How to Uninstall Windows Vista

Just a lazy sunday afternoon, unpacking your newly purchased computer, WITH the brand new operating system Windows Vista on it. The wow starts now... at least they say. In my case, it wasn't the WOW that started, but a terrible head ache instead! My computer was running very slow, and I had a lot of trouble to get and stay connected to the internet.

So I decided to just reinstall that traditional Windows XP... And there the real trouble started. It seemed impossible to just remove Windows Vista and install Windows XP instead!

The lazy sunday afternoon turned into night, and many hours had to follow before I finally got rid of Vista. To save you that time to figure out how to delete Vista from your computer I made this page. I hope it's helpfull to you!

Please note that this page is just a helping hand. Use this information at your own risk!

Remove Vista, installed next to another Windows operating system (e.g. 98/XP)

In this case you already had a Windows operating system installed, and you installed Windows Vista on a separate partition of your harddisk. Now you want to remove Windows Vista and keep your previous Windows operating system.

Don't forget to make a backup as there are some risks with removing Vista!

This is what you need:

- Windows Vista installation DVD

This is what you should do:

1. Start your computer selecting Windows XP from the boot menu

2. Insert the Windows Vista installation DVD into your drive and close the menu that might open

3. Go to START > RUN > and type: "e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force" (without quotes, and replace e: with the drive letter of your Vista DVD).

4. Restart your computer and boot into Windows XP

5. Format the drive where Windows Vista was installed on

6. Remove two files (Boot.BAK & Bootsect.BAK) on your XP root folder (e.g. C:\)

This should remove your Windows Vista installation and make XP the default operating system.

Remove Vista, as an upgrade of Windows XP

In this case you had Windows XP installed and upgraded it to Windows Vista. Now you want your own Windows XP back. Unfortunately it's not possible to downgrade Vista to XP. Therefore you'll need to remove Vista, format your hard drive, and reinstall XP from scratch.

Don't forget to make a backup as there are some risks with removing Vista!

This is what you need:

- Windows XP installation CD - MS Dos environment boot disk (more info)

This is what you should do:

1. Start your computer with the Windows XP installation CD in your CDROM drive (note: you may have to change your BIOS settings to give priority to loading your CDROM drive instead of your hard drive!)

2. In the setup type R to repair an existing installation

3. Type fixboot C:\ (where C:\ is your Vista root, replace C with any other letter if applicable)

4. Type fixmbr C:\

5. Type EXIT

6. Then close the Windows XP setup and restart your computer with the bootable floppy or CD

7. At the command prompt type format C:\ (note: all data on C:\ will be removed, so make sure you've made a backup before doing this!)

8. Now restart your computer with the Windows XP installing CD in your CDROM drive

9. Install Windows XP as usual

This should remove your Windows Vista installation and make XP the default operating system.

Remove Vista and install another operating system (e.g. XP)

In this case you only have installed Windows Vista on your computer, or you've bought a new computer with Vista already installed on it. When some of your hardware or software may not function properly under Vista, you might want to remove it, and install e.g. XP instead.

Don't forget to make a backup as there are some risks with removing Vista!

This is what you need:

- Windows XP installation CD - MS Dos environment boot disk (more info)

This is what you should do:

1. Start your computer with the Windows XP installation CD in your CDROM drive (note: you may have to change your BIOS settings to give priority to loading your CDROM drive instead of your hard drive!)

2. In the setup type R to repair an existing installation

3. Enter "fixboot C:\" (where C:\ is your Vista root, replace C with any other letter if applicable)

4. Enter "fixmbr C:\"

5. Enter "EXIT"

6. Then close the Windows XP setup and restart your computer with the bootable floppy or CD

7. At the command prompt type format C:\ (note: all data on C:\ will be removed, so make sure you've made a backup before doing this!)

8. Now restart your computer with the Windows XP installation CD in your CDROM drive 9. Install Windows XP as usual

This should remove your Windows Vista installation and make XP the default operating system.