Is windows 7 starter downgradable?

downgrade rights for
win7 pro and up
vista business and up

not for any of the home versions or starter

here's the MS page:
http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/downgrade_rights.aspx

that's not to say you aren't allowed to get an OEM system builder or Retail XP disc, wipe the HDD and install XP

however the issue you will bump up against is driver support
not all systems are supported for previous OS versions,
thus finding drivers could be an exercise in futility

before doing anything else, check the Acer site to see if they have XP drivers first
if there's no XP drivers then it's a no

No, Win 7 is not an upgrade of Win XP.
Eventhough Win 7 Starter is 32-bit OS as well.

Provided by Microsoft.

Only the Professional and above versions have the Backward License so it's not legal to load this unit with XP on the Basis of a Windows 7 Starter Edition you need a License for XP which I believe you can still buy from M$ but they will not provide any Installation Media just a License Key for you to use when you install XP.

Col

I bought an eee netbook that came preloaded with Win7 Starter. First thing I did was partition the hard disk and install ubuntu in the space I'd freed. Then I started looking at ways to make Win7Starter do my bidding... and although I certainly wouldn't want it on my desktop machine, most of the things you're not supposed to be able to do you can work round or fix for free. Result? I spend more time in 7 than ubuntu and most of my issues with the machine relate to the screen (working with 600pix height is a challenge in any OS, sometimes).

Win7 Ultimate comes with an XP license that allows you to run XP in a virtual machine inside of Win7. You need the Win7 "Anytime Upgrade". Do you really need XP that badly?

Consider downloading 2 pieces of software: A linux distribution (Mint Linux comes to mind as GUI is Windows-like) and virtual machine (VMware Player comes to mind). Both are free. Burn them both to CD's. Then boot the computer with Linux from the Linux CD, which runs in RAM. Use the Linux to delete the Windows 7, but not the hidden partition Then load the Linux onto the hard drive. Boot the computer in Linux and load VMware Player from the CD and install Windows XP in the virtual machine.

This leaves you with a computer that boots to Linux and you can run XP as a virtual machine and you have the Windows 7 image in case you want to revert the computer to its original format. The downside is that the XP will run slower than if it were the native OS. The upside is you may find you can do a lot in the Linux, which will run faster than native Windows 7 or XP. And the Linux requires no drivers as they are all included in the distribution.