Don’t like Windows 10? As long as you’ve upgraded within the last month, you can uninstall Windows 10 and downgrade your PC back to its original Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 operating system. You can always upgrade to Windows 10 again later.
- Windows 7 Pro Downgrade
- Windows 7 Pro Downgrade From 10
- Downgrade Windows 7 Ultimate To Pro
- Windows 7 Enterprise Professional Downgrade
Unfortunately unless you went through an upgrade process there is no safe way to revert back to older editions. Knowing you have Windows 7 Enterprise tells me this. Other versions of Windows 10 are not eligible to downgrade to Windows 7. While the Windows 10 Pro license allows for a downgrade to Windows 7, there is no assurance that Windows 7 drivers will be available either from Dell or the component manufacturer. Systems on this list were available with a Windows 10 Pro purchase option, Windows 7 drivers. Google vs DuckDuckGo Search engine manipulation, censorship and why you should switch - Duration: 13:24. The Hated One 2,779,348 views.
Even if it’s been more than a month, you should be able to perform a clean install of the version of Windows that came with your PC using fresh installation media and its product key.
Go Back to Windows 7 or 8.1
If you’ve upgraded a PC to Windows 10—not performed a clean install, but an upgrade—you have an easy option that lets you revert to the last version of Windows. To access this, hit Windows+I to open the Settings app, click the “Update & security” icon, and then switch to the “Recovery” tab. You should see a “Go back to Windows 7” or “Go back to Windows 8.1” section. Click the “Get Started” button in that section to get rid of your Windows 10 install and restore your previous Windows install.
Windows will first ask you why you want to go back. Just pick anything, and then click the “Next” button.
Next, it will run you through a couple of screens where it asks if you want to try updating Windows 10 instead (to see if it makes anything better), and then reminds you that if you have a password, you’ll need to remember it or disable it while you can. When you get to the final screen, click the “Go back to Windows 7 (or 8.1)” button to make it happen.
Windows will then restore your previous version, restarting your PC a couple of times along the way.
This Process Uses the Windows.old Folder
RELATED:How to Restore Your Files From the Windows.old Folder After Upgrading
Downgrading is possible because Windows 10 stores your old Windows installation in a folder named “C:Windows.old” on your PC. You can see this folder in File Explorer, though you shouldn’t attempt to delete it from here. You can also browse the Windows.old folder and restore files from it.
RELATED:7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows
Obviously, storing every single file from your old Windows installation takes a lot of space. If you open the Disk Cleanup application, you’ll see just how much space it uses. Hit Start, type “Disk cleanup” into the search box, and then click the result to run it.
In the Disk Cleanup window, click the “Clean up system files” button.
In the list of files Disk Cleanup can remove, find the “Previous Windows installation(s)” entry, and can see just how much space it’s consuming on your hard drive. If you’re sure you don’t want to go back to your previous version of Windows, use Disk Cleanup tool to remove those files and immediately free up space.
How to Downgrade if Windows 10 Doesn’t Give You The Option
Assuming you have an old computer you upgraded to Windows 10, that computer previously had Windows 7 or 8.1 on it. That means that computer came with a product key that allows you to use Windows 7 or 8.1 on it. If you can’t downgrade to your old version (maybe it’s been to long, or maybe something went wrong with your downgrade attempt), you’ll have to perform a clean install of Windows—something PC geeks often do on new computers, anyway.
RELATED:Where to Download Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 ISOs Legally
Thankfully, Microsoft now offers easy downloads for Windows 7 and 8.1 ISO files. Download the Windows installation media and burn the ISO file to a disc or copy it to a USB drive using Microsoft’s Windows USB/DVD download tool. You can then boot from it and reinstall Windows 7 or 8.1 fresh, telling it to overwrite the Windows 10 system already on your hard drive. Be sure you have backup copies of all your important files from your Windows 10 PC first.
RELATED:How to Find Your PC’s Windows Product Key So You Can Reinstall Windows
You’ll have to find your PC’s product key if you do this. On a Windows 7 PC, examine your PC for a “certificate of authenticity” sticker with a key on it. The sticker may be on the back of your desktop case, on the bottom (or inside the battery compartment) of your laptop, or it may have come on a separate card with your PC. On a Windows 8 PC, you may not have to do this at all—the key may be embedded in your computer’s firmware. If so, Windows 8.1 will automatically detect it and allow you to reinstall Windows 8.1 without even asking you to enter a key.
If you bought a new PC that came with Windows 10 and you want to go back to a previous version of Windows, that’s tougher. To do this legitimately, you’ll need to purchase a Windows 7 or 8.1 license and install it from scratch, entering the product key you purchased during the install process.
If an important program or hardware device you use doesn’t work on Windows 10, you’ll want to downgrade. If Windows 10 just seems unstable, you’ll want to go back to your previous version of Windows and wait a while longer before attempting an upgrade. Or, if you’d just rather hang onto Windows 7 for a while longer, you can downgrade. If you’ve upgraded a PC to Windows 10 once, you’ll always be able to do it again later.
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Active2 years, 6 months ago
Can't find exact same scenario on other Qs so posting this ..
Installed Windows 7 Ultimate from Dell OEM CD.Did not activate and using 30 day period.
Can I just change key in setting IF:1- I buy Professional OEM CD (from tigerdirect/online etc.?2- I buy Ultimate OEM CD (from tigerdirect/online etc.? Sako serial number date.
Simply don't want to reinstall and move to professional ver.thx.
TomTom
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5 Answers
You cannot downgrade to Windows 7 Pro without doing a complete re-installation, and you cannot use a Windows 7 Pro activation key to activate Windows 7 Ultimate. However, you should be able to use the activation key from an OEM copy of Windows Ultimate that you purchase.
If it doesn't accept the Win7 Ultimate activation key when you enter it, you should be able to do a repair installation of Windows using the Ultimate OEM CD that you purchased and use that OEM CD's activation key. It will activate Windoows 7 Ultimate using the OEM CD, but it should not remove any of your files or software.
James Mertz
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DanDan
You can downgrade Windows 7 Ultimate to Professional, or Home Premium.
The following procedure is from UnaWave - Installation - Downgrade
A Windows 7 Ultimate Installation can normally not change into a minor version of 'Windows 7 Home Premium' or 'Professional'. If you have installed a preview version of Windows 7 Ultimate (e.g. beta, release candidate build 7100 or RTM build 7600) and want to install a cheaper version Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional the installation is refused:
But with a change of a registry key whilst installation you can fake a minor version - so you can install the minor version
Change these registry keys ..
.. into these for installing Windows 7 Professional ..
.. or into these for installing Windows 7 Home Premium:
A re-boot after change of these registry keys is not necessary.
The version name to be entered must be identical to the version name on the installation DVD. See here the differences of an English and a German installation:
For downgrading do not boot from Windows 7 installation DVD.
Boot to Windows 7 and start 'Setup.exe' from DVD; or after loading DVD the setup process starts automatically.
Start Upgrading (even this sounds absurd):
After successfully downgrading the welcome screen shows the new version:
Also the program 'winver' shows the successfully downgrading:
All data, documents, music and movie files, installed driver and programs, shortcuts, program and user settings are retained. Only in a few Windows 7 programs some settings are reset to the initial settings; e.g. in the 'services'. After the downgrade the Windows 7 installation, of course, must be re-activated.
Attention: In Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 (Release Candidate) the effort is greater. First the entire DVD content must be copied to a folder to the hard drive. Then open in subfolder 'sources' the file 'cversion.ini' and change the entry 'MinClient=7233.0' to 'MinClient=7077.0'. Then you can start the installation with 'Setup.exe' (one folders hierarchy up). After the installation the entire folder can be deleted.
Source: UnaWave - Installation - Downgrade
Gypsy Spellweaver
1,6751 gold badge6 silver badges21 bronze badges
JaysenJaysen
Can't be done. When you install Windows 7, it installs THAT edition. You can't go backwards. If you use a multi-disk with all the installations, it asks you during Setup, and tells you to make sure you chose the right one. You will need to reinstall Windows 7 Pro to get only the Pro features. If you already have OEM Ultimate, I'd say keep using it (unless it was pirated)
Canadian LukeCanadian Luke
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I was in a similar situation. I had 'Windows 7 Home Prem OA HP' on a HP desktop I bought new and then upgraded the system to Ultimate with an Upgrade key. But now that I bought a refurb desktop with no OS (with a COA for 'Windows Vista Business OEMAc') I needed to use that Ultimate license on the 'new' refurb desktop. So my 'downgrade ultimate to home premium' search brought me here, amongst other places.
I used the registry solution explained here, manually and without the use of a popular tool from a website called deviantart. I figured I was better off hacking the puter manually myself. I did however used it this way (notice upper & lower case matching the 'Ultimate' entry format):
HKLMSoftwareMicrosotWindows NTCurrentVersion EditionID 'Ultimate' changed to 'HomePremium' ProductName 'Windows 7 Ultimate' changed to 'Windows 7 HomePremium'
For reference, I also used the following posting on tomshardware (www.tomshardware.com/forum/13130-63-downgrading-win7-home-premium), specially the response by aquasystems.
Then, I needed to do the 'in-place repair upgrade.' I tried using the windows 7 repair disk I had originally made with the HP desktop only to realize that it was not what I needed. What I needed was a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installation disk. Since I was afraid to use the system recovery disks of the hp desktop (who knows, it might have worked but I did not want to risk a complete recovery), I downloaded an iso image from digitalriver. For that I followed the advice and links I found on a microsoft community post (://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/can-i-downgrade-from-windows-7-ultimate-to-home/ca6cda9a-3c44-40aa-880f-45b12947a880). I burned the iso image to a dvd using imgburn.
Windows 7 Pro Downgrade
To do the 'in-place repair upgrade' I used the DVD I had made, pop it into the dvd drive and allowed autorun to start the process (you can navigate to the dvd and double click setup.exe if necessary). I then followed the process as presented by unawave (www.unawave.de/installation/downgrade-en.html?lang=EN) and here, although the german screen shot is just superfluous. This was a very good step by step site that helped me. I did not get a compatability report about the languages pack; only a small warning that the system needed rebooting before runing setup.exe (which I did before running setup.exe a second time). After the second time running setup.exe, then the rest of the process went as planned. When I was done, I was able to confirm that the windows version had been downgraded to Home Premium.
But, a brief warning about activation of the product key. Once I 'downgraded' I needed to re-activate my Home Premium key (stuck on the side of the HP desktop). When I tried activating it, the system responded that it was invalid and that I could not activate it online and needed to do a phone activation process to get an confirmation id. I figured, I was already done with the deed and since I legally owned the license (aka product key) I had nothing to loose. The pop-up warning window asked me to call a toll free number and follow instructions. The call was answered by an automated system which asked me to enter on the phone a total of nine six-digit number groups which were displayed on the pop-up instructions. After this, the automated response indicated that my activation was valid and that I needed to enter eight six-digit number groups (A through H) it would give me to put in their corresponding spaces on the pop-up instructions window (see ://img.technospot.net/windows-7-activation-screen.png). The automated system allows for all the number groups to be repeated to verify they are entered correctly. I completed the phone verification process and there it was .. the install was activated and fully functioning as it used to be. So, this was a successful 'in-place repair upgrade' downgrade from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 7 Home Premium (HP original install).
My thanks go to everyone who contributed in this thread on this page. Also, my thanks go to the following websites and postings which also helped me to do this. Mind you, I used the advice in all of them as advice only and did not follow anyone's instructions blindly or uniquely. Always do your homework before undertaking tinkering such as this .. and of course, always backup backup backup
Windows 7 Pro Downgrade From 10
://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4857f63a-b2e5-4ebb-928f-1786e43cf51d/windows-7-downgrade-ultimate-to-home-premium?prof=required
www.tomshardware.com/forum/13130-63-downgrading-win7-home-premium
://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/can-i-downgrade-from-windows-7-ultimate-to-home/ca6cda9a-3c44-40aa-880f-45b12947a880
://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/downgrading-from-windows-7-ultimate-to-windows-7/d0572e74-9eac-48f0-a5db-ba1c7031fb41
![Windows Windows](/uploads/1/2/6/1/126133408/561329520.jpg)
www.unawave.de/installation/downgrade-en.html?lang=EN
Thanks
Gabe
gabegabe
Choose Run and write regedit.
Go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersion
Change the keys EditionID and ProductName.
EditionID can be found in your Windows 7 installation CD under sourcesei.cfg.
ProductName will be shown when you try to install and are denied:
Windows 7 Ultimate cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium
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Downgrade Windows 7 Ultimate To Pro
Here the Windows 7 Home Premium is the ProductName.
Make sure that it matches exactly.
This procedure worked like a charm for me!
frankmannenfrankmannen
protected by Community♦Dec 13 '15 at 16:11
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