Downgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 7

[Isis29]

Just like it says. I just got a new computer, came today actually, but it is still in the box. I have been reading up on Windows 8 online and I got a book and I pretty much hate how it works. Its more ment to work with touchscreens and mine isnt and the whole tile thing just annoys me. So is it possible to take a brand new computer with 8 on it and put 7 on it? If so how hard is it to do and where can I get Windows 7?

thanks!

 

[EdgarAllenWhoa]

Okay first off agreed with you about Windows 8..needs more work but MS likes using the public as its testing grounds..they have done it all the time...every version..the last one that got bad press and no sales like this was Alta Vista or whatever that POS was right after Windows XP.

Hers the bear...Windows 7 is no longer for sale...u will probably have to go to custom clone shoppe for something like that. You know some little place no chain store that has something like that for you.
The big stores like BestBuy won't have it, so you mihgt have to dig for it a little.

Good Luck

 

[Sevrin]

Yes, you can install Windows 7 on any machine that runs Windows 8. My first suggestion would be to check with the people you bought your computer from. They may be able to do it for you at little cost. I don't buy brand-name computers, so I'd have just asked to have Windows 7 installed to begin with. In the meantime, if you are a little handy and patient, you can try some workarounds, such as those suggested here:

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/software-and- ... -50009546/

You can still buy Windows 7 directly from MS, too.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store?Sit ... =windows+7

 

[Mirra]

As long as there are drivers for Windows 7 (and there should be) the downgrade should be as simple as booting to a Windows 7 install disc, doing a custom install, formatting the Windows 8 partition, and installing to said partition once formatted. There are probably a few places to procure Windows 7 still but the one I would use personally is Newegg.com since I order lots of stuff from them.

BUT before you go through with this plan, I would suggest you try Classic Shell Start Menu (also available on Ninite) for Windows 8. It adds a start menu to the Windows 8 desktop. There are a lot of configuration options to tweak it. By default it gives you the old Windows 95 style start menu and makes the computer go straight to the desktop instead of the tile start menu. You can also choose Windows XP and Windows Vista/7 start menu styles.

 

[zippypinhead]

For what it's worth, I really like Windows 8. I've had no problems with it at all. The app tile start screen is far less intrusive to the OS than people who bitch and moan about it would like us to think.

I know that doesn't answer your question at all, but going into it deciding you hate something before you've even tried it seems a bit odd to me.

 

[Mirra]

or what it's worth, I really like Windows 8. I've had no problems with it at all. The app tile start screen is far less intrusive to the OS than people who bitch and moan about it would like us to think.

My first experiences with Windows 8 (using the release candidate) were pretty bad. The tile start screen isn't everything that annoyed me either. It's the fact that so much of navigation in Windows 8 has been designed to be substantially easier and more intuitive with a touch gesture than with a mouse. I've since used it on a Dell Latitude ST (which was better but single core Atom processor was too slow) and a Lenovo Tablet (First gen i5) and using it with touch screen has convinced me it has a place in the world. I especially enjoy it on the Lenovo partly because it's quick enough but also because it's feels so natural after a while of using it to mix in touch screen with a real keyboard to me.

 

[Isis29]

Well I just got to the point that I was comfortable with Windows 7 and 8 seems really confusing to me from what I have read. I guess I am just really skeptical of loading all my stuff on there and not liking it. I know I havent tryed it yet, but yeah I like my Windows 7 lol.

 

[zippypinhead]

Well I just got to the point that I was comfortable with Windows 7 and 8 seems really confusing to me from what I have read. I guess I am just really skeptical of loading all my stuff on there and not liking it. I know I havent tryed it yet, but yeah I like my Windows 7 lol.

I say give it a couple of days. The desktop hasn't really changed. It still feels the same way it does for me with XP.

 

[Isis29]

Thanks everyone, I am gonna give it a go. Lets hope I figure it out soon.

 

[LadyLuna]

From my blog:

So, I got an all-in-one for camming. The reasoning is that an all in one is almost as light as a laptop but is easier to get in the standards that camming requires. The horror is that the all-in-one uses Windows 8. OMFG this os is terrible!

First of all, they put the start menu into a whole new screen. I use the start menu a lot in normal computers. I put a ton of icons on it to keep them from cluttering up my desktop. I usually put accessories like paint, notepad, snipping tool, command prompt, and calculator up there. I also put the dick cleanup utility and the defragmenter up there for easy access. Lasly, I put document stuff like Libre Office Writer and Calc (the open source version of Word and Excel) up there, and use the "10 most recent items" jumplist to access the stuff I work on a lot in there. Then my start bar has the camera stuff and web browsers, leaving a few icons on my desktop like my computer, the main user folder, and any games I have installed. I also make the games menu a drop-down on my start bar for easy access to Minesweeper and soliatre, which I like to play while listening to youtube v-logs.

So now, instead of having a nice neat desktop, everything that usually goes on my start menu has been turned into an icon on my desktop, because I kinda need to access them without going away from the desktop screen if I happen to be camming at the time. Or watching youtube videos. Or writing... But it wasn't an easy task, getting them there. First, I had to add them to the start screen, then I had to right-click the start-screen icon and say "show in folder" or something like that. This took me to file explorer on the desktop, which works exactly like the normal file explorer on every other windows. Meaning, I right clicked and chose "send to desktop (create a shortcut)". Double checking proved that it did not create a shortcut to the shortcut cause numerous reroutes, it actually pointed to the same file the original shortcut pointed to. That's solved.

But my games, my beloved solitare, spider solitare, freecell, and minesweeper, are no longer available for the desktop screen. instead, they go to this horrible fullscreen version which doesn't let me do anything else without pausing the game, jumping to other screens, and coming back. (I will note, I have not tried alt-tab yet, but I doubt it will work.)

This is the most awkward thing I have ever tried to use. I just... ugh.

 

[Airwolfe]

You can still buy brand new computers with Windows 7 factory installed on them.

Have you opened that new computer yet?

If not then you might be able to get a refund on it and just buy a new computer with the OS you want and know.

What is the brand and exact model number of the computer you just bought?

 

[emptiedglass]

If you're going to change the factory-installed OS to something else, be aware that some manufacturers will tell you that it voids your warranty.
I know of a few people who had places outright refuse to cover laptops that were still in warranty because they were using "unsupported software," and would only look at it once the original OS had been restored.
Crazy? Absolutely. Legal? I have no idea.

 

[bsprett]

You should be able to install Win 7 "side by side" with Win 8, or have Win 7 take over for Win 8. Depending on how you install it, you might end up with a boot prompt asking you to choose between Win 7 and Win 8.

Depending on what PC you bought, you might want to check for UEFI issues and make sure you can do Legacy Boot.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417360,00.asp gives a good walk through how to do this.

Win 7 OEM can be bought on Amazon.

Hope this helps.

 

[zippypinhead]

Well, after I took the time to talk about how much I like Windows 8, of course today I had a weird system crash, wherein the only solution was resetting through BIOS and reinstalling Windows. All of my stuff was reset. So, you know, maybe it's not as stable as I thought it was. It could be the build of the Inspiron 15z, which seems at least to be some sort of contributing factor. I still like Windows 8, but this was definitely a lame experience.

 

[Isis29]

Well the computer is a Toshiba I got at Best Buy. I opened the box, but didnt remove anything, but you can tell where it was opened. I just know that Geek Squad told me that downgrading was not possible.

 

[Red7227]

Well the computer is a Toshiba I got at Best Buy. I opened the box, but didnt remove anything, but you can tell where it was opened. I just know that Geek Squad told me that downgrading was not possible.

Oh it's possible...

-Shut down Windows 8 while pressing the Shift key to completely power off.
-Power on and press F2 while the Toshiba logo is displayed to enter the UEFI Setup Menu.
-Go to the Security tab and set the "Secure Boot" setting to "Disabled".
-Go to the Advanced tab, enter "System Configuration" and set the Boot Mode to "CSM Boot."
-Press F10 to save and exit.

Now boot to your Win 7 disk and follow the setup instructions

Also, I expect Sysprep expects an MBR disk. So you probably need to use a partitioning tool to remove the GPT partitions. EaseUS has instructions here using its partition manager (free for personal use).

Another poster claimed that:

the the warrenty is vioded if you delete partitions

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/1815- ... -downgrade

This might be relevant


As might this
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13 ... s-7-a.html

 

[Isis29]

Well the computer is a Toshiba I got at Best Buy. I opened the box, but didnt remove anything, but you can tell where it was opened. I just know that Geek Squad told me that downgrading was not possible.

Oh it's possible...

-Shut down Windows 8 while pressing the Shift key to completely power off.
-Power on and press F2 while the Toshiba logo is displayed to enter the UEFI Setup Menu.
-Go to the Security tab and set the "Secure Boot" setting to "Disabled".
-Go to the Advanced tab, enter "System Configuration" and set the Boot Mode to "CSM Boot."
-Press F10 to save and exit.

Now boot to your Win 7 disk and follow the setup instructions

Also, I expect Sysprep expects an MBR disk. So you probably need to use a partitioning tool to remove the GPT partitions. EaseUS has instructions here using its partition manager (free for personal use).

Another poster claimed that:

the the warrenty is vioded if you delete partitions

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/1815- ... -downgrade

This might be relevant


As might this
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13 ... s-7-a.html

Ok I understood most of what you said, forgive me I am not computer savy. So I can buy Winsows 7 and install it. I have no idea what you are taking about here:

Also, I expect Sysprep expects an MBR disk. So you probably need to use a partitioning tool to remove the GPT partitions. EaseUS has instructions here using its partition manager (free for personal use).[/quote]

So do I end up with both OS on my computer? How does it know which to use? I am very curious about this, but if its complecated beyond my abilities I many just put up with what I have.

 

[Red7227]

Ok I understood most of what you said, forgive me I am not computer savy. So I can buy Winsows 7 and install it. I have no idea what you are taking about here:

Also, I expect Sysprep expects an MBR disk. So you probably need to use a partitioning tool to remove the GPT partitions. EaseUS has instructions here using its partition manager (free for personal use).

So do I end up with both OS on my computer? How does it know which to use? I am very curious about this, but if its complecated beyond my abilities I many just put up with what I have.

You will only have windows 7. The thing about the partitioning might not be required. This thing is just to change the partitioning to one compatible with windows 7 in your case.

http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

Just poke around the internet a little and ask some questions on more nerdy forums. Once they know you are a girl they will fall over themselves to help.

 

[Isis29]

Ok I understood most of what you said, forgive me I am not computer savy. So I can buy Winsows 7 and install it. I have no idea what you are taking about here:

Also, I expect Sysprep expects an MBR disk. So you probably need to use a partitioning tool to remove the GPT partitions. EaseUS has instructions here using its partition manager (free for personal use).

So do I end up with both OS on my computer? How does it know which to use? I am very curious about this, but if its complecated beyond my abilities I many just put up with what I have.

You will only have windows 7. The thing about the partitioning might not be required. This thing is just to change the partitioning to one compatible with windows 7 in your case.

http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

Just poke around the internet a little and ask some questions on more nerdy forums. Once they know you are a girl they will fall over themselves to help.

Thanks. I will poke around and see if I can't catch up with some old friends that know computers.

 

[Mirra]

MBR (Master Boot Record) is the way partition tables have been done for quite some time. GPT (GUID Partition Table) is a newer method with less limitations. Windows 7 can read GPT, but getting it to boot from it is only possible with 64 bit and some hardware factors. I would think deleting all partitions/volumes during a custom Windows 7 setup would then allow the Windows 7 installation to reformat the drive to MBR and create its partitions without the need of an external application, but I've never done it so I cannot say for certain.

I still HIGHLY recommend Classic Shell Start Menu. You can use Windows 8 almost exactly like Windows 7 with it installed.

 

[Isis29]

MBR (Master Boot Record) is the way partition tables have been done for quite some time. GPT (GUID Partition Table) is a newer method with less limitations. Windows 7 can read GPT, but getting it to boot from it is only possible with 64 bit and some hardware factors. I would think deleting all partitions/volumes during a custom Windows 7 setup would then allow the Windows 7 installation to reformat the drive to MBR and create its partitions without the need of an external application, but I've never done it so I cannot say for certain.

I still HIGHLY recommend Classic Shell Start Menu. You can use Windows 8 almost exactly like Windows 7 with it installed.

Ok, thanks for clearing up the computer lingo for ne lol. So Classic Shell Start Menu, is that an option or a program I need to download on my computer? Sorry if I sound computer retarted, heck I am just not starting to learn HTML (it sucks).
Thanks

 

[Mirra]

You can get it from their website or it's also available on Ninite.

If you've never used Ninite before, you basically go through the list of programs on their page checking any of them you want to download and install. Once you get to the bottom of the page, you download the installer. When you run the installer, it will automatically download the latest version of each program you selected and install it without any toolbars, adware, or asking any other questions. It can also be used to update those same programs by running it again later.

 

[Isis29]

You can get it from their website or it's also available on Ninite.

If you've never used Ninite before, you basically go through the list of programs on their page checking any of them you want to download and install. Once you get to the bottom of the page, you download the installer. When you run the installer, it will automatically download the latest version of each program you selected and install it without any toolbars, adware, or asking any other questions. It can also be used to update those same programs by running it again later.

Thank you so much! I will get started on the new computer and that program ASAP. Thanks again!

 

[trotskyleon]

Call up Microsoft and tell them you want windows 7 - they will help you out. If they dont they are pricks!

Of course if you buy those new tablets..then you cant do anything because Windows 7 was not really designed for the tablet.

Windows 8 sucks btw, its good for touchscreen tablets - but thats about it. I bought a new a laptop and it came with win 8, absolutely hate it. I dont use the tiles at all and just stick to the desktop mode.

 

[Airwolfe]

If you are going to use Windows 8 then StartIsBack is the bomb!!! It's not FREE though. Just costs a few dollars. But it is worth it.

 

[Isis29]

Call up Microsoft and tell them you want windows 7 - they will help you out. If they dont they are pricks!

Of course if you buy those new tablets..then you cant do anything because Windows 7 was not really designed for the tablet.

Windows 8 sucks btw, its good for touchscreen tablets - but thats about it. I bought a new a laptop and it came with win 8, absolutely hate it. I dont use the tiles at all and just stick to the desktop mode.

I actually found a better computer with better specs on the HP website itself. I might see if I can return the one I have and buy the other, it comes with Windows 7 and I can customize it to make it run faster and better and have more storage space. Things to ponder. In the meantime I will use what I have and go to Best Buy in a bit. Thanks for your wisdom and input everyone. Stuffs to ponder now as I prepare.

 

[ILikeUonTop]

I'm sorry to bump such an old topic, but this seemed like a good place to ask this question. Has anyone found out a way to stop the Windows 8 Charm Bars from popping up? I had to buy a new laptop a few months ago and I have tried everything. I installed the classic shell, I went into setting and unticked the boxes that are suppose to bring up the bars when you swipe the cursor on your screen and I even followed a hack online that tells you to add a couple lines of code to shut them down. But, I still get it popping up when I am moving the cursor from right to left. It so very annoying, especially when I use the Chrome browser. The bookmarks are in the top right corner. Most times when I try to use one, I get a charm bar. Does anyone have a clue how to get rid of this thing forever?

 

[Minnie]

Just like it says. I just got a new computer, came today actually, but it is still in the box. I have been reading up on Windows 8 online and I got a book and I pretty much hate how it works. Its more ment to work with touchscreens and mine isnt and the whole tile thing just annoys me. So is it possible to take a brand new computer with 8 on it and put 7 on it? If so how hard is it to do and where can I get Windows 7?

thanks!

Honestly windows 8 isn't that bad as some people make it out to be a few hours of using it you will get to use to it. and what you don't understand of how windows 8 works you can find it in a youtube video.

downgrading to windows would be pointless at this point because microsoft soon won't be supporting older versions of windows operating systems.