Downgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate?

andreascbuhl · 17 Nov 2011

Hi folks, possibly the best thread for my quote - in case not, move it to another

I have a Sony laptop CS11S, tried for several weeks w7 enterprise from ms website, fixed all problems with drivers except cardreader and all is working great. I knew that an easy way to downgrade to w7 ultimate is not existent. Found information about what to change in registry to make in place upgrade work like in this thread
http://www.unawave.de/installation/downgrade.html

Upgrade worked fine until last step - somewhere it hung, got the message "not successful" and a rollback.
No specified error, nothing in eventlog what might be helpful.

I dont want clean install because of 2 days work of installing drivers and programs and adjusting them.
Personal data is in backup, so easy to fix.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Andreas

gregrocker · 17 Nov 2011

I wouldn't expect the workaround to change between versions via an in-place Upgrade to work with Enterprise because it uses a completely different mass activation method.

Just back up Windows/system32/drivers folder as well as any drivers which you should have placed in your Downloads folder, browse into there for any drivers the Win7 installer or optional Windows updates fails to provide or quickly update.

Follow these steps to get a perfect reinstall based on thousands we've helped with here: Reinstalling Windows 7

andreascbuhl · 17 Nov 2011

Thanks for answer, possibly you could be more specific with your hint about "completely different mass activation method."

Is there any possiblity for a downgrade from enterprise ? Or a legal prolongation of the limited 90 days test drive of enterprise ?

In other words: any other possibility than a clean install ?

gregrocker · 17 Nov 2011

Not that I know of.

Enterprise uses Volume Activation administered by the SysOp of the institution or corporation which purchases the volume license keys. It is not intended for consumer use.