I need to downgrade and in my search for a way to return to windows 7 Ive come across these downgrade rights for windows 8 professional. My thoughts are to upgrade to pro using my school email for $40 then downgrading to 7 but I dont see mention of this option to downgrade anywhere. This seems like my cheapest option, otherwise I will have to buy a copy of 7 brand new and do a clean install. Is the option to downgrade only available on machines with Windows 8 Pro preinstalled, and if so why?
...and yes, im sure I want to go back to 7 as the programs I use most frequently for school and are given to me by my university only work on windows 7.
I have a small question, I recently got a gift laptop that has window 8 preinstalled with genuinely. I need to replace the HDD since its just 500gb. How to keep that genuine window even after changing the HDD?
And from where should I download the original windows 8 ISO if I need to install the window in my new HDD and how should I activate it with my previous activated window?
If i remove a programs folder from the programs folders in an WIM image file, then when installing the WIM using windows setup, will the program no longer exist or is there remnants of that program that I have to delete (e.g. registry details)?
And if I want to install custom programs, will it be the same process but in reverse (i.e. get all the files and folders of that program and place then in a new entry under the programs folder or is it different?
I have toshiba recovery OEM discs which I have extracted and joined the existing SWM files into a big WIM file.
I just bought a lenovo Z580 with windows 8 and I also have a new hard drive coming. The first thing I tried to do was create factory restore disks so that when the new hard drive gets here I can remove the old hard drive and replace it with the new one and put the pre-installed windows 8 that came with the laptop on it. I can't however find a way to create factory restore disks. Is this still possible and if not what are my options for replacing a hard drive for this laptop and using the same windows install that originally came with it? I would prefer to not have to clone the hard drive because the new hard drive is an SSD so I will want to install windows with AHCI mode on.
Ultimately, I want to do a clean install of windows 8 on the new laptop using the existing pre-installed windows 8 key. I imagine this would be pretty simple if I had windows 8 install discs but I don't have those either as they didn't come with the laptop. what my options are to make this work?
i just got a new computer, it came with windows 7 home premium pre installed, however it is not activated and it says i have 30 days to activate it.
however i dont have a key as i didnt purchase the OS, instead i have ordered Windows 8.1 64Bit Operating System DVD English OEI/OEM International and my dvd disc comes tomorrow so my question is, can i install windows 8.1 over windows 7? i would just put the disc in delete whats on the harddrive, format it and install my new OS right?
Its a HP Envy laptop with a 1TB HDD running on windows 8. But the laptop has been having a lot of start-up errors and finally some files corrupted and windows wouldn't function properly. So I decided to reformat it to 8.1, a complete wipe to get rid of all the pre-installed HP crap.
So here's what I've tried, in the same order.
> I tried to install windows 8.1 through windows 8. -It failed after it restarted- > I tried to install windows 8.1 through USB ontop of the Windows Partition (There were 5 partitions). -It failed because of a GPT (If I remember correctly) Partition error- > I decided to delete all the partition and install Windows 8.1 ontop the entire 1TB disk space. -It started installing but then failed with an error code 0x80070057- > I tried diskpart through CMD to clean the disk drive then followed with a format to ntfs -It always just sticks on 0 percent%- > I tried all the same steps with Windows 7 -The exact same errors happen-
I've got one last option, plug the HDD into my desktop and try to format it that way but this is a lot of work so I'd like to keep it as a last resort.
Using samsung chronus 7 laptop : Windows 8.1 64 bit OS.
On start up get the samsung screen then a blue screen with a sad face saying pc needs to restart. Then goes in a continuous reboot.
I tried using the Windows 8 recovery cd. But get on the screen press any key to boot from cd. but press any key has no effect and goes back into loop as before.
Press f2 to get to bios reset defaults, no luck either, tried f10 just get boot up order, unable to find what keys boots into recovery mode, f8 does nothing no safemode.
I got my new PC and wanted to downgrade to Windows 7 since it was running Windows 8 and I found it unbareable. It didnt let me run the USB on any of the advanced menus so I tried just overinstalling it so I could go back to the old menu and try it like that (windows 8 never showed the company logo when booting up, it just was a black screen til pop! it was fully loaded) so I just ran it off my USB on my computer (bootable usb) and then it went through normal installation and expanded files and wanted a pc restart. After restart it wont show up anything on my monitor... the keyboard lights up and works for a little bit. The pc runs for like a minute or 2 and then restarts when i guess it cant find the monitor signal. I installed it on the windows C: partition but not deleted or overwrited the recovery one by default.
I have ASUS S550C, with win 8 preinstalled. I wan to install win 7 along with win 8 and make a dual boot system. From win 8 i tried to launch the win 7 installation on a free NTF partition but while rebooting win 7 is stuck at 'Starting Windows".
is there any way to downgrade from win 8.1 to 8? Without losing my data? I want my windows 8 back so desperately, I feel very frustrated with windows 8.1 which doesn't supports many of my apps.
I am attempting to relocate the Users folder from C:/ to D:/ (these are physically distinct internal 1 TB drives) as par of a new clean install of Windows 8 on a new laptop.
I am following the tutorial here: User Profiles - Relocate to another Partition or Disk
The problem I face is at the stage of creating an answer file for the Sysprep tool.
Windows 8 is preinstalled and there is no separate installation media - rather it boots/reinstalls off a petition on the C:/ drive. Hnce I cannot run the unattend file command line:
I have tried creating recovery media on a USB stick using the HP utility, but while this works there appears to be no directory structure or file comparable to that listed above. Indeed there seems to be no install.wim file anywhere.
As I am told pre-installs are very common on Win 8 laptops (mine is an HP Envy17-j005tx), I assume there is an alternative approach but I can't find it.....
As to why I want to move the Users folder - I have XP set up like this on my old desktop and it makes for a far saner directory structure, easier backup and if one needs to reinstall Windows, it makes for a much cleaner simpler process as User information is preserved on a separate disk. Also one is much less likely to run out of disk space!!
I was looking around the settings and found add features. I did that and set it up. I now started it and it says I am unable to activate it, so I would like to remove it and just go back to 8.1.
P.S. I know it's possible to activate it using a program, but I support Microsoft and would like to acquire it legally.
Thats what the tittle says, got a laptop that came with windows 8 pre-installed. I really need to use windows xp, and no, virtual machine won't work with the software I'm using.
Only options I got is either get dual boot to work with xp and 8 or I'll just get rid of 8 and install xp. Don't really want to get rid of 8 but if theres no choice...
Mother just got a new laptop, it has Windows 8, but with their new way of doing preinstalled games (IE... not having any, and having a list to download from) a few games we have on her old Windows 7 laptop aren't available to her, like the version of Solitaire it has and such.
Would it be feasible to take the preinstalled Windows 7 games and put them on Windows 8... would they still work?
my laptop came with preinstalled windows 8 in it. Now I want to install windows 7 and also want to keep widows 8. But when I started Windows 7 set up an error came saying you can't install this version of Windows on GDI partitioned hard disk. what should I do?
Can I use the system backup I created in win7 to downgrade from Windows 8? I clean installed win 8 on my other laptop I didn't get the chance to get the win7 key because it came preinstalled. Or, is there any other way to get back to win7 without having to buy it.
My manager a newbie to the computer world downloaded the new windows 8.1 and she didnt back up anything. She said all she did was install and clicked the microsoft agreement.
I recently upgraded my HP Pavilion m6-1000 to windows 8 from windows 7 using windowsupgradeoffer. Since then, I have only experienced bugs and problems with my computer so I want to downgrade to windows 7. I didn't get a recovery disc when I bought the computer, but I have a recovery partition on the computer, called "Recovery (D:)". I also have the product key for windows 7
I have read that it is possible to downgrade using this partition
I purchased a new Lenovo y50-70 laptop (non-touch) a month ago, and have been enjoying it for a while, but Windows 8 was becoming a huge problem, and generally I just like Win7 better, so today I decided to downgrade. I followed this tutorial here: Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7
Everything was running pretty smoothly, I downloaded the Win7 ISO from here: Windows 7 Direct Download Links, Official Disk Images from Digital River
The specific file was "Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1 U (media refresh)"
I have a copy of Windows 7 OEM edition from building a PC, but I decided to download the ISO for the sake of the guide.
Back on track, everything was running pretty smoothly except for one error, I forgot to enable Legacy Mode in BIOS, which I did then was excited when I finally got the Windows 7 installer to load completely (it had been freezing on the "Starting Windows screen as a result of Legacy Mode being off) until I hit the drive management section. In the screen, I saw 2 drives, Drive 0 (931.7 GB) and Drive 1 (7.5 GB). As per the guide, I launched a command prompt (Shift-F10), DISKPART, DISK LIST, SELECT, and CLEAN'd both of them. Then, when I selected my 931.7 GB drive I was presented with the Error: "Windows is unable to install to the selected location. Error:0x803000001" I tried creating new drives, formatting, but no matter what I got the same error.
Googling around, I looked for answers and one man said to turn off and back on into BIOS, then make sure my drives were in the right order, then attempt again. I booted into BIOS, made sure my drives were in order, then rebooted, hit F12, selected the USB, and then got into prompt of text, where my computer then rebooted, and now I am stuck in a boot loop.
In BIOS, I recieve no list of drives under the UEFI section, only under legacy are 3 drives listed, my SATA drive, my USB, and some network function.
Basically, I upgraded from windows 8 to 8.1 a few weeks ago and since I could barely run any games, they have compatibility issues and all sorts.
I tried updating my drivers, it says they're all up to date I spent countless hours looking for solutions on how to downgrade All the solutions require me to have a disk, but I lost it I also looked up on how to set it back to it's factory setting, but it doesn't work
I was told to press F8 or F9 (can't remember at them moment) as soon as the computer turns on until the recovery screen pops up, but it never does.
I'm using an Alienware x51. Is it even possible to reset my computer without the disk? if not, then where can i get another disk that came with the computer?
I have a Samsung Series 5, 530U (the remaining digits I don't recall right now).
I purchased it from a digital superstore, like a market, rather than a regular PC store.
The device is set for Windows 7, although on purchase, I asked for Windows 8 to be installed.
Now, a BSOD has stopped me gaining access through refreshing, restarting, safe mode or any of the options available through the troubleshooting menu.
I retrieved my data using a SATA, and now wish to wipe the system of Windows 8, and avoid all the hassle it has brought me, returning to it's factory settings of W7.
I do not have a disk, or anything to do so. When I go through the menu on start-up, I click 'restore system' but I am then prompted for 'recovery mdeia or installation disk'.
Is it possible to just reset the whole PC and start from the day it left the factory?
If I need a disk to reset the original settings, where can I get it from and would simply loading it when prompted fix my problem?
All I want is to be able to use my own PC. I want Windows 8 cleared off and a reliable, original settings PC.
I downgraded this laptop from 8 to 7. The only driver I'm having problems is the USB controller.
I went to the HP we site and selected the Windows 7 driver but I get an error:
(This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software.)
I have downgraded many machines now and this is my 2nd one that I have had issues. My last computer I had to grab drivers from a computer that was close to the same model.
I tried the programs DriverMax and Slimdrives and they found an USB controller driver that seemed to work but when I plug in the flash drive it does nothing.
I updated my windows 8 os to windows 8.1 via windows store and now my laptop slows up. Booting takes a couple of minute around 3-5 then loading apps also now takes a minute to load and in gaming i sometimes have fps drops which i dont have in windows 8
And i find this "refresh" in the setting which says that it will refresh my laptop back to default. Does this mean that this will restore back the default os which my laptop comes with (windows 8 single language)?
it also states that "GO TO STORE TO REINSTALL WINDOWS 8.1 and YOUR APPS" (does this actually mean that windows 8.1 will be uninstalled/ removed?
I am having an issue with downgrading to Windows 7 and It's not nearly as easy as normally installing an OS. I get to the expanding files screen, and once the system reboots it goes back to the Windows 7 install screen. This is an issue, because it should continue with the installation.
I have windows 8 installed in my laptop and i want to downgrade it ... i have some partitions as shows in pic. i want to keep safe data from some partitions and other partitions i want to delete. partitions.jpg
i have Windows 7 ghost image and Windows 7 installation disc also.
Deleting those partitions ( recovery,EFI , OEM ) is safe?
I have an HP Envy with Windows 8 pre-installed. I am trying to do a dual boot setup with windows 7, as some of the software I use daily, is not compatible with Windows 8. The new software has yet to be released, and will not run in any compatibility modes.
Knowing this is beating a dead horse, I have searched for hours, and have gotten some of the pre-req stuff done ie: created virtual drive 20gb, initialized it, turned UEFI Mode/Secure Boot OFF, etc.
I can see the vhd, but when I try to load win7, the vhd is not visible. When I exit win7 install, and Windows 8 reboots, I can no longer see the vhd.
