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My computer has Windows 7 pre-installed and it comes with 3 normal partitions plus a Recovery Partition and a "System Reserved" partition. I want to delete Windows 7 and install Windows XP but I don't know how to deal with this "System Reserved" partition (which is assigned with drive letter "C") and it seems to be dangerous to remove it. So what should I do?

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If you want to remove the Windows 7 partition, do you also want to remove the Recovery partition? The System Reserved partition is tied to Windows 7, by the way. – iglvzx Dec 19 '11 at 6:43
Check the manufacture website and make sure xp drivers are available for your system – kobaltz Dec 19 '11 at 6:52
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I think I won't remove the Recovery Partition cause I'm afraid that I will void my warranty and in case my computer has any problem I could revert back to Windows 7 by booting to that partition and re-install the Windows 7. @kobaltz Yes XP drivers are available for my system – user433531 Dec 19 '11 at 6:53
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How eager are you to get rid of Windows 7? On my Windows 7 machines, I run Windows XP flawlessly in VirtualBox. That may be something to consider. – iglvzx Dec 19 '11 at 6:59
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if your using software that is so old/poorly designed that it's not compatible with modern 64 bit os's I would personally suggest finding alternatives. Going back to windows xp is like unplugging your lights and buying candles :) – PrivateSniper Dec 19 '11 at 8:47
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Your best approach would be to delete the Windows 7 partition, and the System Reserved partition.

Then create one primary partition big enough for XP - say 40GB or so, and leave the remaining space unpartitioned.

Then later if you want to run W7 or other OSes, you can create an extended partition with the remaining space and create as many logical partitions as you need later.

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