Installing XP over Vista on Dell Optiplex 755

Planning for the future but maintaining our current operating environment, we decided to purchase the 10 new desktops with Vista licenses and install XP (which we have a site license for) over the top.

Start the PC, hit F12 for the boot menu and choose CDROM, (also hit a key to actually boot from the DVD/CDROM) First attempt: Blue screen! After loading the default drivers from the Dell XP SP2 CD, the message "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer."

After exploring several possible causes, I found I simply needed to load the SATA (Intel) drivers for the controller. Hit F6 at initial setup screen and load the drivers via a floppy disk. Voila! Setup proceeds without any BS (blue screen, what did you think I meant?!)

While at Dell's driver site for the 755, might as well download all the latest drivers you'll need for XP. Chipset, LAN, audio, video etc. The Dell Resource CD works nicely as well, detecting the hardware and guiding you through installation of drivers.

My next task is to create a reference PC for imaging, then testing Acronis as an imaging solution.