Hi, I realize other people have asked questions re: this matter, but none answered my question. I just recently installed vista business. I had windows xp media center, so I had to do a fresh install. I've had nothing but problems with vista and am now wanting to go back to xp. My problem is that I didn't get an xp install disc with my pc when I bought it. I made a back up or restore copies like the pc said I should. I should have researched the problems of vista before I installed, lesson learned. Can I do a fresh install of xp from backup discs? or do I have to buy windows xp from the store? I've searched everywhere on the internet for an answer and couldn't find an answer. Vista is installed on my c drive and all my important data is installed on my extra 300gb hard drive. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Obtaining a Recovery CD or DVD set i_XpUser

XpUser, I already have the backup discs. I just want to know if you can do a fresh install by using backup discs. Another question: Could I install XP onto a different hard drive and have access to both xp and vista? thanks

"XpUser, I already have the backup discs. I just want to know if you can do a fresh install by using backup discs." He's usually that way prior to some morning coffee ;-) Seriously though, if you have a "recovery" set of discs that are not made for recovering your system to its original - I am sure HP or any other VAR would have preferred to call those media by something else perhaps more appropriate besides "recovery discs" - eh! I also don't know how this managed to elude your search. Google returned that (with prominence) on the first attempt. And here's a site you should bookmark to have such information at your fingertips in the future. To answer the second part of your question, yes it is possible to run a dual boot Vista & XP even at the stage things are albeit with some rigamarole, whether you will be able to accomplish that without butchering Vista is something I cannot speculate. Perhaps in your case, the quickest way & easiest way is to accomplish you dual boot aspirations is forget Vista for now, reinstall XP by recovering from your disc, once your system is back to factory settings, you can then go in & create a dedicated partition for Vista & reinstall it - now this should all go without my saying there is going to be data loss. How To Ask Questions The Smart Way