Received the Mini Note XP "Downgrade" Discs

Author: J. Angelo Category: HP Mini Note

Friday
Aug 15, 2008

When I first got my HP Mini Note, it came pre-loaded with Windows Vista Business. Sure, I like Vista on my other, faster, machines. But on the Mini Note, Vista really crawled. Startup was about 2:30 minutes, and the system was generally lagging in terms of responsiveness.

And so I decided to install Windows XP. I called up HP support to ask if this was possible, and they said they did provide free XP “downgrade” discs, but that they were out of stock at that time. So I just used an old copy of Windows XP Home lying around (which I installed on my old computer which I was no longer using), installed the drivers, and the system was running smoothly. Bootup time was about 50 seconds (up to usable state!), with some tweaks and fixes. And the system was generally more responsive than with the original Vista installation.

I got two discs with the package that the courier dropped off yesterday: the XP install disc, and the driver/application disc.

[caption id="attachment_38" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="HP mini note XP discs"]

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I decided to overwrite the existing XP installation, since I thought the new XP install woudl come pre-loaded with the drivers. sure, I don’t like the usual stuff that pre-loaded OSes come with, like Antivirus software, apps, utilities, and the like. But I was in for a surprise to learn that the HP install disc was just the usual Windows XP Service Pack 2 installation. The OEM version didn’t even say “HP” (whereas on my other netbooks, like the EeePC 900, it said “ASUS”).

Installation was quick – at about 45 minutes. I then stuck in the driver/app DVD and installed all the drivers. I was a bit selective with the add-on apps I installed, since I didn’t want some of them, particularly because they just added to bloat (like Norton Antivirus).

One gripe I have is that when Windows Setup formatted the new partiiton for installation, it renamed it as drive D. So now, the Vista restore partition is drive C, while the system drive is drive D.

But overall, the “downgrade” process was painless, and Window XP is very usable on netbooks.

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