Can I downgrade to Windows XP without losing settings, files and programs?

[Monkeyspank111]

I really don't want to format. It will take too much time. Also my wife is a online student and needs the use this computer everyday. I currently have Windows 7 installed. I thought this computer I have could handle Windows 7 32-bit. But it can't. It's really slow. In case you are wondering it's a Dell Dimension E310. I have two users on this computer right now. One of them is the administrator.

I bought Windows XP Pro a while ago. I was thinking of using Clonezilla is that the right program for what I need to do? If not what should I use without formatting?

[n_K]

You can downgrade without losing files but you will lose all settings and programs.

[Monkeyspank111]

You can downgrade without losing files but you will lose all settings and programs.

Okay. How do I downgrade then without losing files?

[Bryan R.]

I did not even think you could install a prior version of Windows over a later version... Sounds like a bad idea to me. If you're concerned that much about reliability I would think this is the last thing you would want to try.

[Astra.Xtreme]

A really simple solution would be to simply upgrade the RAM. I'm assuming you have the stock 512MB, which is basically the reason it's slow.

Putting XP on will help a little, but it will still be slow. If you do want to go the RAM upgrade route, you can disable Aero in Win7, which will probably help a bit.

~$40 for a 2GB kit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

You could also buy a single 1GB stick for $20 and also use the existing 512MB stick. Your choice depending on your budget.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146580

[Max Norris]

Putting XP on will help a little, but it will still be slow. If you do want to go the RAM upgrade route, you can disable Aero in Win7, which will probably help a bit.

Ditto this, adding more memory will make a huge difference, it'll be much less swap-happy and overall a lot smoother. Even on older hardware I've had better results with 7 over XP when memory wasn't an issue. It's not a magical cure-all of course, slow systems are still slow, but getting squeezed by low memory conditions has a huge performance hit. If it's not doable then yea, I'd probably downgrade too, but it'll still be fairly pokey once you get to the desktop. Just open a browser and kiss whatever memory you had available goodbye. Also going to throw in the obligatory "XP's dead, don't do it" warning, just because. If it's just a web browser/etc.. might want to consider a lightweight Linux desktop if it's an option.

That aside.. back your stuff up to another drive or partition, reinstall, copy it back. I could be mistaken but 99% sure you're boned trying to save any data with that sort of downgrade, doesn't work in reverse, never mind your files (by default anyway) won't even be in the same location.

[erpster3]

Okay. How do I downgrade then without losing files?

you can't. it's either very hard or impossible to do w/out losing some data so backup your files to either a large USB flash drive or a portable USB external hard drive before downgrading from Win7 to XP.

according to the supported documents from the Dell support site, especially the Dell Dimension 3100/E310 desktop computer owner's manual:

ftp://ftp.dell.com/M...anual_en-us.pdf

It can support up to 2 gigs of DDR2 400Mhz or 533Mhz memory chips. Astra and Max are right on with the idea of putting more RAM into your Dell e310 computer, especially 2 GBs if you want to run Vista/Win7 comfortably.

btw, the Dell E310 computer uses Intel 915GV graphics chipsets, which don't support Vista/Win7's Aero features and thus Aero won't be available on those versions of Windows.