Downgrading to Windows 7

codyw · 26 Oct 2015

Hello all,
I have an ASUS laptop, about a year old now with Windows 8.1. Almost a year ago, I managed to install Windows 7 on the PC, completely eliminating Windows 8, but I don't remember how I did it. Months later, my hard drive went bad and I took my PC into the Geek Squad for service since it has extended warranty on it. When I got it back, it had Windows 8 on it again.

I have tried so many methods in trying to get Windows 7 back on but have been unsuccessful. I have even tried making a new hard drive partition and installing it that way so I could eliminate Windows 8 but that didn't work and at boot up, it said a particular file during boot had an invalid signature.

I have a Windows 7 install DVD, completely authentic, but have ran out of ideas on how to install it to get rid of 8.1. Does anyone else have any ideas how to get it successfully installed? It's almost as if Windows 8.1 is locked on my hard drive. I'd take the hard drive out if I could but my PC has no access doors on the bottom of it so I can't access anything without special tools.

Thanks!

ThrashZone · 27 Oct 2015

Hi,
Possibly this is how ?
Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7

Ztruker · 27 Oct 2015

Suggestion, once you get 7 installed start doing image backups to an external USB hard drive (around $50 US). That way replacing a hard drive is a 20 or 40 minute job, including restore of the OS. You lose nothing and the computer is right back where it was when the image was created.

Keep it current.

Macrium Reflect Free is a good choice to do this.

codyw · 27 Oct 2015

I was able to modify my BIOS to allow dual booting and to allow Windows 7 to install. And thanks for the suggestion Ztruker! I will definitely consider that! :)

ThrashZone · 28 Oct 2015

Hi,
More info would be nice like if you disabled Fast startup and or Secure boot

AddRAM · 28 Oct 2015

Simple.

Convert hard drive to MBR
Turn off secure boot.
Make sure bios is set to Legacy or Legacy & UEFI (as is the case with my Bios)
Drop in your Windows 7 install disc

Glad to hear you are now enjoying Windows 7 :)

codyw · 30 Oct 2015

I disabled secure boot and enabled Launch CSM in my BIOS.

The only issues I'm really having now that I have Windows 7 on my PC are:

*Sometimes my PC gets stuck in hibernation and won't come out of it. This tends to happen when I'm playing a game in full screen and forget to plug in and the PC goes into hibernation when the battery level gets too low. This never happened to me in Windows 8.1.

*During the week, I leave my laptop on and close the lid at night to put it on sleep. Sometime in the early morning hours, with the lid closed, the laptop will wake up. Not really sure how to go about fixing that cause all the energy settings are all correct that I can tell.

Other than those two issues, I love having Windows 7 back! :)