Remove Windows 10 and Reinstall Windows 7 Home Premium

[shamrock249]

I did a full install of Windows 10 yesterday and I did not keep any files or documents as I have them backed up on my external drive. 

The problem I ran into was that my NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 has no updates for win 10 and does not display properly.

My computer came with Windows 7 home premium installed  and I have the product key. 

As I have installed the full verion on Windows 10, I cannot recover the computer to win 7.  

I did not get a Windows 7 disc when I bought the computer so I need to know if I can download a copy of the Windows 7 Home Premium somewhere and use my current product key?

When the computer was new I made a set of recovery discs and I still have those ... I don't know if they can help.

Any help and/or advice would be very helpful.  A link to the download would help as well.

Thanks in advace for your help.  Jim.

[Mumbodog · Accepted solution]

Yes those discs you made will reinstall W7, disc 1 is bootable, put it in the drive and restart the PC, when you see the Dell logo press ESC key a few times, then select your boot device (cd-dvd rom), it should now boot from disc 1 and start the recovery process, it is a lengthy process, so be patient and dont do anything unless instructed to, it will reboot on its own many many times, do not interrupt the process.

When it is done with recovery there will be a screen to start setting up your user name and so forth.

[shamrock249]

Thanks for the advice. I really wasn't sure how to use the recovery discs. I did what you suggested and it worked. I now have my Windows 7 back and after about two hundred or so updates I am back up and running.

[usmc1975]

my computer came with windows 7 home premium and no disc or code key installed windows 10 and lost personnel videos and documents tried to remove windows 10 and reinstall windows7 home premium but computer just reinstalled windows10. any help or ideas!!!!!

[Mumbodog]

Power up and start tapping F11 once a second, see if recvoery loads, if it does do a Factory Restore.

[WAWood]

usmc1975

While Microsoft tells you that there is no risk in the Win10 Upgrade, because they let you believe that you can always revert back to your original OS and setup within 30 days, the ugly fact of the matter is that the Win10 GoBack function has proven to be unreliable -- and when it fails, it can leave machines in a corrupted state -- which doesn't always happen, but it does happen often enough to be a problem and you won't get any warning in advance that it is going to trash your PC!

The Win10 Upgrade is know, in some cases, to corrupt the Recovery partition stored there by the OEM that built the original machine.  This pretty much guarantees that no HP Recovery is going to work.

What will work is restoring your machine to its original factory condition using HP Recovery Media.

This is a set of DVDs and a CD, or USB stick, that will erase the hard drive (removing all data, settings, and applications, reinstall the original OS, drivers, and some HP Utilities. In some cases, you may be able to order a USB stick instead of disks.  You have to order these from HP; they can not be downloaded.

You can look online for Recovery Media starting with the linked paged: http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers

Once there, input your Product name or number. On your Software and Drivers Download page, select your Operating System and and Version. Click "Update".  If HP Recovery Media is available for your machine, down near the bottom of the page, you will see an entry for Order Recovery Media-CD/DVD/USB. Click the "+" symbol to expand that entry and click on Order Media for details.

Or, if you prefer, you can do the same by contacting HP Customer Service:

If you live in the US or Canada, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/phone-assist.html#section1

If you live elsewhere, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-contact-us.html

NOTE: After you get through, stay on the line until you are finally able to talk to some one -- it can take a while!
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However, HP Customer Support is generally not available on the weekends, so you might have to wait until Monday to contact them.
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If HP no longer provides Recovery Media for your model, a couple of other sites you can check are: http://www.computersurgeons.com/  and http://www.restoredisks.com/

Good Luck