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Of the two approaches to downgrading Windows, the first is more convenient, as it doesn't require you to wipe your hard drive. You will need a genuine Windows XP installation CD. Before you proceed, make sure you have several gigabytes of free space on your boot drive (usually C:). Take a moment to back up your entire hard drive; if you have Vista Business or Ultimate, you can do so with the Complete PC Backup and Restore tool, making it easy to get back into Windows should this process hit a snag.
Start by booting to your XP disc: Just insert the disc into your drive and turn on your PC, then press the spacebar when it says Press any key to boot from CD... 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. Now. at the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following commands to prep your hard disk for XP:

fixboot
fixmbr
cd \
ren windows winvista
exit

When your PC restarts, boot onto your XP CD once again, and then proceed with setup normally. When setup is finished, you'll have to move everything manually. This includes your documents, the contents of your desktop, and any other personal data that you'll need from Vista's now-defunct C:\Users folder into XP's C:\Documents and Settings folder. You'll also need to reinstall all your applications and device drivers, and eventually delete the abandoned C:\Winvista folder




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