downgrade windows 10 to 7

haveaniceday

haveaniceday

haveaniceday

Associate
Joined
17 Nov 2008
Posts
384
i want to install windows 7 on a new laptop what has window 10 on. if i install windows 7 will i have to install anything else to make it all work like the mouse software or will windows do all that for me .thanks
 
It should install everything as normal, as mine did when installing 7.

Not too sure tho if its possible to downgrade unless you have a retail key on windows 7 not in use?

Do you plan on going to windows 7 pro? as if I remember Home and premium don't have downgrade rights? I maybe wrong on this.

edit...Dell website below.

http://www.dell.com/support/article/uk/en/ukbsdt1/SLN294589

I would suggest contacting the manufactures of the laptop before doing anything and seeing what your options are
 
That's not good. It means you won't have full speed hard drive I/O, videocard, or soundcard support, just built in drivers with Windows 7. And no software either, for example soundcard features in application.
 
You can just means the won't have advanced features of dedicated drivers. USB, network should all still work, but it's possible it won't. For example, USB 2 works on my desktop computers, but to get USB 3 working I need to install drivers. On another computer, Windows 7 again, ethernet doesn't work so I need to install LAN drivers. Same for Marvell SATA. Videocard works but you won't get the 3D acceleration features, only basic 2D for desktop.

What I'd do is use another hard drive, swap it over, then try installing Windows on the other drive, rather than wiping.
 
I've never tried installing Windows 7 on a (external) USB hard drive. Guess if you've got one, then remove the internal HD to be safe and give it a go. I know you can boot from USB, and install Windows/Linux from USB but unsure installing to USB.
 
Yeah I had to downgrade a HP win10 laptop to Windows 7 recently.

It was an absolute failure and I gave up. Ended up with dozens of "unknown devices" in Device Manager because they just don't make drivers, and even if there are drivers available they wouldn't work. The biggest **** take is as soon as I installed Windows 10 again (after giving up with 7) absolutely everything was installed in device manager automatically. Not a singe driver to download. :mad:

Unfortunately this is what happens when a company changes their entire business model into making money from user data instead of sales.
 
haveaniceday said:
will i have to download all these individuality http://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-15-Notebook-PC-series/12499456/model/13916719 saying that i cant see windows 7 drivers only 10.thanks
Click to expand...
Well, if you go to the manufacturer of each part then sometimes they provide the driver for older OSes. I remember doing this for an old HP laptop when 8 came out and had missing drivers which HP didn't yet release, but the individual manfacturers did.

Based on the specs from here: http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=Z3F07EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB
Audio: http://www.realtek.com/downloads/do...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
Chipset/Intel GPU/Intel network + BT: http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/support/detect.html
Touchpad: http://www.synaptics.com/resources

Might want to check if you have an Intel or Realtek network card for both ethernet wireless and bluetooth, it seems to vary. I can't seem to find a 7 version for the wireless button driver, could give the 10 driver a go and see if that works. I'm not 100% sure the chipset one will install due to no official Kaby Lake support for 7 from Intel.
 
Why don't you make a virtual version of Windows 7 within your Windows 10 install?

My concern on putting Windows 7 on a new laptop would be missing drivers, Windows 7 is over 8 years old now, it will not have the driver support it once had. You might be missing motherboard drivers, support for your USB's, on-board sound may not work.
 
That is the problem with my newer Windows 10 tablet :( no driver support for several devices on 7 or I'd be back on 7 in a heartbeat - 10 is tragic on a tablet if you use it properly as a tablet. Not that 7 is amazing for tablets infact lacking in many areas but atleast it doesn't interpose itself unwanted between the hardware and the user on many occasions.
 
hornetstinger said:
That's not good. It means you won't have full speed hard drive I/O, videocard, or soundcard support, just built in drivers with Windows 7. And no software either, for example soundcard features in application.
Click to expand...

Admittedly it's been a while since i've tried it but can't you just download the Windows 7 drivers from Realtek's site for the sound (it just looks like plain old Realtek HD Audio driver), the graphics drivers from AMD and Intel's websites and the rest from Intel? (mainly the network, storage, and chipset drivers?).

I think the main problems would be the touchpad, bluetooth, and other niche products but a google might help there.

[Edit] Just scrolled and seen Orcvader's reply, that would be where i'd be going with this. Dell make the absolute minimum effort required where support is concerned anyway, I wouldn't expect them to support anything other than what is absolutely necessary. That doesn't mean you can't find your own drivers though. ;)
 
Talking of which just done a fresh install of Windows 7. When I did Windows update, it only needed 1 update! Compare that to stock <SP, dozens of updates, I think 1GB for security updates, plus another 1-2GB for the service pack
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom