windows 8.1 does not read windows 7 cd. Please help

[judeline]

My computer is HP Pavlion 500 PC, HP 500-056, with Windows 8.1 installed.

I wanted the computer to read my HDD that is windows 7. All my data is on there. I did not know there would be a major complication. The computer ignores the drive altogether. It cannot be read.

The computer will not even read the windows 7 CD.

So, I thought I would remove the HDD and add my HDD instead, but the BIOS will only see the windows 8 HDD.

Now comes the real problem. I cannot get into the BIOS to tell it to read windows 7.

ANY help would be appreciated. Please.

Judeline

[IT_WinSec · Accepted solution]

Hello @judeline

Welcome and thank you for posting in the HP Support forum.

Here's the thing: Windows 7 is considered legacy OS, Windows 8.1 is new "modern" one. If you try to insert HDDs with bootable OS, you need to adjust the BIOS settings.

What you can do:

-  If your PC has the HDD with Win 8.1, you can keep it inserted. If the Windows 7 has data on it, you can get a set from a retail store - something like this here > https://youtu.be/3dDSfee32PU?t=280

 so that you plug in the HDD and connect it to the existing PC externally via USB cable and read the data.

-  If you want to remove the Win 8.1 HDD and insert the Win 7 HDD and if this Win 7 HDD has a bootable and correctly working Windows 7, you need to

* Load BIOS

* Ensure Secure Boot is disabled.

* Ensure Legacy mode is enabled

* Save the UEFI/BIOS changes.

Details>> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03653226

Insert the Win 7 HDD, restart the PC and during boot hit F9 to open Boot options. Select the HDD as a boot options

Hope this will work.