downgrading from Win 10

The win 7 drivers you'll find on the HP site:Product Support - HP Support Center

Witch license (win 7 or 8) you have on the COA stick under the laptop?

CosmicJest said:

I don't see anything on the bottom or under the battery except for a Windows 8 sticker. No sticker of authenticity or anything with a product key.

Apparently there are no Win 7 drivers available for my laptop. Does that mean I'm dead in the water with my Win 7 downgrade?

If you do not mind wasting a day to find out if Win 7 works only to find out it does not then go for it, If you want to run an OS that you know works then don't.

I would say that your computer, once win 7 is installed, will find the drivers.
As you said that the Win 7 factory recovery is on the way, wait for them.

I found the original factory reset flash drive I made when the computer was new! I decided the first step I should take was to restore the computer to its original state, so I went ahead and used the flash drive. I've never done a factory reset before, so was a bit nervous, but it pretty much went off like clockwork - took all evening, but I ended up with a fresh install of Win 8, including hard drive wipe, so it should be nice and clean (except for bloatware).

Meanwhile, I poked around on an old Win 7 computer I have. While doing so, it occurred to me that between using Win 8 for a few years and then Win 10 for the last 15 months, that I've really grown accustomed to the newer GUI. So I spent some time considering whether I truly wanted to try a Win 7 downgrade on this computer that was built for Win 8. I decided that the smarter option is probably to stay with the native OS, so I think when the Win 7 disk arrives I'll send it back.

I've been SO frustrated with Win 10 both at home and at work, where I am responsible for overall maintenance of our small network. I just wanted everything to work again - at least on my home computer! I appreciate the guidance, suggestions, and links provided. Thank you.

I would keep the arriving disks. They are gold.
If you want to make win 8 to look like Win XP or Win 7 (start menu) install Classic shell. I think you going to love it.
Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements

Classic Shell was the first thing I installed this morning! :) Can't live without it!

I bought an XP disk just before MS quit supporting XP, but I never used it and ended up giving it away. However, I don't have any recovery for my Win 7 computer, so perhaps you're right and I should hold onto Win 7 when it comes...just in case.

"Meanwhile, I poked around on an old Win 7 computer I have."
Why don't you do a factory restore on it. Than you'll have a spare computer that you can take anywhere without been worried of being lost or stolen.

Well, I thought about that last night, actually, because it's a mess. It's old enough to have had several users and lots of s/w installs/uninstalls. But...can't find the original system backup & the Recovery drive is empty. So I guess I could use the new disk on that computer when it gets here.

So...do you agree that it's best to stick with the OS that a machine comes with, for the least amount of headaches with things not working right?