Can I downgrade from Vista to XP without buying a seperate xp liscense?

Nope. Just wait a few months and upgrade to WIndows 7. I’ve been using the beta, and it’s awesome!

I do not believe you can. The two are two different “programs” essentially and there is no binding agreement that forces MS to give you XP instead of Vista.

They DID have a program where you could reverse it, but I believe it has been discontinued. MS has been pushing the sunset date for XP (when they will no longer support it) every few months, because so many people use it. I use it. I love it. I am so glad I have a copy that will hopefully work forever, and if not, I will either find another way to get it working or go to Linux. No more bloated MS “features” for me.

@Eambos its actually not for me, the individual has xp only software he needs to use.
I try to stay as far away from anything Windows as possible.

@dynamicduo wasn’t there some sort of program where you could just call and have MS activate it with your xp key? Or did it have to be a non-activated Vista key?

I have no clue what the actual program was because I did not participate it. As far as I understood it, it was the situation where one purchased a computer and the default OS was Vista. The person talks to either the vendor who gives them the right number to call, or calls MS directly. The program essentially exchanged Vista for XP. There may have been a price to pay to get the XP discs sent to you, or you may have gotten a refund, again I have no clue. However since the OS would be an OEM version, the replacement program may have been at the retailler’s level in place of an actual Microsoft incentive.

However, there does seem to be an option to “downgrade” one’s Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate OEM license. Here is the link to the cached PDF page where this comes from. However again, this may be expired, and it seems it only works with certain licenses of Vista.

Your best bet is to contact the company the computer was bought from and see what they say, then ask MS too.