


For more help (shows enlargeable screenshots) go here.

http://www.petri.co.il/install_windows_xp_pro.htm

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPPro/installxppro1.htm

 

[zaineyma]

I just cannot get it to boot from CD, what is the 3rd party software you refer to? This is very very frustrating. One of the most frustrating things I have had to do. I just cant get this Viao to boot from CD at all. In the boot order it doesnt lsit a CDRom it states and internal optical drive, a i-optical drive, netwokr drive and floppy and hard drive. But the CDROM works fine in desktop. It is a DVDROM Drive on this sony viao VGN-TX56GN
Any help here please?

 

[linney]

Have you tried it with the optical drive as the first boot option?

Smart BootManager can automatically search and locate all the floppy, hard and CD-ROM drives as well as partitions. It can distinguish whether a partition is bootable or non-bootable, and only incorporates bootable partitions into the Boot Menu.

Smart BootManager

http://www.sofotex.com/Smart-BootManager-download_L15736.html

Any recommended free boot manager, might help you.

http://www.boot-us.com

Google for more.

 

[zaineyma]

The XP Pro CD I have does not have the proplus.msi file on there, is this FILE needed to be able to boot from CD?
I have a sneaky suspicion that it is due to this file not being present, anybody confirm this for me?

 

[BadBigBen]

i-optical drive

is your CD/DVD drive...

as Linney stated it should be your first BOOT drive...

is the XP CD a copied version? if so, it may not be bootable... and thus your frustration in trying to get it to boot...

if the CD is an original, then it should boot...

before the above is not cleared (if the CD is bootable or not), wiping the drive will still get you no where...

for wiping the drive totally clean, use DBAN, run it from the floppy...
Darik's Boot and Nuke

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

this will ensure that VISTA does not interfere at all...

PS: depending on HDD size, this may take quite a long time...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."