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A couple of weeks ago PC mag had instructions on how to downgrade from Vista to XP, which I did. Somehow something went wrong-I guess. Now when I boot up I have a Vista desktop under a XP desktop. None of the files I saved in the winvista file are accessable. I thought I would just format the hard drive and start over but I can't do that because I get a message that says a program is using the drive. Short of taking it to a repair store is there any advice someone can offer?
I have a Dell E 510 duel core. It's not so old to replace yet.ff
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Vista to XP problem
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#2
crazy4laptops 
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- Group: Members
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- Joined: 20-November 07
Posted 25 August 2008 - 11:01 AM
your post is more tangled than a birds nest in fishing line
and no the processor cores arent dueling(fighting) it is a dual core and they are working together
First line in quote-
Are you doing a virtual machine setup? If not, what are you talking about in that first line?
2nd line-
accessible from what? Cd-rom, flashdrive, network folder, or external hard drive? And what operating system are you using to try and access these vista files?
3rd line
you have to format the drive from the operating system cd not thru the o/s
4th line
repair store, not yet lets sort out what end goes where and how 2.0 on a fix
Suggestion, have you thought about trying linux as an alternative to microsoft/vista?
and no the processor cores arent dueling(fighting) it is a dual core and they are working together
Quote
I have a Dell E 510 duel core. It's not so old to replace yet.
Now when I boot up I have a Vista desktop under a XP desktop.
None of the files I saved in the winvista file are accessable.
I thought I would just format the hard drive and start over but I can't do that because I get a message that says a program is using the drive.
Short of taking it to a repair store is there any advice someone can offer?
Now when I boot up I have a Vista desktop under a XP desktop.
None of the files I saved in the winvista file are accessable.
I thought I would just format the hard drive and start over but I can't do that because I get a message that says a program is using the drive.
Short of taking it to a repair store is there any advice someone can offer?
First line in quote-
Are you doing a virtual machine setup? If not, what are you talking about in that first line?
2nd line-
accessible from what? Cd-rom, flashdrive, network folder, or external hard drive? And what operating system are you using to try and access these vista files?
3rd line
you have to format the drive from the operating system cd not thru the o/s
4th line
repair store, not yet lets sort out what end goes where and how 2.0 on a fix
Suggestion, have you thought about trying linux as an alternative to microsoft/vista?
#3
gburl
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- Group: Members
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 24-April 08
Posted 25 August 2008 - 02:13 PM
Thank you for your helpful reply. Sorry about the incoherent sentences.
Ok I wil try to describe more clearly.
On the first line I am stateing that I followed the instructions from the PC Mag article on how to downgrade from Vista to XP. As far as a virtual machine setup, I don't know what that is. According to the instructions, as best as I can remember them, I saved all of the vista data in a winvista file on my hard drive. I understand that I will have to reinstall the programs and transfer the data to XP also on my hard drive. It's so hard to describe. I'm almost willing to just reformat, and yes I have a new copy of Ubuntu, and I think I would like to use it.
Line 2. I have everything on my hard drive. I am trying to access the winvista files with the XP OS
Line 3. OK if I reformat I will use the OS disk to do that.
Line 4. I'd just as soon reformat than take it to a store.
I hope this is more clear.
Many Thanks again
Ok I wil try to describe more clearly.
On the first line I am stateing that I followed the instructions from the PC Mag article on how to downgrade from Vista to XP. As far as a virtual machine setup, I don't know what that is. According to the instructions, as best as I can remember them, I saved all of the vista data in a winvista file on my hard drive. I understand that I will have to reinstall the programs and transfer the data to XP also on my hard drive. It's so hard to describe. I'm almost willing to just reformat, and yes I have a new copy of Ubuntu, and I think I would like to use it.
Line 2. I have everything on my hard drive. I am trying to access the winvista files with the XP OS
Line 3. OK if I reformat I will use the OS disk to do that.
Line 4. I'd just as soon reformat than take it to a store.
I hope this is more clear.
Many Thanks again
#4
crazy4laptops
- Expert
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- Group: Members
- Posts: 1,740
- Joined: 20-November 07
Posted 25 August 2008 - 03:39 PM
a virtual machine simply put is a way to load up another operating system while booted into another one.
Back up all your vital vista files first to something other than your computer's main hard drive (there are ways to recover the files, linux is excellent in this area)
The steps to take in building a solid dual boot machine-
use the xp cd, boot from it and partition the drive into two or more partitions.
first partition- C: main xp drive (format ntfs)
2nd partition- main drive for linux make about 7-10 gigs in size (leaveit raw/unformatted, linux will handle the proper ext3 format)
3rd (optional) - a place to backup misc files just in case
Back up all your vital vista files first to something other than your computer's main hard drive (there are ways to recover the files, linux is excellent in this area)
The steps to take in building a solid dual boot machine-
use the xp cd, boot from it and partition the drive into two or more partitions.
first partition- C: main xp drive (format ntfs)
2nd partition- main drive for linux make about 7-10 gigs in size (leaveit raw/unformatted, linux will handle the proper ext3 format)
3rd (optional) - a place to backup misc files just in case
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