I just bought a laptop, should be delivered next week.
DELL Inspiron 17 (i17RV-6273BLK) Intel Core i3 4010U (1.7GHz) 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 17.3" Notebook Windows 8
Can someone point me to the tutorial where I can install Windows 7 if Windows 8 is already installed (dual boot)?
Take a look here:
How to Install Windows 7 Over Windows 8 | Dual Boot
Hope this helps,
John
Thanks for the links. I'll read through them and see what I need to do. One link however, Dual Boot Installation - Windows 8 and Windows 7 or Vista
shows that Windows 7 is installed first. Will I need to remove 8, install 7 then reinstall 8?
YES & NO, down to your UEFI/BIOS firmware setting.shows that Windows 7 is installed first. Will I need to remove 8, install 7 then reinstall 8?
As this a OEM manufacturer's PC with Pre-installed Windows 8.
1) Downgrade to Windows 7.
Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7
Warning you must have the UEFI/BIOS firmware setting in Step Three set.
Make sure you read the NOTE at Step three.
2) If Using a USB Pen drive on a PC with a UEFI BIOS.
USB Pen drive need to be formatted to FAT32 as in
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
Take note of Step 11 for Windows 7.
Also you will need to use a USB 2.0 port, as there are no USB 3.0 drivers in Windows 7.
You will need to buy Windows 7.
Thanks for the links theog. I have Windows 7 Home Premium to use. It's a full retail version which I have on my present netbook. I'll uninstall it using this tutorial Product Key Number - Uninstall and Deactivate in Windows and install it on the new laptop.
(might install Ubuntu on the netbook afterwards)
What I do first is trial Win7 install to see how it runs in Dual Boot or with Win8 hidden. Or you can delete all partitions during the booted install to install just Win7. I would make my Win8 Recovery media first.
It's slightly different with each UEFI BIOS but basically you shrink C to make a Win7 partition of the size you want. On the laptop I'm trialing now I shrunk it all the way.
Then enter BIOS setup to turn off Secure Boot, enable CSM or Legacy BIOS if it allows a choice for Both or UEFI Boot First, save changes and Exit. Then boot the WIn7 DVD or UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows to install to the partition you created. Let us know if there are any failures, when they occur and exact error message.
If you decide you don't want UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS - YouTube then you can also Bypass UEFI to Install WIn7
I don't know if this laptop has UEFI or not. But first thing I'm going to do is make repair/recovery CD's.
If it's a Win8 PC then it has UEFI and Secure Boot crapware which is a marketing ploy to force business to migrate to Win8 which failed since most all of them are moving off XP to Win7.
For more on your BIOS settings consult the Manual on the Dell Support Downloads webpage for your tag number.
There will also be drivers there for downloading the Win7 network driver to your backup, so if it's not provided during install you can get install it first to get online quickly to enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3) then run all rounds of Important and Optional Windows UPdates, with reboots, until there are no more.
This should deliver most drivers. You can get the rest from the Dell webpage, or by googling for the exact device make/model + WIn7 drivers. We can also help you track any driver here.
Other tips and tricks for getting and keeping a perfect WIn7 install are the same as here for Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7
I thought UEFI BIOS was the same as Legacy BIOS just with a newer GUI and better support for newer hardware.
Time for me to read up on UEFI and Secure Boot.
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