Can I foramt Vista Partitions using xp cd?

Are booting the laptop from the XP CD? If so it should just give you an option to delete partitions then format and install starts. If you try installing XP after Vista has loaded it wont let you as XP is older. Cheers from Scott

The first thing you need to do is repartition the hard drive. This will effectively erase the drive because partitions run below the OS level.

You create two partitions and then you can load each OS to its own partition. When the box boots you choose the OS you want to start and thats it...I think if you put the preferred OS in the first partition it will load that one by default.

You need both OS disks to do this so make sure your factory Vista disk works.

Well just yesterday i removed vista from a lenavo desktop. When i tried with the installation cd setup it didn't allow and got a lot of beep error from the desktop. Then I got a partition manager formatted c drive and then booted through a dos bootable cd which keeps the drivers and command files in ram and then inserted xp os cd and through command prompt started the xp setup by typing d:enter d:dir (got the list of files and folders then typed d:setup and xp setup started and installed later I got all the relevant drivers from the net. Its not easy to get drivers from net.

When you install XP, when you select which drive you want to install it on, you also have the option to create and delete partitions.

When you're asked which drive you want to install on, instead of selecting one you need to delete your C partition (There are keyboard shortcuts displayed at the bottom to tell you how), then use the free space to create as many other partitions as you want.

Make sure you size your partitions correctly, because otherwise you would go over the size capacity of your drive.

After your partitions are created, you can install windows on C. After the installation is complete, make sure to format the other partitions (From My Computer, right-click a drive and select Format) so you can use them.

Well, if you have a friend or neighbor who has Window XP Home, you could borrow their CD, but use your product key during the installation.

Ok, let me see if I've got this right, you want to replace vista? but you need the SATA drivers? To do a dual boot, you usually need to install XP first, and Vista second. As for the SATA drivers, if the XP cd boots up and allows you to edit the partitions, then the SATA driver is already integrated. And here is the download page for your laptop:
Qosmio® F45-AV410

This error comes up if the toshiba recovery cannot recognise the file system and partitions. try removing all partitions using the fdisk utility or a windows XP CD and then run the recovery.

Hello,

If you need to reinstall the Winn XP. You need to have the Win XP disk with you, otherwise it wont be possible.

So you will have to arrange it from your friends or colleagues.

Hope this helps

Regards
Sammy

1. make sure your laptop is set to startup from a cd
2. after laptop finds the bootinfo from the cd and asks you to press any key to start from cd, press any key and xp setup will start.
3. in xp setup your going to need to delete your vista partitions, preferably all partitions and then proseed to install xp into a new partition.

4. proseed with the windows setup follow the instructions and configure your settings as you wish.

do you want to replace vista or run double OS's, in other words you would be prompted to select either or operating system to use prior to loading screen.