Has anyone unistalled W8.1 ?

Has anyone uninstalled W8.1 ?

I am so frustrated with 8.1 not working correctly.. with complete hangups/freezing of both IE and Mozilla, computer not sleeping or hibernating, Modern Music has lost its full screen etc..

I read that as long as you have a boot disk from W8 it will restore back to 8. Is that correct.

I'm working with a HP AI1 desktop that originally came with the W8 OS.



Pro's and Con's for ditching 8.1 would be appreciated.

I read that as long as you have a boot disk from Windows 8 it will restore back to 8. Is that correct.

I'm working with a HP AI1 desktop that originally came with the Windows 8 OS.

Click to expand...

YES, the HP OEM manufacturer's Recovery DVD's or USB drive, will RESTORE to the first day you had your new PC.

I made a boot disk when i initially purchased the PC. So i should be good to go correct ? Sorry for the somewhat basic questions, I'm not computer stupid, but obviously no whizz either.


A little background on my issues.

All my problems started with a bad E- drive. HP tech had me doing numerous repair attempts before they finally said, yeah its a bad drive. It would read cd's but would not recognize dvd's, it would just click repeatedly. After replacing the drive it still wouldn't work. It would recognize that there was a dvd in, but it wouldn't play so they had me do a system reset again. They had me do a reset in an attempt to remedy the problem of the bad E-drive. During the last reset, dummy me allowed the 8.1 install and the pc hasn't been right since. I was ready to blame the web problems on IE11, but the problems occur on the Mozilla browser also.

The funny thing is, I've had the pc for 10 months and never even tried the dvd drive. i received a VHS to DVD convertor program for xmas and it all started when trying to burn some DVD's of movies i converted. with the new drive, i can now burn dvds but i've got issues i've never had even with my 1st Compaq PC.

sorry to be long winded, but it all flows together in my head and comes out my fingers.. LOL..

Depends on what you mean by "Boot Disk"? If you created the Recovery Media, then you can use that to put your PC back to factory condition. That will almost certainly erase everything on your PC including all your personal files. You'll want to back up what you don't want to lose to external media. Your PC will be like it was the very first time you turned it on.

i burned a boot disk when i bought the pc. the pc kept popping up a window to burn a Disk when ever the PC was restarted. It may have said recovery disk, but i wrote W8 Boot on the disk along with the date.

Is there anyway to look at whats on the disk to tell if its a full recovery ?


I do have all my files backed up to a external hardrive. thats why i don't mind wiping the pc, though it is time consuming.

Check this video out.
How to Make Recovery DVD
Creating System Recovery Discs in Windows 8 for HP Computers - YouTube

I would think it should be more than one DVD? It must make use of the factory recovery partition? When I made the recovery media for my laptop I had to use a 16 GB thumb drive. I did mine though the recovery utility in control panel and checked the option to copy the factory recovery partition to the drive. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html My laptop didn't have any other way to do it. I'm not sure what your DVD does or doesn't do. You could always boot from it and see what options you get. It shouldn't do anything until you tell it to.

Yeah, i didn't do that.. ~ shaking head~

Alpha.. when i burned the disk, i thought it was done awful quick. besides its on a cd not dvd.. wth did i burn then ?

You can order the Microsoft official HP/Compaq OEM Recovery disks from the HP/Compaq OEM manufacturer's website.
https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc...dlc=en&lc=en&os=4132&product=5309543&sw_lang=
How Do I Order or Download System Recovery Software? - YouTube

gwd21795 said:

Yeah, i didn't do that.. ~ shaking head~

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Didn't do what?, what I posted or what's in the video? Or both? Most laptops come with a factory installed utility to create recovery media. Mine didn't, ASUS dropped the ball on that one so I had to use the Control panel recovery utility. I had no other way to do it. The ones with the factory installed utilities usually nag you to burn the disks. I'm not sure what your nag screen was, it may have been Windows prompting you to make a recovery disk. The basic disk with no added factory recovery is small, I use 1 GB thumb drives. What's there may fit on a CD. If you want to see what you have boot from it and see what you get for a menu/options. I doubt its a full recovery media.

Alpha. I didn't burn 6 dvd's. though it was back in may of last yr, i know it was a simple cd which may have taken 1/2 hr at the most.

the thing is i have a full system back up on a toshbia canvio external hardrive, but i can't get it to work other then pull files off of it..ie, documents, pics, music..

I know theres a full recovery on there, but i can't get the restore program to open... i don't know.

i know i must be making some of you guys just shake your head.. i know exactly how you feel when i'm trying to talk someone through car diagnosis and repair(mechanic for 30+ yrs).. to the experienced its cake walk, but not so to the novice wanna-be.

theog said:

You can order the Microsoft official HP/Compaq OEM Recovery disks from the HP/Compaq OEM manufacturer's website.
https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc...dlc=en&lc=en&os=4132&product=5309543&sw_lang=
How Do I Order or Download System Recovery Software? - YouTube

Click to expand...

thanks, i will do this as a last resort.. it may be the simplest thing to do.

gwd21795 said:

Alpha. I didn't burn 6 dvd's. though it was back in may of last yr, i know it was a simple cd which may have taken 1/2 hr at the most.

the thing is i have a full system back up on a toshbia canvio external hardrive, but i can't get it to work other then pull files off of it..ie, documents, pics, music..

I know theres a full recovery on there, but i can't get the restore program to open... i don't know.

i know i must be making some of you guys just shake your head.. i know exactly how you feel when i'm trying to talk someone through car diagnosis and repair(mechanic for 30+ yrs).. to the experienced its cake walk, but not so to the novice wanna-be.

Click to expand...

Don't sweat it, have a look at what I went though when you have some spare time. http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/21897-new-asus-laptop-has-no-recovery-disk-utlity.html It's a long thread.

Have a look at the video Theog posted. See if you can still do it. If you can it will save from having to buy a set from HP.

i checked hp and they want $16 shipped so thats not so bad.

I'll look into your thread. i also have to look into my external hardrive and why it won't work. it was last back upped on 12-28 so i know everything is correct there.

I need to get off here for the night. its the mrs turn to be aggravated with it.


Thanks for your alls help, it is much appreciated.

Another option, if you know anybody with a Retail Windows 8 DVD, get them to burn you a copy. The TechNet ISO's which are Retail will read the embedded key during the install. If you can get your hands on a Retail DVD you can do a clean install with it and use your embedded OEM key. If you read to the end of the thread I linked to you'll see that that's what I ended up doing.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2293-refresh-windows-8-a.html

If you have an OEM PC that came with Windows 8 preinstalled and updated to Windows 8.1, then when you refresh Windows, it will restore Windows 8.

4. Open PC settings, and do step 5 or 6 below for the Windows 8 you have installed.

5. If you have Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1
8. Click/tap on Next. (see screenshots below)