Ok I know its weird.. but can someone tell me if its possible to downgrade Windows XP (which can be bought off the shelf) to Windows NT?

I have heard so many things, and its getting confusing. Could someone help to clarify.

1. Its impossible to downgrade XP to NT cause it has different hardward inside. So, means its not a straightforward thing. True or False?

2. Its possible to run 2 different Operating Systems on One PC. Using something called VM Wave? True or False?

I need to run the NT computers cause the equipment in my Plant are using that operating system in their E-proms. And to change them out will be costly and cumbersome..

Thanks alot.

Ok I know its weird.. but can someone tell me if its possible to downgrade Windows XP (which can be bought off the shelf) to Windows NT?

I have heard so many things, and its getting confusing. Could someone help to clarify.

1. Its impossible to downgrade XP to NT cause it has different hardward inside. So, means its not a straightforward thing. True or False? False

2. Its possible to run 2 different Operating Systems on One PC. Using something called VM Wave? True or False? True you can run any amount of operating system in VMware I have 12 in my VM ware you can also run many operating system from one hard drive BUT you can only start one at a time

I need to run the NT computers cause the equipment in my Plant are using that operating system in their E-proms. And to change them out will be costly and cumbersome.. you can install Windows NT as a dual boot system on the present Xp box, BUT you should partition the drive first or just wipe XP off.

Thanks alot.

there is no option in XP to downgrade to NT, as a matter of fact it's not possible in any opearting syste, EXCEPT for thos that come with vista or if you ran an upgrade from within the operating system then you can resort back to the previous operating system
for example if you upgrade windows 2000 to Xp you will be able to downgrade back to windows 2000

Ok I know its weird.. but can someone tell me if its possible to downgrade Windows XP (which can be bought off the shelf) to Windows NT?

theoretically possible, to NT workstation only. Call Microsoft to make sure.

1. Its impossible to downgrade XP to NT cause it has different hardware inside. So, means its not a straightforward thing. True or False?

if your hardware has NT drivers available, it is possible to install NT on it.

2. Its possible to run 2 different Operating Systems on One PC. Using something called VM Wave? True or False?

VMWare. it is a computer emulator. be ready to have your system run much slower because of this though.

I need to run the NT computers cause the equipment in my Plant are using that operating system in their E-proms. And to change them out will be costly and cumbersome..

you mean EEPROMs I suppose? Never heard of an EEPROM chip able to host an entire NT system. Maybe the NT systems are connected to EEPROM burning devices, or devices operated by EEPROM chips?

there is no option in XP to downgrade to NT

Is your name Bill Gates? how do you know?

as a matter of fact it's not possible in any opearting syste, EXCEPT for thos that come with vista or if you ran an upgrade from within the operating system then you can resort back to the previous operating system

Windows XP professional can be downgraded to any other workstation type windows. I have had entire companies who were running illegal windows98, legalise their software by purchasing enough XPpro licenses.
of course don't take my word for it, call M$

Just so you know, windows vista (nt6), XP (nt 5.1) andf 2000 (nt5) are all still NT, but i assume that by NT you mean NT 4.0

Is your name Bill Gates? how do you know?


Windows XP professional can be downgraded to any other workstation type windows. I have had entire companies who were running illegal windows98, legalise their software by purchasing enough XPpro licenses.
of course don't take my word for it, call M$

an assumption was made by Bobbyraw,and the same as the one I made I think ,the poster meant downgraded after it was installed on the computer .Im also assuming you mean something different ,like a license downgrade .

the whole idea here is about licensing.

but the good part about NT is that in most cases it is like DOS - just works regardless of the hardware. I have had a quadcore pentium166 server upgraded to a new TYAN based server with core duo CPUs, and NT just worked, no changes, no upgrades, no drivers

1. Its impossible to downgrade XP to NT cause it has different hardward inside. So, means its not a straightforward thing. True or False?

there is no hardware within any software !! or am i missing something in you statement

2. Its possible to run 2 different Operating Systems on One PC. Using something called VM Wave? True or False?

better to use another partition on the drive or harddrive and a boot manager to dual boot .

the whole idea here is about licensing.

agree ,but the assumption is !still that the poster is asking if they can downgrade a xp install to NT.
Not downgrade the license to NT.

Thanks man...

This means I cannot buy an XP computer and remove the XP then add NT right?

What I can do is buy and XP computer, partition it, VM Ware it, and put NT on top?


You are a life saver. Hope this works.

This means I cannot buy an XP computer and remove the XP then add NT right?

you could but you will need to buy NT4, and will need to buy a floppy disk drive (the cd isnt bootable). also you will need drivers for everything (which the manufacturer probably wont provide, as its an unsupported OS) and it wont support many modern technologies like pci-express, sata, etc...

What I can do is buy and XP computer, partition it, VM Ware it, and put NT on top?

yes but no. vmware doesnt need partitioning, its virtual. you can run it as a progtam from within xp and the os being emulated doesnt see your real pc, just some fake emulated hardware. the disk it sees is in fact a file in your real filesystem.

an assumption was made by Bobbyraw,and the same as the one I made I think ,the poster meant downgraded after it was installed on the computer .Im also assuming you mean something different ,like a license downgrade .

thanks for clearing that up caperjack, thats exactly what i was reffering to.
Downgrade in terms of cleaning XP and installing NT YES that can be done, Downgrade in terms of changing the XP key or running a program in XP to downgrade to NT not possible. in this case if UPGRADE from NT to XP was done YES you can downgrade back to NT (if the files were saved)

Thanks guys,

I may be more confused than when I started. Mainly cause I'm not great with computers.

Yes: When I wrote Windows NT, I meant NT 4.0.

Yes/No: I just want to buy a computer off the shelf (probably XP) and run NT 4.0 OS on it. I've got the existing licence. I just need to know if its compatible with XP hardware.

Yes: I meant EEPROMs. Hehe.. have only been discussing it with people. Didn't really get to the point of spelling it. To what I understand, the EEPROMs used for each IO card (its a PLC) need to be changed. So, this is costly, time consuming, etc.

Solution you guys are suggesting..
VMWare (got it right this time) on XP computer. And make sure the harddisk are partitioned for safety purposes. This will cause the PC to run slower.
Correct?

Thanks again

VMware might not have access to the EEPROM cards you are using. VMWare virtualises hardware, but only certain hardware, to create a virtual machine. So chances are you will not have access to the specific cards

Yes/No: I just want to buy a computer off the shelf (probably XP) and run NT 4.0 OS on it.

this is the part that got me confused in the first post ,why buy a pc with xp on it just to take it off and install NT 4.0 ,just buy a barebones tower with no winxp os on it ,and save some money ,the local computer store sell them for about $350.00 cdn ,P4,3.0 ,1 gig ram ,80 gig hdd ,and dvd burners .
also great prices on e-bay for barebones towers .
http://stores.ebay.ca/LU-COMPUTERS-INC_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ0QQftidZ2QQpZ2QQtZkm

or
http://stores.ebay.ca/ETC-COMPUTER_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ0QQftidZ2QQpZ2QQtZkm

Dear Guys,

I have another question. It the type of harddisk for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 the same?

I hve suddenly found a big pool of good computers that run on Windows 2000. Is it easier to install Windows NT 4.0 on these compared to installing them on computers that run on Windows XP?

How about the compatibility to the EEPROMs? Higher chance of probability cause they were manufactured during similar technologies?

nt4 does not support SATA disks. You will probably need drivers for your eeproms. NT4 does also not like big disks.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.