If you purchase a computer which has Windows Vista installed as the Operating System then you might find difficult in removing Windows Vista and installing Windows XP on it. You might say that I do not want to save any data of my new computer and are OK in formatting Windows Vista then what sort of difficulty you might face. Problem is that the computers which are coming with Windows Vista on them have advanced hardware and the drivers for this hardware are not present in Windows XP installation Disk. This results in installation which never completes and gives blue-screen errors. This problem can be fixed by creating a Windows XP bootable disk which has drivers for the new hardware and perform installation using this disk. Given below are the steps for creating such disk on a Windows Vista machine using Windows XP disk and nLite software.
First copy the entire data of Windows XP disk on your hard drive in a folder. Let’s assume you copy the content in a folder called “Windows XP” on the C Drive. Next download and copy all the important drivers of your Dell Inspiron 1420 and extract all the driver files again in a folder and lets name this folder as “Dell Drivers” and the location is again the C Drive. The drivers which you need to download are for the following devices: Dell Drivers, SATA Drivers, Chipset Drivers and Drivers for the Video Card. Once you have downloaded all the drivers and have extracted them into a common folder then open nLite and on the first screen select your language and continue further. In the next screen you need to point to the folder where you have copied all the Windows XP installation files. After opening the XP folder, click on Next so that you reach the Task Selection screen. In this screen press Drivers and Bootable ISO and click on Next. On the Drivers window press on Insert Multiple Driver and then browse to the folder where you have kept all the driver files. After selecting the folder you will get the Driver Integration Option screen and then select the driver you want to bundle in the ISO image and click on Next. Once done you need to give a location for saving the ISO image and save the file on your hard drive.
Once you have saved the ISO file use any DVD burner to write it on a DVD. You also can burn the ISO file on a CD but it is preferred to use a DVD as a DVD is fast and results in quick installation. Once you have the DVD ready you are all set to install Windows XP on your Dell Inspiron 1420 which will downgrade it from Windows Vista. When installing Windows XP from this newly created Disk will result in a smooth installation without any blue screen of death. Just remember that this installation disk will work only for Dell Inspiron 1420 and not on any other model. To create a similar disk for other models use the same process but download drivers for other model number.
