Windows 7: Roll back to XP

After I install Windows 7, to go back to my original OS (Windows XP), do I have to do a complete wipe or is there a roll back feature so I don't have to wipe it clean and start fresh? Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Hi Boceefus,

If you had xp and you reformatted your hard drive and installed 7 in it's place then no, you can't get your xp back like it was unless you had a complete backup of your xp made before you installed 7 over it. You could reformat again and install your xp back over your 7 install. Or if you had the xp installation disk you could install it over your 7 but it would be brand new of course.

here is a link from microsoft to help you roll back How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder

Hello Boceeufs and judydotcom Welcome to the Se7enforums!

That's a good catch judydotcom provided the Windows.old saw the previous XP installation rolled up into it and not simply an empty folder created by the 7 installer. I've seen that a few times already where the primary was totally new and the folder was still created during the installation.

For the most part reverting back from 7 to Vista even would require a reformat and clean install to insure the best results unless an image was already made first from the previous XP installation as Airbot pointed out already.

******Sorry i posted on wrong topic***