Have both XP and Windows 7 installed on computer BUT..

[missdeadlocks]

I want to take out windows 7. I really like it, but I am finding more and more conflictions with the programs and sites I use each day. Example: Windows 7 does not support Microsoft Office Live where my website is, or World of Warcraft (video card problem). Both work fine on XP. So i decided to revert back. Problem is when I boot up I have three options. "OLDER VERSION OF WINDOWS", "WINDOWS7" AND "SYSTEM RESTORE". Now system restore and older version of windows brings me to the same page and asks me for an admin password. A password that was never set up. We never put a password on this computer. I just tried clicking enter to bypass the nonexsistant password but that didnt work. After 3 attempts it boots me.
How do I roll back??
I also have the Pavilion Slimline by HP which doesnt require a disk and key to reformat the computer, its built in.
But I can't even access that. Any help appreciated.
thanks
-Jaime

 

[jshimmy33]

Are you using Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate/Enterprise? You can use Windows XP Mode.

EDIT: Or, you can buy/download a Windows disk from Microsoft (or other sources...) and use that.

 

[Lordbob75]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

With any luck that will help you out.

~Lordbob

 

[missdeadlocks]

I am using Windows Ultimate. I see no sense in buying a copy of windows when I already have it on my computer. It is there, I just cannot get to it for whatever reason. It is asking me for an admin password that doesn't exsist otherwise I would be able to. A couple other people I spoke with said they have the same problem. There must be a way to get around it.
Come on techies..lol. Funny enough, I am an IT major in college, but I just don't know Win7 enough to get through this myself.
I will try that dual boot. Thanks

 

[SquonkSC]

I am using Windows Ultimate. I see no sense in buying a copy of windows when I already have it on my computer. It is there, I just cannot get to it for whatever reason. It is asking me for an admin password that doesn't exsist otherwise I would be able to. A couple other people I spoke with said they have the same problem. There must be a way to get around it.
Come on techies..lol. Funny enough, I am an IT major in college, but I just don't know Win7 enough to get through this myself.
I will try that dual boot. Thanks

Let me see if I get this right.

You had dual boot xp and win7.
You decided you only want xp

You deleted or formatted the win7 partition?

 

[zigzag3143]

I am using Windows Ultimate. I see no sense in buying a copy of windows when I already have it on my computer. It is there, I just cannot get to it for whatever reason. It is asking me for an admin password that doesn't exsist otherwise I would be able to. A couple other people I spoke with said they have the same problem. There must be a way to get around it.
Come on techies..lol. Funny enough, I am an IT major in college, but I just don't know Win7 enough to get through this myself.
I will try that dual boot. Thanks

Since you want to remove win 7 why dont you just boot into XP (older version) and delete the win 7 partition? If xp isnt working and you have a xp disk you can boot from it and format the whole drive. since we have no way of knowing for sure that its your system I doubt that someone is going to give you an admin password especially since we dont know what it would be

Let us know if you need help with the xp or anything else

Ken

 

[DocBrown]

What happens in SAFE mode boot ?

 

[missdeadlocks]

Ah, okay My husband just shed "some" light on the situation. Alright, Well, like I said before we have Windows XP built into our computer. Before, if we wanted to reformat, it was an option from boot up by hitting F8 upon start up that let us reformat right from there. Then my husband installed, or upgraded rather, to Windows 7 ultimate via microsoft website. He did NOT do a duel install, he did not shrink XP and partition the drive. This I am all finding out today. So, now that we want to jump back to XP, the F8 prompts we had before are no longer there because win7 changed everything. So we need to figure out a way to reformat using the built in XP on my computer through all this.
Any ideas..there must be a way.

 

[DocBrown]

Have you tried these for passwords

Admin or Password ?

Sometimes used by companies for initial setup

 

[missdeadlocks]

I have tried admin. I even added a password to my account and it doesnt work. I realized I can't get into XP because Windows 7 overrided it when my husband upgraded. Frusterating because I would not have overrided XP, i would have partitioned the drive and had both. But since it happened and I can't change that. I have to tap into the computers built in reformat which I can't find. It's located somewhere on the PC but I dont know where. Usually we found it by hitting F8 upon start up, since we upgraded its not there. However, our old files are still on the computer from XP. It carried over..i have to find out where in the pc that is.

 

[1Bowtie]

Hi missdeadlocks and welcome to the forums

Upgradeing from XP couldn't be done, so i think he installed over XP and if that's the case i don't think the hidden partition with XP on it will be there if you format the drive. Your probably going to need the XP disk and do a clean install of XP.

Smitty

 

[DocBrown]

Or you could tell you husband he messed up & now he needs to buy you a new computer & that Gucci purse you wanted. That will make everything better.

 

[whs]

The "built in reformat" is the recovery partition - usually D:. If this was eliminated during the W7 installation, then you have no way to reinstall XP without an installation disk.

 

[zigzag3143]

I have tried admin. I even added a password to my account and it doesnt work. I realized I can't get into XP because Windows 7 overrided it when my husband upgraded. Frusterating because I would not have overrided XP, i would have partitioned the drive and had both. But since it happened and I can't change that. I have to tap into the computers built in reformat which I can't find. It's located somewhere on the PC but I dont know where. Usually we found it by hitting F8 upon start up, since we upgraded its not there. However, our old files are still on the computer from XP. It carried over..i have to find out where in the pc that is.

MDL

Im dense this morning so you want to go to xp and want to remove win 7. Do you have an XP disk, or recvory xp disk that came with the computer?

Is there any data on the computer that you cant live without?

If there isnt anything on the drive that you need, you can boot from the xp dvd and re-install xp.

Is that what you want?

Ken

 

[missdeadlocks]

whs: Ok well, I do see my recovery drive is still there and full. Now i have to figure out how to access it upon start up. The F10 option is no longer there.
Here is what I see. http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n87/missdeadlocks/PC.jpg

Seems my HP recovery is still there...YIPPIE! So, any idea how I can access it from boot up to reformat?

 

[DocBrown]

I think you are going to need a Win XP CD to do a repair install

 

[SquonkSC]

I have tried admin. I even added a password to my account and it doesnt work. I realized I can't get into XP because Windows 7 overrided it when my husband upgraded. Frusterating because I would not have overrided XP, i would have partitioned the drive and had both. But since it happened and I can't change that. I have to tap into the computers built in reformat which I can't find. It's located somewhere on the PC but I dont know where. Usually we found it by hitting F8 upon start up, since we upgraded its not there. However, our old files are still on the computer from XP. It carried over..i have to find out where in the pc that is.

It's because win7 uses an entirely different way to boot.

If you can get your hands on an orinigal XP cd, you can boot from it and run "fdisk /mbr" from the prompt.

That will overwrite the Win7 booter and set the mbr back to XP

Then you should have the F8 back.

greetz

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

whs: Ok well, I do see my recovery drive is still there and full. Now i have to figure out how to access it upon start up. The F10 option is no longer there.
Here is what I see. http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n87/missdeadlocks/PC.jpg

Seems my HP recovery is still there...YIPPIE! So, any idea how I can access it from boot up to reformat?

The HP machine I had was F12; from a cold start, start tapping the F12 key to see if you get the "Recovery Option" sometimes it takes more than one try.

 

[Barman58]

It may be possible to utilise the recovery partition that is still on the drive - even if the F key method is not available.

To do this you need to make the recovery partition the active partition which is waht the recovery system does automatically,

OK to do this you will need to get access to the disk structure from outside windows,

Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to boot computer directly to manage partition.

is a free bootable CD which will allow you to perform the required changes

download the .iso file and write this to a cd using a suitable ISO writing application such as imageburn

once you have this cd ready you should insert the disk and re-boot the system.

in the application that appears select the recovery partition and make this active - remove the CD and again reboot -

the recovery process should start automatically.

not an easy solution but it's a complex situation.

an alternative would be to borrow an xp disk from a friend or family member and use your key to install

 

[DocBrown]

Just reread your first post again. Did you install the Microsoft Office Live Add-In ?

So you could use it with your website !