How to remove Windows 8 and install windows 7?

[cadaveca]

Nope, I'm using retail discs:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6807/img0979bh.jpg

Just for testing I installed W7 on my HTPC (currently using W8 on it) on a spare drive. No problems downgrading.

Boards were Asrock Conroe865PE (backup rig) and Asrock H61M-GE (htpc).

I have concurrent installs of Vista, Win7, and Win8, all running on the same machine.

And yes, I have flashed my boards to the most recent BIOSes, since WINDOWS 8 doesn't work correctly without new BIOS.


:shadedshu






Oh, and that's been tried on nearly every board I have ever reviewed in the past 16 months.

That said, could be a problem with OEM boxes, who knows. Not retail off-the-shelf boards though, for sure. I would have been SCREAMING about it.


I still have boards that don't work right with Windows8, however. The list gets smaller each week, but one specific OEM has many many issues, or has sent be a shit-tonne of faulty boards.

 

[Dos101]

Oh my here we go again, another Help thread with a Windows 7 vs 8 sideshow.

 

[cadaveca]

Oh my here we go again, another Help thread with a Windows 7 vs 8 sideshow.

Meh. Truly, I think people should just run both. I do. I like Windows8 a bit more, personally, but whatever. I like new things to play with. Some people find learning new things is hard.

 

[Dos101]

Meh. Truly, I think people should just run both. I do. I like Windows8 a bit more, personally, but whatever. I like new things to play with. Some people find learning new things is hard.

It just reminds me of the ATI vs nVidia fanboy crap that used to go on here (and still does, though not as bad anymore).

 

[PruGuy]

uninstalling win 8 and reinstalling win7

Thanks for your responses.

According to what I have read, and experienced, Secure Boot is a reality. It appears to be a problem with the Shuttle BIOS systems. I am happy to learn this is MY problem and not more wide spread. I intend to send this system to Shuttle, and will report back when I learn the diagnosis.

The comments I made do apply, per conversations with MS SUPPORT. Just how they apply to custom systems seems to be related to the hardware being used and the certifications thereof.

My system is a Shuttle XPC Barebones unit.

You would have to agree that system lock up WITHOUT a drive, would point to some change in BIOS. There is no other answer.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/windows-8-classic-shell.html

 

[BarbaricSoul]

To get borderline insulting to me just because I choose not to upgrade to Windows 8 because I don't like the way it looks is quite childish IMHO. It has nothing to do with me being lazy, or scared of changed, or not wanting to learn something new. None of you know me personally, so don't even try to form an opinion of the type of person I am. I simply do not like the look and UI of Windows 8. If you like it, that's perfectly fine by me.

 

[cadaveca]

Thanks for your responses.

According to what I have read, and experienced, Secure Boot is a reality. It appears to be a problem with the Shuttle BIOS systems. I am happy to learn this is MY problem and not more wide spread. I intend to send this system to Shuttle, and will report back when I learn the diagnosis.

The comments I made do apply, per conversations with MS SUPPORT. Just how they apply to custom systems seems to be related to the hardware being used and the certifications thereof.

My system is a Shuttle XPC Barebones unit.

You would have to agree that system lock up WITHOUT a drive, would point to some change in BIOS. There is no other answer.

Most consumer-grade boards have the option to enable or disable secure boot. I have it enabled on my current machines without any issues, fortunately, but that alone could be the source of the issues I have been having with other builds, for sure.


However...


If your BIOS does not have the option to disable SecureBoot, then that's the fault of the board maker, and doesn't have anything to do with Windows.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

To get borderline insulting to me just because I choose not to upgrade to Windows 8 because I don't like the way it looks is quite childish IMHO. It has nothing to do with me being lazy, or scared of changed, or not wanting to learn something new. None of you know me personally, so don't even try to form an opinion of the type of person I am. I simply do not like the look and UI of Windows 8. If you like it, that's perfectly fine by me.

Like I said, people who don't like it get flabbergasted by the Win8 fanboys as being n00bs/lazy/uneducated, funny how us who have given a fair chance still get blasted by the Win8 defenders lol

My opinion is my own, I don't force it on someone else or mock someone/shoot down their credability because they don't agree with me, seems like thou doth protest too much lol

 

[Arctucas]

@BarbaricSoul, NdMk2o1o,

I concur with your statements.

I believe that those members of the 'in crowd' will always shun those of us who choose our own way. In my opinion, it is their loss...

 

[Melvis]

It wouldn't even take 5 minutes to teach someone the differences of win 8 to win 7 and how to use it.

Your right it take more like 2hrs IF they didnt have someone there to teach them and lets face it not many will.

Just delete format the whole drive and put 7 on, she will love you for it then, its better to make a customer happy then telling one to learn it and get over it, trust me, customer is always right (even if they arnt)

 

[TRWOV]

I understand people not wanting to install W8 but if you already got it pre-installed(like in OP's case) I don't know why would you get rid of it. There's nothing that W7 does that W8 doesn't do, save for supporting legacy tech and programs (W7 works like a charm on my 865PE system, W8 not so much) so why spend $100 or so for a W7 license when you can get rid of metro for $5 or $0 if you choose to?

 

[AphexDreamer]

Your right it take more like 2hrs IF they didnt have someone there to teach them and lets face it not many will.

Just delete format the whole drive and put 7 on, she will love you for it then, its better to make a customer happy then telling one to learn it and get over it, trust me, customer is always right (even if they arnt)

Dude that is clearly an exaggeration. I learned all the new tricks to win 8 within 5 minutes of google searching and self use. Its not like I'm some sort of genius either to have done so.
You have to want to learn before you can actually learn. Most people are just stubborn, they just won't change no matter what.

If stubbornness is ones excuse to stay on 7 then be my guest but honestly Win 8 is refreshingly nice. If you look back at my old comments on win 8 they are all neutral so its not like I'm some fanboy either.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2699999&postcount=164

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2634260&postcount=21

 

[...PACMAN...]

Windows 8 is a piece of piss to get your head around and it functions great. A few weeks with it and I am really enjoying the subtle differences from 7, metro functionality is easy with a mouse as well and once I looked into a couple of things (2 min google) all my games have been equal in performance(some even better than 7).

Quick tip - if any of you have tried d3doverrider and found that it doesn't seem to work in windows 8 providing vsync/triple buffering. Click the game.exe in question and change compatibility to windows 7. D3doverrider will now work with that game.

 

[95Viper]

Thanks for your responses.

According to what I have read, and experienced, Secure Boot is a reality. It appears to be a problem with the Shuttle BIOS systems. I am happy to learn this is MY problem and not more wide spread. I intend to send this system to Shuttle, and will report back when I learn the diagnosis.

The comments I made do apply, per conversations with MS SUPPORT. Just how they apply to custom systems seems to be related to the hardware being used and the certifications thereof.

My system is a Shuttle XPC Barebones unit.

You would have to agree that system lock up WITHOUT a drive, would point to some change in BIOS. There is no other answer.

Most consumer-grade boards have the option to enable or disable secure boot. I have it enabled on my current machines without any issues, fortunately, but that alone could be the source of the issues I have been having with other builds, for sure.

However...

If your BIOS does not have the option to disable SecureBoot, then that's the fault of the board maker, and doesn't have anything to do with Windows.

cadaveca has stated it nicely...

@PruGuy and others who want to read about it...here is a little more info from Microsoft.
Quote from the MS web page --> Protecting the pre-OS environment with UEFI

UEFI has a firmware validation process, called secure boot, which is defined in Chapter 27 of the UEFI 2.3.1 specification. Secure boot defines how platform firmware manages security certificates, validation of firmware, and a definition of the interface (protocol) between firmware and the operating system.

Microsoft did not develop it, they are just using the "Secure Boot" feature of the UEFI specification.
Any business/group/etc. can obtain a certificate to use this feature with any OS produced.
It is basically another level of security... it tries to plug one of the biggest gaps in OS security(the boot path).

UEFI.org's download page:www.uefi.org

 

[Naito]

Another alternative is to use StartIsBack. Pretty much Start8, but cheaper. Unlike Start8, though, it doesn't install a service, thus is lighter. Apparently it wraps into explorer to access portions of the Start menu code still existent in Windows 8. Obviously it isn't quite as refined as Start8 and there are a few small inconsistencies between it and the Win7 menu, but there are no major issues that I have found. I have purchased both, but prefer StartIsBack. I originally only installed it, not because I disliked Metro, just found that I wasn't using Metro apps enough to warrant the need for the Start screen, especially when there are great alternatives.

On a side note, I have found Windows 8 to be very enjoyable to use on my Asus UX31. No issues, great performance, slightly better battery life.

 

[pampaatty]

W8 removal

I appreciate the input on uninstalling W8. I used the beta version on a netbook (2 years old) for a year and after getting used to the interface, I liked it. I liked it so much that when prompted to upgrade or deal with rebooting W8 every two hours, that I paid the $39.95 and got the download to W8pro. Guess what? The OS then decided that my monitor failed to set to a high enough resolution to work (I could see only 1/2 of my screen.) What to do?

I called MS and explained the the problem. The teck told me I could never get around this limitation of my monitor and I could never run W8, even though I liked it. I was refunded the $39.95 and billed $14.95 for a DVD of W7 to be sent to me. I am still waiting on it to arrive.

Meantime, I found the original W7 disks and attempted the install over W8. It took all day (including 125 updates) but it finally completed, and as of this morning, is working just fine.

But, the new laptop my brother in law got for Christmas has W8 on it. My sister got on it and somehow put in a password as administrator, (of course, she can not remember even doing it) and now the machine will not allow any downloads or other material to be installed. That brings me to this post. I was hoping to install W7 on their new machine.

 

[niko084]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-8-gaming-performance,3331.html

Looks like some HUGE gains going to Windows 8 and having to purchase GUI packages because MS tried to be Apple. *rolls eyes*

Easiest option instead of buying a windows 7 license would be to buy a Windows 8 Pro upgrade and then downgrade to Windows 7, while HP may not support it I highly doubt if you have sufficient searching skills and take advantage of things like... driverpacks.net you will have no issues getting the system fully functional with Windows 7, I'm still getting new Windows 8 laptops to run XP.

One more free option you could try if you are interested in just having a start button-
http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/?source=directory

 

[Drone]

Microsoft Certified Professionals Will Apparently Help You “Downgrade” From Windows 8 To Windows 7 For A Fee

LOL!