How to downgrade from updated Windows 10 to original Windows 8.1

[porcelana]

Hi,

My HP Envy 15-k153nr laptop came with Windows 8.1 Home Single Language Russian Edition. Then in 2015 year, it was legally updated to Windows 10 Pro V1511 and then several times up to Windows 10 Pro V1909 18363.815.
Update Win 8.1 to Win 10 is known to corrupt the HP recovery information, so once you do the Upgrade, I can't use F11 or the HP Recovery Manager to go back to Win 8.1 original from Recovery partition of my laptop.

Now for some reason I want to return my laptop to the original Win 8.1. I tried to do a system restore to original Win 8.1 with F11 but this is no working more.

How can I start the recovery process of the original Win 8.1 from the Recovery partition of my laptop (it is still there)?

Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to do that.

The recovery partition is useless space now.

You can clean install W8.1 as follows...

Download the W8.1 64 bit Single Language ISO file from the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8ISO

Use the Microsoft tool that I zipped up and attached below to transfer the ISO file to a DVD or USB flash drive so that it is bootable, or you can use a free utility such as Rufus for this purpose.

https://rufus.ie/

After W8.1 has completed installing, you can install the drivers and available software from your notebook's support page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-envy-15-k100-notebook-pc/7234894

[porcelana]

To Paul_Tikkanen 

Thank you for your prompt reply, however this solution is not good for me. I have a factory recovery partition with the original Win 8.1 and the original drivers and I want to restore the system from this section, and not do a clean installation of Win 8.1. I know that such an opportunity exists, but I don’t yet know how to implement it.

Regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I do not know of any way to do that, so I wish you good luck.

[porcelana]

This is possible, for example, if I can take a wim-image of the original Win 8.1 from my Recovery partition. In this case, I can start the installation of the original Win 8.1 with all the already installed HP drivers for my laptop. This is significantly more complicated than a clean installation of Windows, but in some situations it makes sense. I’m not sure that this method will be welcomed on this official HP forum, but I also can’t put up with the fact that I paid HP money for my laptop and they with Microsoft deprived me of the opportunity to restore my laptop to factory settings. I am sure that many owners of HP laptops have faced a similar problem. We supported HP and Microsoft financially by purchasing their product, but HP left us with no way to return to the original factory operating system. It does not seem to me right and correct.

The latest BIOS F.57 for my model works very poorly with Windows 10 and the Windows 10 operating system continuously freezing after updating the BIOS from F.11 to F.57 (clean Windows installation also doesn't help and the system continues to slow down). However, HP does not provide the opportunity to return to the previous BIOS version F.11, which was installed when buying a laptop and worked well with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Also, HP reports that my laptop does not support Windows 10, although both HP and Microsoft legally suggested that I upgrade the factory operating system from Win 8.1 to Win 10. Now HP does not allow me to legally return to the official factory version of Win 8.1. What is it? It looks like a vicious circle from which there is no way out.

Regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Since I don't work for or represent HP, there is nothing I can do other than what I have already suggested.

I suggest that you address your concerns to the HP executive team at the link below regarding their shortcomings.

https://ssl.www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/connect-with-hp.html

[porcelana]

To Paul_Tikkanen

Thank you for your help

Regards