Downgrading from Win8 to Win7 Home Premium

kjbgu04 · 15 Feb 2014

Hi y'all, my first post here. I'm a novice - can get into trouble without getting out.

The lovely wife had an old Dell machine that came with WinXP. We bought an upgrade pack at retail to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 Home Premium. Lovely wife has a new machine with Windows 8. We want to downgrade back to Windows 7 Home Premium using that same retail software we bought last year.

A call to Microsoft reveals that, yes, the upgrade software can be used for the downgrade (sanity check - are they right?) but that the product key can be used on only one machine at one time. The Microsoft support was trying to get me to buy an additional Windows 7 product key, but I think I can transfer it from one machine to the other. My main questions are around order of operations:

I found this forum on how to release the product key on the presently-installed environment. Product Key Number - Uninstall and Deactivate in Windows

Question #1: Will that contact the Microsoft activation server so that I can then re-use the product key?
Question #2: Will releasing the product key on the old machine immediately render the OS inoperable?

The hoped-for order of operations would be this, can I do it?
1. Install Windows 7 on new machine.
2. Release product key on old machine.
3. Activate product key on new machine.
4. Transfer old files (pictures, documents, music, etc.) from old machine to new.

But if releasing the product key will render the old OS inoperable, we'll have to do it in a different order.

Thanks for your time and help walking me through the best way to do this.

KB

theog · 15 Feb 2014

We bought an upgrade pack at retail to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 Home Premium.

Can only be used as a Upgrade, from Win XP or Vista.

The Microsoft support was trying to get me to buy an additional Windows 7 product key,

YES, you need buy the Full Product key version.

We want to downgrade back to Windows 7

YES & NO, down to your UEFI/BIOS firmware setting.

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.

kjbgu04 · 15 Feb 2014

OK, so when the Microsoft tech support told me I *could* use this upgrade product to downgrade, provided that I did a clean install, she was BSing me? I just don't understand why she would tell me that.

theog · 15 Feb 2014

kjbgu04 said:

OK, so when the Microsoft tech support told me I *could* use this upgrade product to downgrade, provided that I did a clean install, she was BSing me? I just don't understand why she would tell me that.

The Microsoft support was trying to get me to buy an additional Windows 7 product key,

You would be than upgrading from the new additional Windows 7 product key, which is fine.

kjbgu04 · 15 Feb 2014

And the full version of the product key seems to be going for $249-$299, at which point this becomes not worth doing. I may just have to tell the lovely wife she has to suck it up. There went all my good karma for fixing her computer, ha!!!

AddRAM · 15 Feb 2014

You can get an oem copy of windows much cheaper.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...rating-Systems

http://www.newegg.com/Operating-Syst...ategory/ID-368

I wouldn`t put anyone through the torture that is Windows 8

Ztruker · 15 Feb 2014

Why downgrade to Windows 7? You can make Windows 8 look and feel like Windows 7 so why bother?

Windows 8 can be a bit difficult to use compared to Windows 7. It can be tamed though.

Start Button:
If you install Classic Shell (free) or Stardock's Start8 ($4.99) or similar software then you can have the Start button as it was in Windows 7 and boot directly to the Desktop. You can still play with Metro stuff but it's not forced on you.

Windows 7 Gadgets:
Windows 7 Gadgets are also available if you want them: 8GadgetPack - Gadgets for Windows 8

UAC:
I find UAC extremely annoying. If you do too then to (mostly) disable UAC, Press Windows key + R to open the Run window.
Type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Tools tab.
Select Change UAC settings and click Launch.
Move the slider all the way to the bottom then click OK.
Some parts of UAC will still be alive, so to completely disable it you need to change a registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Key: EnableLUA
Set the value to 0

You cannot use any Metro Apps or the App Store when UAC is disabled. If you've gone this far, you can also disable all hot corners so you will not get any of the Windows Charms popups. Just check the Classic Shell and Start8 options to do this.

strollin · 15 Feb 2014

Just as I would not upgrade a Win 7 computer to Win 8, I also wouldn't downgrade a Win 8 computer to Win 7, the 2 OSes are not significantly different from each other to warrant either scenario. It simply isn't worth the effort to move in either direction.

gregrocker · 15 Feb 2014

If you're ready to move your Win7 install somewhere else and want to try it on the Win8 PC then what I would do is shrink C to make a new partition to Dual Boot Win7 as a trial with Win8. I have done this many times and the owner always decides to go with Win7 which is an Upgrade over Win8.

After shrinking C by the amount you want for Win7, you'll need to enter BIOS setup to disable Secure Boot, then try booting Win7 installer as a UEFI device to install. Sometimes it will also require enabling Legacy BIOS or Compatibility Support Module (CSM) to get Win7 installed. We can help you work through the choices.