Solved Windows 7 won't boot after reinstalling over Windows 8

[jamerst]

Hi all,

So, I recently bought my granddad a new laptop, however it came with Windows 8, which he is not familar with. So I decided that I would buy it and simply reinstall Windows 7 over the top again. Surprisingly I simply ran the setup from inside Windows 8 and it seemed to work fine to downgrade. The installation process completed successfully as far as I can see however, when it booted up again it simply stuck on the registry settings boot screen. After a while it then rebooted and started up again but this time froze on the starting windows normal boot screen. I left it for a while to see what happened and it just rebooted after a while again and simply did the same thing. I cannot get it to boot into safe mode either. Could this be something to do with the CPU being AMD? I don't know if Windows fully supports AMD cpu's as I have only used Intel in the past. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[theog]

How to Downgrade to Windows 7.
Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7

 

[jamerst]

I can't use this tutorial though as I cannot access any operating system!

EDIT: Never mind - thought I needed to use PoweShell for something else

 

[jamerst]

The tutorial you posted tells me to disable secure boot, however, I cannot select this option in the BIOS it simply skips over the option.

EDIT: Setting the supervisor password in the BIOS fixed

 

[theog]

What Make & Model of PC do you have?

 

[jamerst]

Packard Bell Easy Note TE. Also, changing the secure boot mode didn't make it boot and I can't seem to find the boot options menu button so I cannot simply reinstall as the Windows 7 installer is on a flash drive.

 

[theog]

Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7

You to do step 3 first.

3) Reset BIOS to default, and reboot to BIOS make sure Secure Boot is disabled.
Make sure CSM is ENABLED, & set to UEFI boot.
NOTE: Check your manufacturer's uEFI BIOS manual for settings.

If you have done all of Step Three, to boot the Windows 7 DVD use the one time boot menu.
Check your manufacturer's uEFI BIOS manual for settings.



Boot the DVD in uEFI mode.

 

[jamerst]

Finally, looks like it might be booting from the CD (hopefully!). Hopefully I won't have any compatibility issues as my disc is actually meant for Dell machines

 

[jamerst]

Looks like it is still stuck on the bootscreen even when I boot from the disk. I think it may be because I have seen 2 settings for secure boot, but I can only change one of them. I will edit if it unfreezes.

 

[theog]

Finally, looks like it might be booting from the CD (hopefully!). Hopefully I won't have any compatibility issues as my disc is actually meant for Dell machines

You can not use a OEM manufacturer's DVD & product key, that would be a illegal install.

You may like to get a DVD & license key from a good source like:
Windows Download and Shop - Microsoft Windows

 

[jamerst]

:O Good job it wouldn't let me install then!! I'm going to buy a key then use a stock iso to create a Uefi flash drive so that it will work

 

[theog]

The easy ways is to use the Windows 7 x64 DVD.

Using a USB Pendrive on a PC with a uEFI/BIOS firmware.
USB Pendrive need to be formated to FAT32 as in
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
Take note of Step 11 for Windows 7.

If using a USB 3.0 port, you will also need to slipstream in the USB 3.0 drivers in to the ISO, using the APP in this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ows-7-sp1-into-installation-dvd-iso-file.html

 

[jamerst]

I know it is easier but I currently have no DVDs available and I have already found that tutorial will sort later thanks

 

[jamerst]

Well I followed the instructions in the tutorial on eightforums but I still can't get it to boot (check the reply on the tutorial for details) as far as I know there are no USB 3.0 sockets on the laptop but I cannot really tell as very little documentation was included with the laptop.

 

[AddRAM]

Get what to boot, the flash drive ? or the pc ?

Use this to put the iso on the stick.

http://www.wintobootic.com/

 

[jamerst]

The flash drive (sorry if that wasn't clear will edit now) I've got it reformating with diskpart now to see if it will let me install normally.

 

[gregrocker]

Make sure to follow the steps for installing to UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums.

Were you able to disable Secure Boot? if the setting is shown in BIOS it should be changeable, then Save changes and Exit. On some BIOS you must also enable a BIOS password to change the setting. Read your BIOS manual if you have any questions, avaialable always on its model's Support Downloads webpage.

If all else fails you can Bypass UEFI to Install WIn7 which has worked for everyone, if you want a normal BIOS install to MBR disk and not UEFI.

 

[theog]

You need to do all of the step 3 first.

3) Reset BIOS to default, and reboot to BIOS make sure Secure Boot is disabled.
Make sure CSM is ENABLED, & set to UEFI boot.
NOTE: Check your manufacturer's uEFI BIOS manual for settings.

Take a look at this post.
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows - Page 7

 

[jamerst]

Finally fixed by simply bypassing UEFI completely . It wasn't really needed for my uses as it is only my granddad using it so nothing advanced is needed. Thanks for the help!

 

[theog]

You need to do all of the step 3 first.

3) Reset BIOS to default, and reboot to BIOS make sure Secure Boot is disabled.
Make sure CSM is ENABLED, & set to UEFI boot.
NOTE: Check your manufacturer's uEFI BIOS manual for settings.

Take a look at this post.
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows - Page 7

Finally fixed by simply bypassing UEFI completely . It wasn't really needed for my uses as it is only my granddad using it so nothing advanced is needed. Thanks for the help!

So at last you did Step Three.
but set to legacy, not uEFI.