How to revert to Windows 7 from 10 after 30 days...

musicmaestro · 28 Nov 2015

A while back, I purchased a new Lenovo P580 laptop that came loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and has the OneKey recovery button. Here is a link to spec's if needed: Discounted Prices Lenovo IdeaPad P580 Laptop PC i7 -3520M 2.9GHz 15.6" 8GB 750GB HDMI BT NVIDIA GT 630M Only @ Laptop Best Offers

Fast forward... I just bought a second identical Lenovo P580, same processor, memory, graphics, everything... BUT this one is used and the previous owner upgraded it to Windows 10 more than 30 days ago. I need them to be identical since I use them for DJ purposes. Is there a way for me to copy the files needed from my original laptop to this upgraded one so I can revert back to Windows 7? Can anybody help? Thanks in advance!

Baddog22556 · 29 Nov 2015

Sure. Use an external drive and make a backup ISO image of the W7 laptop and then recover it to the
other W10 laptop. I use the free Acronis True Image as I have Western Digital drive in the chain.
Seagate also has Acronis True Image Free Edition if a seagate drive is in the chain somewhere.
There are many other free ISO Image programs, some free and some not, available. All have the
capability to make a bootable program startup CD. Acronis will erase everything on the W10 system
before restoring all your W7 partitions. I backup once a week and, believe me, it comes in handy as
I play with and experiment on my sys all the time with sometimes disastrous results but restored in
less than 30 minutes.
Good luck.

Mellon Head · 29 Nov 2015

Baddog22556 said:

Sure. Use an external drive and make a backup ISO image of the W7 laptop and then recover it to the
other W10 laptop. I use the free Acronis True Image as I have Western Digital drive in the chain.
Seagate also has Acronis True Image Free Edition if a seagate drive is in the chain somewhere.
There are many other free ISO Image programs, some free and some not, available. All have the
capability to make a bootable program startup CD. Acronis will erase everything on the W10 system
before restoring all your W7 partitions. I backup once a week and, believe me, it comes in handy as
I play with and experiment on my sys all the time with sometimes disastrous results but restored in
less than 30 minutes.
Good luck.

While that will work, the OP is still going to have to reactivate Win 7 with the COA key on the bottom of the new laptop. The OP will have to use the System tab in Control Panel to change the product key to the new laptop's key.

musicmaestro · 29 Nov 2015

Thanks for the info. I would definitely need to change the COA key after going back to 7. Will it automatically enter the number from my old laptop? If so, I definitely want to enter the proper number. IF you could walk me through it I'd appreciate it. Sorry, newby here.

Baddog22556 · 29 Nov 2015

Technically, what I said will work as I've done it. I think Mellon Head is speaking of legalities.
Please search on "Certificate of Authenticity" and its legal usage and ramifications.
I do not advocate doing anything illegal.

Microsoft Software License Terms

C:\Windows\System32\en-US\Licenses\_Default\"choose your running edition" like HomeBasic
and open license.rtf
Good luck.

musicmaestro · 29 Nov 2015

Thanks for the info. I would change it for sure. I Google'd and found this easy tute: How To Change the Windows 7 Product Key [Easy, 10 Min]

Mellon Head · 29 Nov 2015

musicmaestro said:

Thanks for the info. I would definitely need to change the COA key after going back to 7. Will it automatically enter the number from my old laptop? If so, I definitely want to enter the proper number. IF you could walk me through it I'd appreciate it. Sorry, newby here.

Your new laptop probably still has the COA key sticker on the bottom of it. That is the license key that you enter into the new laptop after you do BadDog's cloning procedure.

And I was speaking of legalities. The biggest reason that you want to change the product key on your new laptop right away is so that you don't have the same key from your old laptop on two different machines. MS could deactivate both of your machine's copies of Windows if you don't change the new one.

musicmaestro said:

Thanks for the info. I would change it for sure. I Google'd and found this easy tute: How To Change the Windows 7 Product Key [Easy, 10 Min]

That is a good explanation of what I meant. :)

musicmaestro · 30 Nov 2015

I used OneKey on my original Lenovo laptop to create a bootable disc; three discs to be exact. I then ran it in the new laptop and once Windows 7 was up and running, I did the following to change my Product Key.

Went to Start, typed slui.exe 3 in the search box and pressed enter. Then I put in the new laptop's original key from the sticker on the bottom and hit verify. I didn't connect to the internet till that stage just to be safe.

Now all is good! Thanks for the help everyone! :)

Baddog22556 · 30 Nov 2015

Microsoft will continue to make it harder as starting with
Windows 8 PCs now embed their product keys in the BIOS.
With Microsoft completely running the show my next computer
will have NO OS installed and I'll install Linux, maybe Ubuntu.
Many open-source versions can be setup to mimic any Windows OS.
Sorry but this is just the next evolution of this thread and not OT.

Mellon Head · 30 Nov 2015

musicmaestro said:

I used OneKey on my original Lenovo laptop to create a bootable disc; three discs to be exact. I then ran it in the new laptop and once Windows 7 was up and running, I did the following to change my Product Key.

Went to Start, typed slui.exe 3 in the search box and pressed enter. Then I put in the new laptop's original key from the sticker on the bottom and hit verify. I didn't connect to the internet till that stage just to be safe.

Now all is good! Thanks for the help everyone! :)

Glad you got it fixed up. Please mark the thread as solved if your issue is complete.