Question : Problem: Dell Vista business - will it down grade to XP if I have the Dell recovery CDs for XP?

Dell Vista business - will it down grade to XP if I have the Dell recovery CDs for XP?

Answer : Problem: Dell Vista business - will it down grade to XP if I have the Dell recovery CDs for XP?

It certainly won't hurt to try the Dell recovery CD's => the worse case is that you won't have the right drivers (as noted above) ... but Dell's support site is excellent (as I'm sure you know), and they have XP drivers for MOST of their systems (you didn't note a model #).

... but you can also simply use a regular XP Pro CD if you have one available.   This is a legal downgrade, since you have Vista Business edition.   Here's Microsoft's official postion:  http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/f/4/5f4c83d3-833e-4f11-8cbd-699b0c164182/royaltyoemreferencesheet.pdf

So, since you have Vista Business you can legally load XP, and when you call to activate, Microsoft's representatives will provide the appropriate key.   You WILL need to know your Vista license key # ... so be sure you have that available.   Microsoft's original position (as stated in the link above) is that YOU are responsible for the XP install media.    Microsoft has since relaxed their postion and ALLOWS (but does not require) OEM's to provide the media ... but fortunately you don't have to worry about that.

... No self destruction or building fires to worry about :-)