Vista downgrade uk schools agreement

[andy_70]

I have just taken delivery of a batch of pcs that I was assured would be preloaded with xp pro. On closer inspection they have vista business installed. The supplier tells me that there is an agreement in place the allows uk schools to downgrade to xp regardless of what the rest of the world is being forced to do. I can find nothing to confirm this. Can anyone tell me if this is so and what the procedure for obtaining xp licence keys to do the install is?

[Dos_Box]

You can indeed 'upgrade' Vista business to XP Pro. There are many articles on the subject:

Vista – XP Downgrade Rights – Hot Microsoft Subject - Microsoft wants Vista upgrades, customers want Vista downgrades - Softpedia
Dell offers 'Windows Vista Bonus' to frightened customers | Channel Register
https://partner.microsoft.com/Malaysia/40042969

[TronXP]

The supplier tells me that there is an agreement in place the allows uk schools to downgrade to xp regardless of what the rest of the world is being forced to do.

The supplier is assuming you are signed up to a Microsoft School's Agreement licence. If you are signed up to this, then you will have a logon account to the MS licensing site. In there you will find all the licence keys you are entitled too.

[PeterW]

You can also use oem XP Pro media and installation key from another machine and phone activate, although if you have a vol;ume licence you would be better off using VL media and a key.

[srochford]

I have just taken delivery of a batch of pcs that I was assured would be preloaded with xp pro. On closer inspection they have vista business installed. The supplier tells me that there is an agreement in place the allows uk schools to downgrade to xp regardless of what the rest of the world is being forced to do. I can find nothing to confirm this. Can anyone tell me if this is so and what the procedure for obtaining xp licence keys to do the install is?

It's not just schools and it's not just volume licenses - check this MS Document for how you can downgrade Vista to XP (or XP to 2000) and deal with activation.