How do I downgrade to XP professional from windows 7 professional

1 ANSWERS

1. Guest2777
   

   Considering that the Windows 7 Release Candidate expiration date is just a few days away, many of Windows 7 RC users for some reasons are looking to downgrade to Windows XP/Vista. This involves a series of steps on how to downgrade from Windows 7 to XP.
   
   1. Open your Windows 7 drive, usually C drive and make sure that the Windows. old folder has not been deleted, which was created by Windows while installing Windows 7 on XP drive. Note that without the help of Windows. old folder downgrading from Windows 7 will not be possible.
   
   2. Checking the size of Windows.old folder by right-clicking and then selecting properties, it should be confirmed that Windows.old folder size is less than two times the amount of free space available on Windows 7 drive (C drive). If the Windows.old folder size is two times as large as the Windows 7 drive free space, disable system restore feature and also disk cleanup to get some free space.
   
   The Windows 7 drive letter should be noted down and also DVD drive letter before moving on to the next step.
   
   3. Insert your Windows 7 installation disc in the drive and reboot your machine. Press any key when required.
   
   4. Select your language, time, keyboard type and then hit Next button to continue.
   
   5. In the Install Windows screen, click Repair your computer option to open System Recovery Options.
   
   6. Here select your Windows 7 OS and note down your Windows 7 Drive letter before clicking Next.
   
   7. In the following window, click Command Prompt to start downgrading from Windows 7 to XP.
   
   8. First all the contents of your Windows 7 drive needed to move to a folder. So type the following commands one by one and then hit enter after each command. Here “D” is your Windows 7 drive letter.
   
   D:
   
   Md Win7
   
   Move Windows Win7\Windows
   
   Move "Program Files" "Win7\Program Files"
   
   Move Users Win7\Users
   
   Attrib –h –s –r ProgramData
   
   Move ProgramData Win7\ProgramData
   
   Rd "Documents and Settings"
   
   9. Next you need to copy all the contents of Windows.old folder to the drive. Again, type all the commands mentioned below one by one and then hit enter after each command.
   
   move /y d:\Windows.old\Windows d:\
   
   move /y "d:\Windows.old\Program Files" d:\
   
   move /y "d:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings" d:\
   
   10. Next task is to restore the boot sector by entering the following command:
   
   E:\boot\bootsect /nt52 d:
   
   (Where E is your DVD driver letter & D is OS drive letter)
   
   11. Finally restore the boot.ini file by executing the following commands:
   
   Attrib –h –s –r boot.ini.saved
   
   Copy boot.ini.saved boot.ini
   
   
   
   12. End up the process by typing Exit and rebooting your machine to start using your Windows XP again.

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