Reverting my laptop back to the original Windows 7 after I've installed a legit version of W8

[david]

My laptop is a couple years old. I purchase W8 for it and installed it. I then upgraded it to W8.1. This thing runs crappy on this machine. How can I revert back to the original OS; Windows 7?

I noticed it has a key sticker on bottom. Theoretically, if I obtain an OEM copy of W7, will that key work?

Any other ideas guys?

I used to know this stuff but I ventured off into the Android world for awhile but I need to get this laptop back up and running. W8.1 lags so bad on this thing.

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-58997.iso

This should be the english iso for your device, you don't need to enter any key, it should activate by itself during install.

This iso is the same as your oem disk, it just does not have additional drivers but most oems don't include those anyway or put those on a separate "application and support" disc.

Also the drivers can be found on the manufacturer website of your device.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

My laptop is a couple years old. I purchase W8 for it and installed it. I then upgraded it to W8.1. This thing runs crappy on this machine. How can I revert back to the original OS; Windows 7?

I noticed it has a key sticker on bottom. Theoretically, if I obtain an OEM copy of W7, will that key work?

Any other ideas guys?

I used to know this stuff but I ventured off into the Android world for awhile but I need to get this laptop back up and running. W8.1 lags so bad on this thing.

 

 

yeah the key should work with any windows 7 cd that matches your version (pro/home/ whatever)

 

 

 

 

however, i did the same on my PC, and everything feels faster  in Win8.1 then it was in Win 7 (maybe due to fresh install)

with classic shell, i made it look and feel like win7 and i am pretty happy.

EDIT:

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/where-can-i-download-windows-7-iso-i-have-a/7d964b05-2be9-4800-bc7f-3ca30356fc3d

 

it is for win7 ultimate, but if you have a different version you can still google for it (for example "download windows 7 if i have a product key")

[timster]

you'll need an ISO that matches the version the key is for.

 

http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/14-windows-7-direct-download-links

[david]

So I just need to get a Windows 7 Home Premium? It has to be an OEM copy right?

[david]

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-58997.iso

This should be the english iso for your device, you don't need to enter any key, it should activate by itself during install.

This iso is the same as your oem disk, it just does not have additional drivers but most oems don't include those anyway or put those on a separate "application and support" disc.

Also the drivers can be found on the manufacturer website of your device.

Trying this now! Will report back

[Arachno 1D]

Is there not a back up partition or did you delete it?

[david]

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-58997.iso

This should be the english iso for your device, you don't need to enter any key, it should activate by itself during install.

This iso is the same as your oem disk, it just does not have additional drivers but most oems don't include those anyway or put those on a separate "application and support" disc.

Also the drivers can be found on the manufacturer website of your device.

 

Awesome! This worked. Just like you said, there were no drivers. But got the wifi driver installed and its now doing a windows update. Touchpad isn't working but I'll see if the WU takes care of that.

 

Also, when I boot, it shows a dual boot screen with Windows 7 and Windows 8. How do I get rid of the Windows 8 option? I installed it by downloading the ISO you provided and mounted it as a drive.

 

Is there not a back up partition or did you delete it?

 

No idea lol

[Arachno 1D]

You should see a separate partition in drive manager or whatever partition software you have available

 

From Tinternet

 

 

Toshiba laptops from mid 2007 onwards dont have a recovery disc supplied with a purchase of a laptop. Instead, Toshiba has added a hidden partion on the hard drive which contains the same files on a recovery cd / dvd.

To reinstall your laptop to the factory settings / "out of the box" settings, please follow these steps. It worked for me, and should work for you.

ALL DATA WILL BE ERASED ON YOUR HARD DRIVE IF YOU PROCEED. YOU WILL NEED TO ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE THE POWER ADAPTER PLUGGED IN. DO NOT SWITCH OFF OR RESTART YOUR COMPUTER DURING THIS PROCESS.


1) Hold down the power button for 10 (ten) seconds to switch off your machine.

Please note: Holding down the power button on the machine forces it to switch off. Any unsaved data will be lost.

2) Press and hold the 0 (zero) key and at the same time, tap the power button once to switch on your notebook.

3) When the machine Starts beeping; release the 0 key.

4) When prompted by the warning screen; select Yes to continue with the system recovery.

5) Select Recovery of Factory Default Software; click Next.

6) Select Recover to out-of-box state. Click Next again.

7) Click Next to Start recovery.

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

Awesome! This worked. Just like you said, there were no drivers. But got the wifi driver installed and its now doing a windows update. Touchpad isn't working but I'll see if the WU takes care of that.

 

Also, when I boot, it shows a dual boot screen with Windows 7 and Windows 8. How do I get rid of the Windows 8 option? I installed it by downloading the ISO you provided and mounted it as a drive.

 

 

No idea lol

Did you install it on a second partition? it seems that you did not actually overwrite windows 8 with windows 7 but installed it beside it.

If you did actually overwrite windows 8 but somehow it's just showing windows 8 as a boot option you can edit your boot menu options with easybcd, set windows 7 as default and remove the windows 8 option. http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

If you did install windows 7 next to windows 8 and just want to hide the options menu you can set it's timeout to 0 with easybcd, I do not recommend removing the windows 8 option in this case since you have to manually add it again when you want to access windows 8 which is more work then changing the timeout.