Windows XP downgrading to WIN2K experiences

06-18-03 | Dale Chiusano

[BA63]

Have been working with Windows OS's for a long time - since 1986. DOS 2.11 and up, Win 2.11, Win3.0, Win3.11, Win95, Win98, Win98SE, WinMe, NT3.5, NT3.5.1, NT4, Win2K and finally WinXp.

In short XP Sucks! Would explain but it would be like one of those Computer Books you get at the book store.

In fact every one of Microsofts products have had their issues, however, it seems you have made the wisest decision you could possible make by getting rid of XP and going to the Win2K platform.

The only mistake I see you made is not starting with a clean install of Win2K. Nonetheless stick with Win2K. MS-XP policies are only part of this OS's problem.

The first thing when installing a new OS is to get your Video and Modem/Internet connection up first, the rest is gravy from there. YOu can find drivers for Win2K for just about everything you can add to the PC.

Congratulations on your decision!

[Woodman]

Dale,

Can you please tell us what advantages you see in reverting to Win2K?
• Better Security?
• Increased Stability?
• Interoperability?
• Increased Performance?
• Ease of Use?
I really am curious about what you expect to get out of this change. Windows XP was built on top of the Windows 2000 Kernel and there are far more similarities than there are differences.

[Feckless]

I will go to my grave believing Bill Gates is the AntiChrist.
Having said that, I love the way Win2k lets me keep my idiot users from shooting themselves (and me) in the foot. The only thing better would be putting a deranged Sammy Sosa behind each one of them with a lightly corked bat to deter "uh-oh's" and "doh!s"........

[goldstategop]

Nope. That's incorrect. The Windows NT family, which includes Win2k and WinXP, both have a command line prompt. There's no way to boot into DOS. That was in the old Windows 95-98 family.

[AppyPappy]

My kids use Win98 because it seems to work better with games. If it is working, don't mess with it.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Service Packs 3 comes on a CD in the box with a store bought copy Windows 2000 Pro.

[goldstategop]

WinXP is a flashier and more consumer friendly version of Win2K, which was marketed for business and laptop users.

[ShaggyBrown]

No. XP is based on the WIndows 2000 kernal. It's basically Windows 2000 with what MS considered a more user-friendly interface. There are plenty of things you can do to raise your computers performance with windows XP. I suspect if you disable a lot of services, including the indexing service and the system restore service, you'll see a lot of gains. If you folks who hate XP dow some research you can find plenty of ways to increase your performance without losing all of the consumer friendly advances that XP has that 2000 does not.

[RightOnline]

Don't EVER load one OS atop another. ONLY exception: Win2K atop Win98. Worked like a champ.......but a very, very rare exception.

If you're going to load a new OS, back up your system (in your case, new systems so little to nothing to back up), wipe that sucker clean, THEN install the new OS. It's no wonder you're having problems.

[bobwoodard]

Good news! No more DOS, XP was built on 2K.

[dalec]

It was a clean install, over an empty partition, nothing
left from WIN XP

[Hinoki Cypress]

Sounds like too many headaches and problems; think I'll stay with my copies of XP Pro on my office and super-fast home units.

[Woodman]

True Laz, today it is. In the old days when a computer was good for about 18 months before it was obsolete, I wouldn't worry about it much. Today however when a 2GHZ Machine, Fast Drive and Plenty of RAM, you should expect many years of functionality. I would be extremely concerned about being able to recover my system 3-5 years down the road when WIn2K is most likely no longer going to be supported.

[Woodman]

"Big time. I think XP still runs a DOS kernal, whereas 2000 is a straight 'clean' OS from the metal to the keyboard."

You are wrong here in so many ways. NT, Win2K and XP have never run on a DOS Kernel, that is the reason why they were so Game and Driver unfriendly from the start. NT 3.x and IBM OS2 were essentially the same OS (developed by MS and IBM as a joint venture).

[Da Du]

I dunno -- but it sounds like you hate Ford and are going to show them by sticking to your 95 Ranger! Each iteration of the operating system has had it's problems, but each step has brought improvements to the computing community. I can recall grudgingly stepping from DOS to Windows 3.0 -- and then slowly migrating up to 3.11 and beyond.

Wow, was I ever impressed when we moved on to Win98SE and left behind the hassles of 95. NT 3.51 was super! I almost -- but not quite -- regretted moving to NT 4.0. Now that was an operating system! Then along came W2K and it showed promise.

XP was an attempt to bring together the 3.x - 9.x - crowd with the 2K crowd. It has it's faults, but it's a single OS that can now move forward. I expect -- and anticipate -- problems along the way. I too do not like the registration process and all the "crap" MS makes us go through -- but I voice those concerns to MS along with requests and suggestions.

What problems were you experiencing (before shooting yourself in the foot?) with XP. As many posters pointed out the proper way to install an older OS on top of an existing OS is to reformat the drive. That way you insure yourself of a clean installation.

Do you expect third party providers to continue to support and older OS (?) or do you think they will devote their resources to the current one? If you are prepared to support the system yourself, then so be it.

Dadu

[TechJunkYard]

A friend of mine got one of those Lindows PCs and we decided to blow Lindows away. Installed Red Hat 9 which came up and recognized all of the hardware. Then we installed Win2K Pro, which needed new drivers for the video, sound and modem card. Added a diskette drive and another 40GB IDE drive.

1.1 GHz. Duron with (kinda) state-of-the-art software for about $250.... can't beat that.

[RightFighter]

EXACTLY! I administer a corporate network with about 65 workstations - ALL running Windows XP Professional for about the last 8 months with no problems whatsoever. For the machines that have older hardware, I simply turned off the visual eye candy portions of XP that slow it down. Now, those PCs look and feel just like Windows 2000.

I've been in this business for 8 years now and have used every version of Windows in that time. There has been only one Microsoft operating system - Windows Millenium - which has ever been a "downgrade candidate" in my eyes. That OS was a complete piece of garbage. XP, however, offers awesome plug and play support, networking support (can you say "never have to reboot after changing a network setting"), manageability, security, and for the hardcore gamer like me, it is the best gaming experience available.

I'm not knocking 2000 at all - I love that operating system. I just can't see the need to bash Microsoft over the newer product. It seems that most people who have problems with XP always somehow get around to mentioning product activation, which is (1) a legitimate way for a company to protect its digital property, and (2) easy to bypass if you are really annoyed by it and do a little digging for solutions.

[Lazamataz]

I stand corrected.

[Lazamataz]

I stand corrected.

[Lazamataz]

I stand corrected.