Roll back to Windows 7

[Ricky200]

I upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and want to roll back to WIndows 7.

The Microsoft website says that because my product came with a preloaded version of Windows 7 I need to contact HP about this. My warranty expired a long time ago. What can I do about this?

Thanks, R.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I don't see that HP sells recovery media for your PC anymore, but you can still order a set from this non-HP vendor at the link below...

http://www.computersurgeons.com/p-22621-recovery-kit-b7c92av-for-hp-pavilion-desktop-pc-model-number...

[mdklassen · Accepted solution]

> I upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and want to roll back to WIndows 7.

For 30 days after upgrading to Windows 10, you can revert to Windows 7.

My guess is that those 30 days have expired.  Correct?

Note that Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 7, i.e., no more security-fixes, in January 2020 -- only 3 years away.

So, at that time, you'll have to reinstall Windows 10, to get support from Microsoft.

Fortunately, since you are running Windows 10, you have a "digital entitlement" to reinstall Windows 10 at any time in the future -- "no cost".

Please tell us what reasons you have for wanting to downgrade.

Also, tell us about your hardware, especially amount of RAM, and model & speed of your CPU, e.g., "Intel Core Duo dual-core running at 2.0 Ghz".

With "adequate" hardware, Windows 10 runs quite well.

> The Microsoft website says that because my product came with a preloaded version of Windows 7 I need to contact HP about this. My warranty expired a long time ago.

HP Support offers a "System Recovery" set (either one USB memory-stick or several DVD disks) for "recent" systems.

Use this "set" to reinstall Windows.

However, I've heard that HP only offers this "set" for a maximum of three years.

My guess is that your computer is much older than three years.

There is a web-site -- www.ComputerSurgeons.com -- that sells such a "set" for many computers, for a fee.

You may be able to find your computer's set on their web-site.

Supplemental: Paul_T posted a better reference to that web-site.  Paul & I must have been typing our responses at the same time.  🙂 

[Ricky200]

Thanks so much!

Best wishes, R

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

[Ricky200]

The reason I wanted to roll back is that my computer freezes incessantly and I can't search any of my files with Cortana and can't figure out why. It always comes up with an answer of not finding the files I'm looking for. On the other hand, it's making my memory work harder to locate things on my computer so perhaps that's a plus (hahaha...JK)

Best wishes, R

[mdklassen]

> my computer freezes incessantly

Not good at all.  Can you reboot, and select "HP Diagnostics" and run the tests of your hardware.

If you have hardware problems, then installing Windows 7 is not the solution.

> and I can't search any of my files with Cortana and can't figure out why

One of the "background" services is an "Indexing Service", that should build an index to all your files -- "should" is the operative word.

Or, are you wanting Cortana to search "inside" your files, e.g., "find all .txt files that include the word MONEY" ?