How do i install Win7 on a Preinstalled Win8 laptop?

samiam820

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I am looking to install Win7 Ultimate on my ASUS system and have 2 drives. I need win7 for work and really dont like 8 anyway. 8 was preinstalled. As you can tell from the screenshot i have a Virtual Clone drive (H: ) of the win7 iso. The BIOS has UEFI. Basically wanting to dual boot. I have been looking at the 7 & 8 forums trying to find a thread with this kind of install and no luck. What is the correct way to do this?

dm.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3820 CPU OC @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1.Assassin2
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator 16GB Quad Channel DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia by EVGA - GeForce GTX 670 4GB
    Sound Card
    On board Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    acer 24" H243H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Main 500GB Hybrid Drive @ 7,200RPM
    Secondary OCZ SSD Vertex 3 Max IOPS
    PSU
    Silent Pro 1000w gold 80+
    Case
    Azza Hurrican 2000
    Cooling
    Liquid CPU cooler & fans
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
    Mouse
    Tek Republic Wired Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    5ms Ping 5.15Mb/s Download .64Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3820 CPU OC @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1.Assassin2
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator 16GB Quad Channel DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia by EVGA - GeForce GTX 670 4GB
    Sound Card
    On board Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    acer 24" H243H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Main 500GB Hybrid Drive @ 7,200RPM
    Secondary OCZ SSD Vertex 3 Max IOPS
    PSU
    Silent Pro 1000w gold 80+
    Case
    Azza Hurrican 2000
    Cooling
    Liquid CPU cooler & fans
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
    Mouse
    Tek Republic Wired Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    5ms Ping 5.15Mb/s Download .64Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro Prieview x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MacBook Pro Core2Duo
    CPU
    T7600
    Memory
    3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon X1600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Internal
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 800
    Hard Drives
    40GB
    Keyboard
    Apple
    Mouse
    Apple
    Internet Speed
    Varies
    Browser
    Various
    Antivirus
    Defender
If you only have the C: partition, you first need to shrink the C: partition in Disk Management -> LINK

Windows 7/8 setup: Installing using Legacy BIOS Boot Mode or UEFI Boot Mode.

Note: The following instructions will not work if your computer is not Windows 7 compatible, when you select UEFI Boot Mode (to boot from the UEFI: USB or UEFI: DVD) and try to install Windows 7 64-bit.

You must disable Secure Boot, because it is not compatible with Windows 7.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/17058-secure-boot-enable-disable-uefi.html

If using a 64-bit Windows 7 installation USB flash drive.
- Download and run the Rufus program.
- Connect your USB flash drive.
- Click on the browse icon and select your Windows 7 64-bit ISO image file.
- Under Partition scheme and target system type, select GPT partition scheme for UEFI Computer
- Under File system, select FAT32
- Click on Start button.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Help Forums

- Connect your Windows 7 64-bit USB flash drive (or insert Windows 7 64-bit installation DVD).
- Restart the computer.
- Press the correct key to enter the boot menu (see this link for help).
- Select your USB/DVD from the boot menu.

Lenovo Boot Menu.png

Note: You must select UEFI: USB or UEFI: DVD if the USB/DVD device showing twice in the boot menu, one marked UEFI and one not marked UEFI (see screenshot below).

Asus boot menu.png

On the Where do you want to install Windows? screen you'll see a list of all the partitions on the computer.

Select the partition which you want to install Windows 7. Just make sure you do NOT select the partition where you have Windows 8 installed.

Where do you want to install Windows.png

After Windows 7 installation you will choose which operating system you want to use (see screenshot below).

Windows Boot Manager.png
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G580
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3230M
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, standard user account
    Other Info
    UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8 product key.
I am looking to install Win7 Ultimate on my ASUS system and have 2 drives. I need win7 for work and really dont like 8 anyway. 8 was preinstalled.

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

As this a OEM manufacturer's PC with Pre-installed Windows 8/8.1.

1) Downgrade to Windows 7.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13326-downgrade-windows-8-windows-7-a.html
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
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html
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.

As you have updated to Windows 8.1, you will need to make a partition for Windows 7 x64 after the 350mb Windows 8.1 Repair tool partition.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
I dont have 8.1 pro..its just standard. And like i said before, i need 7 for work while i still want to keep 8.1 on the other drive. What any of you are not seeing is that i have ANOTHER 1tb drive and THATS the drive i would like to install 7 on. So all your answers are a bit confusing. I do not need to touch 8.1. Also...How do i find out if my laptop is 7 compatible?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
What any of you are not seeing is that i have ANOTHER 1tb drive

Set the UEFI/BIOS firmware to suit Windows 7 x64, then install.

8-7-Linux-002-1.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Go to your website for the laptop to find drivers for windows 7 to see compatibility (If they are available, they should be supported).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3820 CPU OC @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1.Assassin2
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator 16GB Quad Channel DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia by EVGA - GeForce GTX 670 4GB
    Sound Card
    On board Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    acer 24" H243H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Main 500GB Hybrid Drive @ 7,200RPM
    Secondary OCZ SSD Vertex 3 Max IOPS
    PSU
    Silent Pro 1000w gold 80+
    Case
    Azza Hurrican 2000
    Cooling
    Liquid CPU cooler & fans
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
    Mouse
    Tek Republic Wired Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    5ms Ping 5.15Mb/s Download .64Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
How do i find out if my laptop is 7 compatible?

How do I find out if my laptop is Windows 7 compatible, when I use UEFI Boot Mode option?

1. Make a backup of your Boot Configuration Data (BCD) file

- open an elevated command prompt and type: bcdedit /export c:\savedbcd

bcdedit /export c:\savedbcd

This will create a file c:\savedbcd which is your boot entry backup.
If you mess up, you can always undo changes by:

bcdedit /import c:\savedbcd

2. Disable Secure Boot
3. If you want use a USB flash drive -> Create a bootable UEFI USB flash drive
4. Install Windows 7 64-bit from DVD or USB

edit: Windows 7/8 setup: Installing using UEFI Boot Mode or Legacy BIOS Boot Mode.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G580
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3230M
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, standard user account
    Other Info
    UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8 product key.
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