Solved removing windows 8

elltell

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I want to remove windows 8 and go back to windows 7 [I have the windows 7 disc and key]

Can I just insert the disc and enter the key? or how do I uninstall windows 8 first as it was a downloaded app?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows8
Can you not recover Windows 7 from c:\Windows.old?
Hi there
unfortunately not as it's just data --it's not a system image etc.

In fact the whole point of Windows.old rather confuses me anyway --it doesn't seem to have any functional use whatsoever other than just consume disk space.

If you have created a Windows 7 image with Macrium / Acronis etc then just restore the imahge from a bootable backup copy -- however if you don't have one then just follow the tutorial.

You might also have the Windows 7 recovery image from the original purchase of your PC --however if you restore that you'll get all the Bloatware that came with the PC and you'll also have to re update all the fixes and ecurity updates.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
In fact the whole point of Windows.old rather confuses me anyway --it doesn't seem to have any functional use whatsoever other than just consume disk space.

Same here! Its why it was one of the first things I got rid of after running the upgrade. :p
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    CyberPower
    CPU
    i5 2500K
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gigabytes Corsair PC3-12800 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 460 superclocked
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 23" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    128 Gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD
    128 Gb Kingston Hyper X SSD
    1 Tb Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
    PSU
    1000 watt Coolermaster modular
    Case
    Coolermaster Haf X full tower
    Cooling
    Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitec M310 USB cordless
    Internet Speed
    1.5 mb/s download 300 kb/s upload
I have recovered the documents, photos, videos and music folder from windows old. You will still need to install the programs to run those programs, but you can get the data files So I personally would not rid my self of those files even if you do have a good backup until you are sure that you have all of your data files with your new installation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win8 Preview
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebilt
    CPU
    i7
    Motherboard
    Asus
    Memory
    8 Gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
I have all my personal data saved on other HDDs, because it makes system imaging my C drive much cleaner.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    CyberPower
    CPU
    i5 2500K
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gigabytes Corsair PC3-12800 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 460 superclocked
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 23" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    128 Gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD
    128 Gb Kingston Hyper X SSD
    1 Tb Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
    PSU
    1000 watt Coolermaster modular
    Case
    Coolermaster Haf X full tower
    Cooling
    Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitec M310 USB cordless
    Internet Speed
    1.5 mb/s download 300 kb/s upload
You should be able to recover from Windows.old - you could with previous o/s. That is ( or used to be ) one of the reasons it is there.

However, I tried it and couldn't get it work at the first attempt - for reasons to do with the way win8 performs the upgrade - which I cbb to explain.

That is a nuisance.

I might have another go at some stage and work through the extra steps needed .

For now - I think you may be better reinstalling tbh.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I have used the copy and paste function as well as drag and drop from Windows.old to the matching files in Windows and it has worked for me every time.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win8 Preview
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebilt
    CPU
    i7
    Motherboard
    Asus
    Memory
    8 Gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
Did you do that after ugrading 7 to 8?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Yes I did it with Windows 7 and both the preview versions of Windows 8. If you installed the beta version of Windows 8 and upgraded to the latest build you could not upgrade to the later version. So when I upgraded to Build 8400 all my files (documents, photos, videos and music) were in windows.old. In order to restore those folders I drag and dropped the those folders into my latest installation of windows. If you are unsteady with drag and drop you can use copy and paste. The end result I had all my documents in my new installation. All I had to do was to reinstall the associated programs. That why I stated earlier, I am totally confused by the other post that the windows.old folder is useless. I suggest try it and see if it works, but I'm positively sure that it will.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win8 Preview
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebilt
    CPU
    i7
    Motherboard
    Asus
    Memory
    8 Gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
You're right - it was easy before.

However, I ran the upgrade of win8 rtm on a win7 install.

That is not the same as installing from booted media.

Tried the usual way of restoring Windows 7 from windows.old ( i.e a manual rollback to the previous o/s ) and ran into a couple of major problems.

I know what the first one was - and I have a pretty good idea what the second issue was too.

You should be able to use windows.old to fish out your documents, etc - which is what you did.

You should also be able to use it for a manual rollback. That is where you get the problems now.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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