Is it possible to downgrade a Windows Media Center Edition computer to use Windows XP instead? Someone is having so much problems with this machine and I think it's the Operating System causing the problem. I told her to reinstall Windows MCE, but I don't think they gave her any Windows CDs. I think she got it burned from a recovery partition after I told her to look for one. But that doesn't seem to work. So I'm thinking of downgrading to XP as a possible solution. Isn't Windows MCE very similar to Windows XP, aside from the extra media features?
The big question is, will XP work on a computer built to work with Windows MCE?
This is a free linux distro that will do just about everything MCE does and it boots off a CD or DVD so nothing is installed. I would use this as replacement for MCE.
Then I would upgrade the MCE to XP this way the user has the best of both worlds..a workign MCE type pc when needed and a full on XPinstall to do the day to day things on..
Never heard of that Linux distro before Mark420. Looks good though.
I will ask her if she uses the features in MCE or can survive without it. If so, I will ask her to just put Windows XP on it instead. This darn machine has been giving her nothing but grief the day she got it. I told her she should have returned it. She called HP tech support countless times already...
How would you upgrade to XP? What XP version is that? As Home, Professional, MediaCenter, etc, those are all XP. Of course XP will work, aside from any issues the computer might have with 64bit. Any distro should work on the machine, because the drivers are the same. Home would be a downgrade, Professional would be a minor downgrade.
Never heard of that Linux distro before Mark420. Looks good though.
I will ask her if she uses the features in MCE or can survive without it. If so, I will ask her to just put Windows XP on it instead. This darn machine has been giving her nothing but grief the day she got it. I told her she should have returned it. She called HP tech support countless times already...
Mark420 knows the most obscure distributions out there, I'm amazed.
I think the proper term should be upgrade to Professional and not downgrade as Professional is more expensive.
Though at a Microsoft conference the question was put to them and the reply was that MCE contains all the features of Professional, plus addons like Media Center - a supercharged version, was how they put it. Then i'd like to know if that is the case, why is it cheaper than professional, and if not, what does pro have the MCE doesn't?
Truth is...Media Center and XpPro are the same with two subtle, but important differences. The media center app itself is not provided in XPPro. Neither is native support for the hardware usually associated with such a machine, and XPMCE does not have the group policies that XPPro provides. However, I believe that there is an update available from microsoft which will upgrade the policies on an mce installation. Summary...With the proper updates, XPMCE is the superior OS for entertainment. In the rare instance you are managing many many machines say in a skyscraper lol then xp pro would be a better choice. That is if your not considering server of course. Peace. Hope that helps clarify.
Downgrade Windows MCE To XP?
Downgrade Windows MCE To XP?
Yes, you can install XP Home on a WMC machine. But you should be able to restore the WMC machine by tapping F10 during boot-up. From there you can restore the computer to an out of box state without any restore disk.
Lets face facts Windows is currently the most used operating system in the world. That said, let us
also admit that Windows is not the greatest OS out there either. (that would be Unix) So ignoring
completely ones opinions of Windows let's imagine we had the power to chance Windows completely
and were able to disregard previous Windows implementations (if you so choose ie the start menu) and
Microsoft marketing techniques. How would you change Windows to make it better? For me the most
fundamental change would be to make it more like Linux or OS X and have the kern....
What do you guys think of windows 7? Screenshots Have been posted on wikipedia
(www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7) and I Must admit Im Not really Impressed, Looks Like a dumbed
down version of vista...? what are your Opinions?....
This is a sad tale of a man and his machine that would not start again. The story continues with a
sorted affair between two operating systems and a battle to win the love of this man’s heart. My
problems began last weekend when I started my computer after it had been off from the previous
night. Everything went normally throughout the POST but once Windows XP started I heard the dreaded
clicking from the hard drive. After several reboots and a Spinrite diagnostic I gave up and called
the time of death around three in the afternoon. This is not all bad because I had....
its been a couple or more year, Microsoft haven't release a 3rd version of their service pack,
for Micorsoft's Windows XP. In the late 2007, Microsoft had announce of the release of their
Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Windows XP. Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is currently in
development. As of January 2008, Microsoft's web site indicates a "preliminary" release date to
be in the first half of 2008.A feature set overview has been posted by Microsof and details new
features available separately as standalone updates to Windows XP, as well as features backpor....
I just read How To Login To An Expired Windows Xp System . This gave me a nice Windows Vista
mini-tutorial. Notice!!! I'm not advertising piracy!! It's just a matter of having
the rights to access your files, and it doesn't approve that it restores the full function of
Windows Vista, and besides How To Login To An Expired Windows Vista System 1) Login until you go
unto the windows where it says that the Windows has expired. 2) Click on the purchase new serial
key. (yehey!!! /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="s....
Ok as the other topic said, I am planning to purchase a new computer sometime soon. We have Windows
98 on the old machine and I don't want to throw it out just yet. I need Internet Explorer 6/5.5
for web page testing and obviously I can't run both Windows Internet Explorer 7 and 6 on Windows
XP. So I am planning to transfer the entire hard drive over to the new system. A few issues though:
Will Windows 98 with such "powerful" components? System has 512MB RAM, Intel Pentium 4 3GHz
processor, 7.1 sound card, integrated video card and DVD+RW burner are the main com....
Recently, I have received an "Exploring Windows" email from Microsoft, which led me to an
interesting link called 100 Reasons You'll be speechless. Thought it was related to Windows
Vista, and it was. Here are some of my opinions: 1. It makes using your PC a breeze, if Windows is
responding most of the time. Also, many users have complained about User Account Control, which say
that it makes using the PC not a breeze. I haven't tried it yet, but from others' point of
view, it seems to be intrusive and annoying. 2. Your music may be a click away from your re....
ATTENTION ALL READERS! WINDOWS VISTA IS AWESOME - I REPEAT - WINDOWS VISTA IS AWESOME! I think
Windows Vista is an incredibly good operating system which allows you to do so much more than XP.
The new look, design, simplicity, controls and layout are all fantastic. I've got a clock and a
calendar on the right hand side of my desktop and all my icons easier and clearer to recognise. It
takes under 5 seconds to log in and the graphics are just great. I've got Windows Vista Home
Premium and as long as I install the compatible drivers, all the software works! I'....
Disclaimer from the site: QUOTE Disclaimer: I do not applaud piracy, but I do feel people
should have access to their personal files, regardless of whether Windows has expired or not. This
tutorial should not be used to bypass Windows Activation, nor does it restore full Windows
functionality, but I provide it to those who are in desperate need of accessing files that are
suddenly lost to them through the Microsoft Genuine Advantage activation system. I just
came across this interesting tutorial. By now, everyone is familiar with Windows XP's....
Hi all, I need a help from any one out here! I need to display one confirmation box using windows
startup script! I need to run this script on each and every client system in my LAN! Here is the
requirement: The script should ask the user to click yes to continue or no to exit. If the user
click yes, that should open Internet Explorer with some site , Say google.com and after filling some
forms and after closing the browser, that should bring to regular login screen which says, cntrl alt
del to login! If the user directly preses the no button, that should close the co....
I was upgrading some software and came across a corrupt file that halted the installation process. I
went to see what was wrong with the file, and failed to manually delete it. I tried moving
(cut&paste) it to another location, and the installation succeeded. However, the file is still on my
drive, taking up a KB of space. I know that's not a lot, but where am I supposed to put it? In a
folder created especially for all the corrupt files on my computer? /blink.gif"
style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" /> I've heard
something....
1) Right click on desktop and select add new shortcut 2) In the 'Type Location of the item:'
box type or copy %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation then click 'next'
3) In the 'Type a name for this shortcut:' box type or copy "Lock Workstation" and click
'Finish' 4) Now if you would like go to properties and Change Icon browse to:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe and I use the red circle with the white x ....
Does any one know where is the encryption key in Windows XP stored. In other words how can one get
encryption key. Or how to retrive the data without the encrytion key. By encrypting a file or
folder, we are converting it to a format that can't be read by other people. A file encryption
key is added to files or folders that you choose to encrypt. This key is needed to read the file. ....
Our family computer is running Windows XP Home SP2 with all the latest updates installed and we
constantly get Blue Screens of Death. The most common is DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_EQUAL_OR_LESS in NDIS.sys
and portcls.sys. I have googled this many times and found nothing to help but I have heard the two
files are for the network card and sound card respectively. The computer has the following specs:
- Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz - Gigabyte 85661FXMP-RZ motherboard with Award v. 6.0 BIOS - NIVIDIA
GeForce FX 5200 - No idea what the network card and sound cards are but we use the net....
I tried in both Windows XP Home and Professional. If you try to make a folder named "CON" Windows XP
renames it back to what it was. So creating a new folder with the name "CON" just renames it to "New
Folder". The bug seems like a variable that got treated as a string or vice-versa. Trying to create
the folder from a cmd prompt failed with an error "The directory name is invalid.". This also works
when you try to create a file called "CON", or "CON.". ".CON" shows up the way it should. Somewhere
I found the reason that CON stands for CONsole which is device name but....
With all the different flavors of Windows, what in your opinion is the best version? Win95, Win98,
Win98SE, WinNT, Win2000, WinXP, Vista, and even remember Windows 3.1? I hear that hardcore Windows
users are in love with Win98SE for some reason? Is there any justification behind this? I mean
this is a version of Windows that is definitely not supported anymore, but is the security and
stability of this version that much better where it doesn't need support? Personally, I really
like Win2000 over any other version. It seems more secure and stable, and I'm pr....
i never used Windows XP Home edition before, in these days i have no way to use it on my work pc,
have no profissional edition and i don't want to buy one, in fact i hate windows at all, i use
linux and it's so good and enough to me, but i must use it noway. after i installed it, it asked
me to activate it, i went into the activation process, finally it told me to call any microsoft
products reseller or something like that to provide me with a new product number as they say in that
message: QUOTE According to our records, the number of times you can activ....
Okay, I am halfway to being able to add the My Videos Folder (the only of the special My folder I
really use) to the start panel. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, make
sure you have the new XP start menu not classic, then open your start menu. The right side is the
start panel, and it should have links to things like My Documents, My Music, My Computer, etc. The
only one you can't add to it (you add features to it from the properties page) is the My Videos
File. No, my method: 1) Knowing Windows as well as I do, first thing after ex....
I heard it is possible to run more than one computers on the same serial of Windows. I also heard
that it can be registered and use all the functions of any legal copy of Windows. Lets say I have 4
computers in my house and don't want to pay $800 for windows on each one if I build them all
myself. I can just put same serial on all of them. But I heard this is also breaking the EULA
agreement with Microsoft which redeems this being illegal or improper use of windows. I would like
to hear your sides on this, or the whole truth behind this. If so does this mean somebody....
Hi, I've recently installed Apache 1.3.34 on my Windows XP machine. Does anyone know how to CMOD
files to specific values? I've read somewhere that if you set the file to 'readable'
that is the equivalent of CHMODing it to 777...is this true? By the way, sorry if this is in the
wrong forum section. I wasn't really sure where to put this.....
Hi, I'm tired of wasting so much time on a site when I have to reinstall Windows from scratch.
Want to speed up the process a little since I have to install Windows XP, any Service Packs, Norton
Antivirus and Microsoft AntiSpyware for the computers. I want to create images of good working
Window states, but have some questions. 1. How much faster would this be compared to reinstalling
everything manually? I will be doing this from an external hard drive. 2. What are the chances of
an image not working assuming that the image created is good? I heard that these ....
Windows XP cmd tip (DOS isn’t dead... it just smells funny) Some command-line folder creation
examples: To create multiple folders at once, add them directly to the "md" command: C:\> md this
is a test To create a folder several folders deep, use: C:\> md this\is\a\test Creating a folder
with a long name requires the double-quote at the beginning: C:\> md "this is a test Bonus tip:
Windows XP supports the forward slash "/" as a folder divider. Unix/Linux users: don't let the
DOS environment get you down. Use a Unix-style CD command to change your present worki....
How to repair disk errors and bad sectors in Windows Xp,2000,NT You can use Windows Disk Manager
tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk. To check your drives:
1- right click on drive and click Properties 2- click Tools tab and under Error-checking, click
Check Now 3- in dialog box select the Automatically fix file system errors or/and Scan for and
attempt recovery of bad sectors check box Automatically fix file system errors ....
Hi, all illegal Windows XP users WILL NOT be able to download any updates or software from Microsoft
website. Automatic Updates will no longer work, because Microsoft will have to ask for your Software
identification.....
How to increase Windows shutdown speed when you enabled “clear Page File at shutdown”? /blink.gif"
style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" /> Note that making
incorrectly changes to the registry may damage your system; please back up any valued data on your
computer. 1) Go to Start menu > Run > and type regedit and click OK. 2) Find following address:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \Session Manager \ Memory Management
3) In right side right click on “ClearPageFileAtShutdown”, select Modify and make value of ....
OK, I'm running Windows XP and my iPod is not detected when I plug it in. The only things that
I could guess are wrong are that I recently had a trojan, known as BackDoor-AWI and that my router
flaked out and I have no internet on the computer in question now. I'm not sure what happened,
but for some reason, McAfee is telling me that it's all screwed up on startup. So it's not
even running anymore. My computer does recognize USB keys, but will not see my iPod for some
reason. Any ideas?....
