Ok so here is the thing, I have Windows XP and a bunch of games I like to play. However, we know Boot Camp 4.0 does not work with XP. I am not going to buy Windows 7 for $200 for only using it for video games.
Is there any way I can downgrade Boot Camp 4.0 to Boot Camp 3.0?
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.1)
No, you can't down grade the 4.0 drivers. The 4.0 drivers aren't compatible with XP. They're only written for W7 to use with the newer hardware in the latest computers. You don't need the 4.0 drivers in 10.6.
According to your computer description your still using 10.6, so you must have an older model, you should be updated to the latest 3.x drivers and good to go anyway. Apple dropped support for XP AND Vista when Lion came out.
Most of the issues are with the newer models that came installed with Lion. You CAN still use XP after upgrading to Lion if that's what your asking. As long as XP is already loaded before you upgrade to Lion it will still work. (The least amount of issues)
Boot Camp is just a bunch of Apple hardware drivers for Windows to use and puts in a BootCamp control panel to make it easier to reboot instead of holding down the Option key after you restart. If you don't need Lion or W7 then there's no reason to upgrade to either one.
There are plenty of posts on the same question to pick through.
No need to pay $200 for W7 if you already have XP, buy the W7 Home Premium UPgrade for around $100. In fact you can buy the full version for about the same price if you look hard enough. Yahoo/Google Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and usually Amazon, NewEgg, Wallmart, etc, have them on-sale. ($30 if your in college)
I didn't have any issues when I started using W7 Home Premium, I don't have that many older Windows games but so far so good they've all worked. Go online to see which of your games aren't compatible. Even tho they don't have W7 listed in the description doesn't mean it won't work, check for any updates also.
Full install $99 @ 'Egg Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium (OEM System Builder)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
Only reason to buy retail? is if you want to install later on a different computer, but by then, likely it would be SP2 or later, or even Windows 8 come 2013.
And if you want to wait a month, Windows 8 Beta will be publicly available in February and try your hand and luck with that.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/windows-8-an-installation-walk-through/14768
Want to know how to disable the Metro UI? You need to go digging in the registry.
Go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Change the value of RPEnabled from 1 to 0.
.... and back to normal.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516
http://windows8beta.com/2010/02/windows-8-to-be-completely-different-from-earlie r-versions
Downgrade Boot Camp?
