Downgrading to win 7 Pro or Home Premium

bobgay · 10 Jul 2009

I've been mulling this over for awhile and I'm throwing it out for discussion. We all have been playing with Win7 Ultimate for months now regardless of the build. Now when we get our win7 HP or pro 10/22 will it let us downgrade from ultimate to Pro for example or is it really clean install time. We all know what a pain it is rebuilding our systems. Or is upgrading from ultimate to ultimate the ony way to avoid the pain of rebuilding our systems. What are your thoughts?
Many Thanks
Bob

Brink · 10 Jul 2009

Hello Bob,

Sorry, but the only way to downgrade to a lower Windows 7 version is with a clean install.

While we can upgrade using a retail Upgrade Windows 7 version, we most likely will not be able to upgrade from these prerelease (beta or RC builds) to the retail version. A clean install will most likely need to be done instead.

We will also most likely be able to do a clean install with a Upgrade Windows 7 using the same method as with Vista. If not, then it will just ask to insert the Vista DVD during the installation of Upgrade Windows 7 to prove that you have a copy of Vista to upgrade from.

Clean Install From Upgrade Vista - Vista Forums

You can read more about upgrading Windows 7 though at this link:
Upgrade Install with Windows 7

Hope this helps,
Shawn

aquasystems · 06 May 2012

here is a “simple” hack which allows you to embed the downgrade procedure in Windows 7.

Click Start. In the Search Box, type regedit and press Enter.
Navigate to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\CurrentVersion

In the right pane, click EditionID and ProductName and give them the value which corresponds to a lower Windows 7 edition.

Here is an example: Windows 7 Home Premium (downgrade from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 7 Home Premium)
EditionID: HomePremium
ProductName: Windows 7 HomePremium

Start your Windows 7 installation by inserting your Windows 7 Disc. Now, Select Upgrade as type of installation. Follow the instruction on the screen.
Reactivate your operating system.

karlsnooks · 06 May 2012

bobgay,
This link will show you the differences between Pro and Ultimate.
Compare Windows - Microsoft Windows

FuturDreamz · 06 May 2012

aquasystems said:

here is a “simple” hack which allows you to embed the downgrade procedure in Windows 7.

Click Start. In the Search Box, type regedit and press Enter.
Navigate to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\CurrentVersion

In the right pane, click EditionID and ProductName and give them the value which corresponds to a lower Windows 7 edition.

Here is an example: Windows 7 Home Premium (downgrade from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 7 Home Premium)
EditionID: HomePremium
ProductName: Windows 7 HomePremium

Start your Windows 7 installation by inserting your Windows 7 Disc. Now, Select Upgrade as type of installation. Follow the instruction on the screen.
Reactivate your operating system.

I'm pretty sure bobgay bit the bullet and did a clean install years ago...

Still, it's good reference for those that wanted to try Ultimate before buying a key and decided that for them, there wasn't enough to make the $300+ price tag worth it.