booting xp cd

I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

Have you gone into your bios to set your computer to boot from the CD drive? Also, I think there is a program on your XP CD to make boot and install floppy disks.
William "yjk9" wrote in message I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

Yes I tried everything from the BIOS. Vista somehow just ignored any change I make. And I am trying to figure out your second suggestion, but I can't seem to get it to boot like that.
"William R. Mosher" wrote:

Have you gone into your bios to set your computer to boot from the CD drive? Also, I think there is a program on your XP CD to make boot and install floppy disks.
William "yjk9" wrote in message I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

If you can make XP boot and install floppies, then, if you can, change your computer's boot order to looking first at the floppy disk drive.
William "yjk9" wrote in message Yes I tried everything from the BIOS. Vista somehow just ignored any change I make. And I am trying to figure out your second suggestion, but I can't seem to get it to boot like that.

wish I still had my floppy drive. got rid of that a long time ago. sigh.
"William R. Mosher" wrote:

If you can make XP boot and install floppies, then, if you can, change your computer's boot order to looking first at the floppy disk drive.
William "yjk9" wrote in message Yes I tried everything from the BIOS. Vista somehow just ignored any change I make. And I am trying to figure out your second suggestion, but I can't seem to get it to boot like that.

You can't make boot floppies directly from the drive, however MS does have it available on the site to copy to disk.
Since that's not an option for you, ignore that.
Have you tried setting your bios to only boot from the cd? In alot of cases, the prompt to press a key does not show up, once you pass post, start tapping a random letter key to see if it comes up.
You may also have an old bios version, but since you are running vista, it's unlikely. However, if your motherboard is older than 5 or 6 years old, this is a possibility.
You are correct, however, you do need to boot from the cd to go to XP
"yjk9" wrote:

wish I still had my floppy drive. got rid of that a long time ago. sigh.
"William R. Mosher" wrote:
If you can make XP boot and install floppies, then, if you can, change your computer's boot order to looking first at the floppy disk drive.
William "yjk9" wrote in message Yes I tried everything from the BIOS. Vista somehow just ignored any change I make. And I am trying to figure out your second suggestion, but I can't seem to get it to boot like that.

It would help to know what kind of computer you have. Please provide some details. If by XP cd you mean a recovery disk then the function key needed to start the recovery process has likely been disabled by Vista and you will need to contact the computer manufacturer for a fix to reenable the function key during startup. Why did you install Vista on your primary computer in the first place?
"yjk9" wrote in message

I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

ok here's the basics of my computer: -Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8ghz -1.00gb of ram -32bit operating (custom built) Also, the xp cd is not a recovery disk. And I installed vista thinking it will play some sound and let me play half-life or any other game. However, vista fails to do both on my computer and obviously its hard to use the computer in this situation. Also I didn't think it would run smoothly on my old computer. Hmmm... do you think I could hook up my other computer's hard drive to this computer and somehow boot to that harddrive and format the one with the vista on it? Is that possible?
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

It would help to know what kind of computer you have. Please provide some details. If by XP cd you mean a recovery disk then the function key needed to start the recovery process has likely been disabled by Vista and you will need to contact the computer manufacturer for a fix to reenable the function key during startup. Why did you install Vista on your primary computer in the first place?
"yjk9" wrote in message I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

Your issue has nothing to do with formatting anything. Start the computer and go into the Setup (BIOS). Set the cd to first boot priority. Restart with the XP cd in the drive.
"yjk9" wrote in message

ok here's the basics of my computer: -Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8ghz -1.00gb of ram -32bit operating (custom built) Also, the xp cd is not a recovery disk. And I installed vista thinking it will play some sound and let me play half-life or any other game. However, vista fails to do both on my computer and obviously its hard to use the computer in this situation. Also I didn't think it would run smoothly on my old computer. Hmmm... do you think I could hook up my other computer's hard drive to this computer and somehow boot to that harddrive and format the one with the vista on it? Is that possible?
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
It would help to know what kind of computer you have. Please provide some details. If by XP cd you mean a recovery disk then the function key needed to start the recovery process has likely been disabled by Vista and you will need to contact the computer manufacturer for a fix to reenable the function key during startup. Why did you install Vista on your primary computer in the first place?
"yjk9" wrote in message I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

Not sure if it works on all PCs, but on mine when you see the manufacturers logo, press F12 to get to the boot choices menu.
Tom "yjk9" wrote in message

I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

It pretty much works that way on all of them. The problem is that Vista often overwrites the code that enables the function key to start the recovery process.
"Tom Scales" wrote in message

Not sure if it works on all PCs, but on mine when you see the manufacturers logo, press F12 to get to the boot choices menu.
Tom "yjk9" wrote in message I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

"I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help."
"Also, the xp cd is not a recovery disk." That's a damned good thing because a recovery disc is sure not an XP CD and you can't boot from it, although MSFT and the OEM's who screw you try to convince you it is and that it has efficacy and is useful to actually recover and that's not the case 99% of the time.
An XP CD is much better than a recovery disc because you can boot from it to do a repair install which in XP is the strongest fix a no boot and recover XP tool.
1) Reboot and Boot to Recovery Console via the XP CD ROM. If you're not familiar with using the Recovery Console in XP--and frankly this is one of the few effective contexts I'd use it for see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us Scroll down to and follow: How To Use the Recovery Console
2) Start the Recovery Console per the Above article's directions. Make sure that first you boot tot he bios setup by using the appropriate key for your machine (for example F2 in and reset the boot order to put the XP CD in the #1 Position in bios setup. After doing this, put in the XP CD and restart and then when prompted, press R. Since you have only one XP OS enter 1 to select it when prompted. Enter the admin password or if none is set just hit enter.
3) Run Fixboot http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixboot.mspx?mfr=true 4) Run Fixmbr to reset the Master Boot Record. Type Y and enter.
5) Exit the Recovery Console by hitting the exit key.
6) Reboot.
7) To remove the extra entry, edit the boot.ini file to remove the "Microsoft Windows Longhorn Entry"
8) Format the Vista partition from your XP drive by typing diskmgmt.msc into the run box and right clicking the drive you had Vista on.
9) Next time back up Windows XP and you should be able to easily do a dual boot again.
CH
Congrats Bush and Gonzales--the Supreme Court handed your ass to you yesterday in a week that has been terribly stressful after Star Jones left the view taking her gastric stapling with her. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=05-184
HAMDAN v. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al. No. 05-184. Argued March 28, 2006--Decided June 29, 2006:
"The procedures adopted to try Hamdan also violate the Geneva Conventions. But in undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails in this jurisdiction...That claim leads me to state briefly what I believe the majority sets forth both explicitly and implicitly at greater length. The Court's conclusion ultimately rests upon a single ground: Congress has not issued the Executive a "blank check."

"yjk9" wrote in message

ok here's the basics of my computer: -Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8ghz -1.00gb of ram -32bit operating (custom built) Also, the xp cd is not a recovery disk. And I installed vista thinking it will play some sound and let me play half-life or any other game. However, vista fails to do both on my computer and obviously its hard to use the computer in this situation. Also I didn't think it would run smoothly on my old computer. Hmmm... do you think I could hook up my other computer's hard drive to this computer and somehow boot to that harddrive and format the one with the vista on it? Is that possible?
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
It would help to know what kind of computer you have. Please provide some details. If by XP cd you mean a recovery disk then the function key needed to start the recovery process has likely been disabled by Vista and you will need to contact the computer manufacturer for a fix to reenable the function key during startup. Why did you install Vista on your primary computer in the first place?
"yjk9" wrote in message I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.

I wasn't talking about recovering Vista. I was aiming to get back XP on a dual boot by one of the few means I know. Possibly Colin or someone else more familiar with BCDedit could figure out a way to salvage the XP with BCDedit. I wasn't trying to salvage the Vista install here--the OP wanted to uninstall XP on a dual boot and I was trying to offer a way to get that done. The facts I had were
1) Dual boot 2) XP CD in hand
Getting to the bios setup to boot from the CD can be accomplished 85% of the time with F2 and F12 and often other key combos will do it even for the same bios manufacturer and the same computer manufacturer--those combos can be different.
This is a fairly complete guide: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm
I don't see why in the world these steps would not work xp cd in hand.
1) Reboot and Boot to Recovery Console via the XP CD ROM. If you're not familiar with using the Recovery Console in XP--and frankly this is one of the few effective contexts I'd use it for see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us Scroll down to and follow: How To Use the Recovery Console
2) Start the Recovery Console per the Above article's directions. Make sure that first you boot tot he bios setup by using the appropriate key for your machine (for example F2 in and reset the boot order to put the XP CD in the #1 Position in bios setup. After doing this, put in the XP CD and restart and then when prompted, press R. Since you have only one XP OS enter 1 to select it when prompted. Enter the admin password or if none is set just hit enter.
3) Run Fixboot http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixboot.mspx?mfr=true 4) Run Fixmbr to reset the Master Boot Record. Type Y and enter.
5) Exit the Recovery Console by hitting the exit key.
6) Reboot.
7) To remove the extra entry, edit the boot.ini file to remove the "Microsoft Windows Longhorn Entry"
8) Format the Vista partition from your XP drive by typing diskmgmt.msc into the run box and right clicking the drive you had Vista on.
9) Next time back up Windows XP and you should be able to easily do a dual boot again.
CH
Congrats Bush and Gonzales--the Supreme Court handed your ass to you yesterday in a week that has been terribly stressful after Star Jones Reynolds left The View taking her gastric stapling with her and raising the metaphysical question as to whether ABC and Barbara Walters can stand to lose control of events. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=05-184
HAMDAN v. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al. No. 05-184. Argued March 28, 2006--Decided June 29, 2006:
"The procedures adopted to try Hamdan also violate the Geneva Conventions. But in undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails in this jurisdiction...That claim leads me to state briefly what I believe the majority sets forth both explicitly and implicitly at greater length. The Court's conclusion ultimately rests upon a single ground: Congress has not issued the Executive a "blank check."

CH
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message

It pretty much works that way on all of them. The problem is that Vista often overwrites the code that enables the function key to start the recovery process.
"Tom Scales" wrote in message Not sure if it works on all PCs, but on mine when you see the manufacturers logo, press F12 to get to the boot choices menu.
Tom "yjk9" wrote in message I can't boot from Windows XP cd. I need to uninstall Vista, can't think of any other way. Please help.