Hey,

We have a 3-4 yr old laptop that came with Vista, but I want to start using it for a mobile recording rig. A couple of the programs I use won't run on Vista, so I need to load it up with XP. I don't think I can do Windows 7, due to the age of the machine (but I'm not sure). Can anyone on here guide me toward getting this done? It seems pretty hard to find a copy of XP these days, but I have faith in TDub to show me the way.

Thoughts?

8/4/2011 8:43:29 PM

Did you try compatibility mode.

And if it will run Windows Vista, it will run Windows 7.

Your biggest problem might be finding drivers. Go to the manufacturers website and see if you can find XP drivers for your machine. If not, you may be SOL for XP in general.

8/4/2011 9:44:08 PM

i put win7 on a 5 year old dell laptop, definitely doable

8/4/2011 11:31:23 PM

Thanks for the info. I actually have links ready for the drivers I'll need for XP. I'd honestly prefer XP, because I already have drivers for the other stuff I'll be using. Any advice on where to get an XP disc?

Also, are you saying that if I did end up going with Windows 7, I wouldn't need any different drivers for the pc? Sorry for the ignorance...

[Edited on August 4, 2011 at 11:40 PM. Reason : one moar question]

8/4/2011 11:38:57 PM

The drivers intended for Vista would in all likelihood run just fine on 7. In a few cases, getting a driver specifically intended for Windows 7 would provide improvements (such as with an Nvidia graphics card).

How much RAM is in the computer? If it has 2GB or more, I would definitely try 7 before installing XP. Windows XP, being ~10years old, just isn't designed or optimized for modern hardware, and it really shows. If you don't have 2GB or more of RAM, Windows 7 will probably be too slow to be useful.

8/5/2011 6:06:54 AM

Windows 7.

If your programs won't run directly in Windows 7, you can always use XP compatibility mode (an XP virtual machine).

(as merbig suggested)

8/6/2011 10:01:04 AM