Downgrading a new laptop from Windows 10 to Windows 7

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melomix

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#214341 7-May-2017 19:03

Question for this on partially tech literate person. I want to buy a new laptop, but it seems all the good ones come with Windows 8.1 or 10 these days, which I hate.

I'm wondering, if I buy a new laptop with one of these installed, can I downgrade to a version of Windows 7? It seems it's all but impossible to buy a genuine full retail version of Windows 7 these days, but I have read a few things that make me believe I can't use an OEM version for this purpose?

Can anyone help out by telling me, can this be done, and if the downgrade is possible, do I have to find a full retail version of Windows 7 to purchase or is an OEM version perfectly legal if I'm installing it on 1 machine only?

Cheers!

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1519 posts

Uber Geek

#1777329 7-May-2017 19:21

Some business laptops still come with Windows7.

Can understand why you wouldn't want W8.1.

Rikkitic

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#1777332 7-May-2017 19:24

If the laptop comes bundled with 8.1 or 10, you might have trouble finding Win 7 drivers for it. Maybe not,but t is something to watch out for.

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geekIT

2419 posts

Uber Geek

#1777344 7-May-2017 19:39

If you check out PBTech's website (https://www.pbtech.co.nz/) you'll find that they have a lot of ex-lease laptops, most of which come with W7 Pro.

Or, check out TradeMe. A brand new 15" Acer sold recently for $350

I'm also a W7 fan. I wouldn't have W8 or 8.1 on a bet, and I certainly won't be loading W10 while MS insist on compulsory updates.

I built my current machine two years ago, loaded it with W7 Ultimate and turned off Windows Updates. Goes like a rocket, no glitches or hitches.

PM me if you ever want advice about a computer :-)

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solutionz

589 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1777347 7-May-2017 19:45

Windows 8 / 10 Professional OEM includes downgrade rights to Windows 7 Professional.

Instructions here.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#1777351 7-May-2017 20:03

solutionz:

Windows 8 / 10 Professional OEM includes downgrade rights to Windows 7 Professional.

Instructions here.

It includes downgrade rights, but many new devices won't work on Windows 7 due to a lack of drivers.

Despite the glitches that have occurred and things such as the creators update that has caused me grief with Intel 4000 video not working I find using Windows 7 machines such a backwards step these days. I can't think of a single benefit of Win 7 over Windows 10 now (the VPN fix in the creators update removed the one thing that was better)

SATTV

1648 posts

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#1777352 7-May-2017 20:03

solutionz:

Windows 8 / 10 Professional OEM includes downgrade rights to Windows 7 Professional.

Instructions here.

While the above is absolutely correct some new HP laptops are windows 10 pro only and can not be downgraded to Windows 7 ( I am sure it can be done but not as easy as putting in a DVD / USB / PXE boot )

John

I know enough to be dangerous

melomix

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1777369 7-May-2017 20:18

Yikes! It's a minefield! I really, really HATE Win 8.1 and Win 10 is not that much better. But I want a nice shiny new laptop so it's a tough ask these days it seems, impossible to find something decent with windows 7...!

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solutionz

589 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1777377 7-May-2017 20:42

sbiddle:

It includes downgrade rights, but many new devices won't work on Windows 7 due to a lack of drivers.

Possible but I haven't encountered this issue yet; most likely may need to inject some unsupported chipset drivers into the install media in order to boot, especially the USB 3.0 drivers for USB install where no 2.0 ports are available.

melomix:

Yikes! It's a minefield! I really, really HATE Win 8.1 and Win 10 is not that much better. But I want a nice shiny new laptop so it's a tough ask these days it seems, impossible to find something decent with windows 7...!

Visit PB Tech or your local PC store and tell them what you want so you get something fit for purpose and/or they should be able to help you perform the downgrade.

michaelmurfy

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#1777378 7-May-2017 20:46

Windows 7 is kinda becoming the new Windows XP and Microsoft want to prevent that from happening this time. To be honest Windows 10 is much faster and now better supported with device drivers you should just stick with 10 - you may hate it now, but you're eventually going to have to anyway so you're best to just do it earlier rather than later.

Going with a device like the Surface Laptop (which has upgrade rights to Windows 10 Professional currently for free) will prevent the problems that @sbiddle had (though, I've not had a single problem with all my devices with the creators update).

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PhantomNVD

2619 posts

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#1777405 7-May-2017 20:51

Gotta say I'm rather peeved with the Anniversary update (FROM Win10 Edu) tanking the mousepad drivers on 4 of the work Laptops in the small school I work for though, so don't believe that Win10 solves all driver issues either...

Shoes2468

785 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1777407 7-May-2017 20:54

melomix:
Yikes! It's a minefield! I really, really HATE Win 8.1 and Win 10 is not that much better. But I want a nice shiny new laptop so it's a tough ask these days it seems, impossible to find something decent with windows 7...!

I think if your insistent on win 7 pbtech would be the way to go for a refurbed machine with win 7 pre installed as mentioned above. Looks like MS are not even updating win 7 and 8 to support the latest CPUs (https://www.google.co.nz/amp/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2016/1/16/10780876/microsoft-windows-support-policy-new-processors-skylake). Drivers wise you would have to spec a business grade machine thats made for downgrading for business stuck in the past. Govt departments I'm looking at you!

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1777409 7-May-2017 21:04

Windows 8/8.1 was truly awful, and I can understand not wanting to touch it with a 40-foot pole.

However, I have Win10 on my new box, and it isn't too bad. If it wasn't for the compulsory updates, sending telemetry back to MS, and a couple of experiences with it rebooting automatically when I have it running overnight doing some heavy processing work (which of course then fails to complete), I would probably be prepared to like it a lot.

There is a list of about 10 addresses it uses for the compulsory updates and telemetry that I found somewhere. I think I can block them at the router which should fix my remaining niggles about auto updates and random rebooting. That's probably next weekends project.

solutionz

589 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1777450 7-May-2017 23:05

michaelmurfy:

...To be honest Windows 10 is much faster and now better supported with device drivers...

So is often claimed however my experience is often otherwise.

Compare actual boot time (to a usable state) of a fresh Windows 7 install vs current Windows 10; which loads up dozen of superfluous services, Xbox, news feed, Cortana crapware updates can take up to a few minutes for the start menu to become responsive on older hardware.

We still deploy an embedded flavor of Windows 7 for mission critical systems as even Windows 10 LTSB still doesn't come close.

sbiddle

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#1777471 8-May-2017 07:10

I still don't understand why there is the hate towards Win 10. Yes there have been issues with some updates but it's a vastly superior OS to Windows 7 with many features that make life so much eaasier.

Are people actually trying 10 and deciding they hate it because it's not Windows 7? If not wHat legiitimate issues do you have with it?

noroad

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Ultimate Geek

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#1777474 8-May-2017 07:23

sbiddle:

I still don't understand why there is the hate towards Win 10. Yes there have been issues with some updates but it's a vastly superior OS to Windows 7 with many features that make life so much easier.

Are people actually trying 10 and deciding they hate it because it's not Windows 7? If not what legitimate issues do you have with it?

I agree, windows 10 (with classic shell installed) is far faster and more reliable than windows 7. Not to mention windows 7 is not that far from being EOL! (January 14, 2020) Getting a new laptop and trying to run an almost 8 year old O/S instead of getting windows 10 to do what you need is a pretty poor plan IMHO.

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