Windows XP SP3 and DELL XPS 17 L702X

First, I think you are nuts for getting rid of Windows 7 for XP.  What is it you don't like ... change, or something substantial?  Maybe it is something we can help you to better understand and/or fix.

Installing XP may not be possible on this machine, as Intel does not have XP drivers for most i-series integrated graphics or i-series TurboBoost technology, and extras such as the USB 3.0 controller, modem, and Bluetooth may not work at all.  Much of the hardware of currently-shipping computers simply is designed for modern OS's (XP is not modern).

Give it a shot, but if you do get XP installed, you will probably be disappointed in how it runs ... it will likely be a huge waste of money to run XP on such nice hardware.

Plus, if your XPS has more than 4GB of RAM, XP will only end up being able to use around 3.5GB of it.

Your best bet if you want a solid XP computer is to buy a used computer or buy one of Dell's business laptops, which are usually designed with corporate needs (many large corporations are "stuck" with XP) in mind.

Thank you very much for the answer!

Sorry... :) ...I will not waste one second of my time talking "why" I HATE Windows 7. I started to hate it after buying this computer.

Yeah, my notebook has 8GB of RAM.

Anyway... while you say that may not be possible to install WinXP at the same time you give me the impression that's possible so I will keep looking for a solution.

At the same time I will try to sell this notebook. Want to buy it for 50% of I have paid? It is yours. I am from Brazil... I will need to send it to you. I paid US$2,600 - get it for 50% of this value! :)

This was the worse buy of my life.

THANKS!

Eduardo Marques

You don't have to tell us why you hate Windows 7, but we could probably help you understand it better ... most people like it better after getting to know and understand it.  Also, it won't get any better.  It will keep getting harder and harder to find hardware that XP will run on and software will continue to evolve ... building on the advancements in Windows 7.  The longer you wait, the harder the transition to modern personal computing will be.

If you want to try it, go for it.  We can try to help.  The very first thing you will need is the storage driver, otherwise XP will not be able to see any hard drives to install to:

downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx

You will need to load the driver at the F6 prompt during Windows Setup from a USB floppy drive ... OR use nLiteOS.com to integrate the drivers into the XP installation media.

1)  Yes, I've found a time or two when access to protected areas like Program Files was required, but for 99.999% of users, they don't need to access those areas, and it is for their own protection that access is blocked.  There is a way to give yourself full access to these areas, if it is that big of a deal for you.

2) Not much I can say to that, other than it was probably time to change OE, as it has been about the same since 98 :)  Outlook is probably going to be the most similar.  Windows 7 has different "growing pains" for each user ... this is one of them.

3) Again, this takes a "little" getting used to.  You can now search directly from the address bar.  You can also install Google Toolbar (or whatever search toolbar you want), and it will give you the search/toolbar just under the address bar.

4) XP Mode is a good way to allow backward-compatibility with older software.  On a machine like yours, there should be very little performance degredation from the virtual machine (none, if you upgrade to an SSD).  My only problem with running apps in XP Mode is the time it takes to launch an app/XP Mode ... once launched, it is as if it is running natively.  However, if you don't like that it is running on Windows 7, on principle, then there isn't much left to say on that topic ... that's your opinion, to which you are entitled.

Just know that none of your problems are with this Dell computer - your problems are with Windows 7.  If you get another Windows 7 computer by any other manufacturer, nothing will change at all unless you get a computer designed to run (or already running) XP.

At any rate, if you need further assistance with the XP install, let me know ... I'm always up for a challenge :)

Good luck.

@theflash1932​ from that link what storage driver I need to download?  So I can use with nlite .