How To Downgrade Windows 8 Pro To Windows 7

With Windows 8, Microsoft made some different (if not difficult) choices, especially when it comes to licensing. You would already know that Windows is a closed-source operating system, and hence, when you purchase a copy of Microsoft Windows, you’re basically acquiring a ‘license to use’ for the operating system, and not the OS itself. When the company released Windows 8, one of the approaches that they took to making it even more popular (and combat piracy at the same time) was making it available for lower prices as compared to previous versions. This, at the same time, brought on some tough licensing choices, too. For instance, Microsoft had to do away with native DVD playback capability in Windows 8, because the patent holder for MPEG-2/4 (the video codec required to play said media) charges Microsoft $2 per copy of Windows 7 (the relative figure) sold. They had to cut back on such costs to achieve the pricing point that Windows 8 claims.

Not all the licensing choices, however, affected the consumer in a negative manner. Some of them are downright welcoming and positive, one of which are Windows downgrade rights. In a nutshell, if you bought a desktop computer of notebook PC that came preinstalled with Windows 8 Pro, you can downgrade to OEM/retail versions of Windows 7 Professional or Windows Vista Business without any extra cost, using a previously-purchased legally-activated copy of the target version of Windows.

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Having the ability to downgrade without additional cost has certain benefits that might be more prominent in a work/corporate setup. Suppose your organization purchased a new laptop with Windows 8 Pro preinstalled, but the rest of the systems in the infrastructure are still on Windows 7 Ultimate. A downgrade in such a scenario would offer better compatibility, and would ensure a smooth upgrade any time down the road when your organization itself decides to make the switch.

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There are certain requirements to the downgrade process that you must meet before it can be initiated. For one, the machine must be running the OEM version of Windows 8 Pro that came preinstalled with the computer. Then, assuming you want to downgrade to Windows 7 Professional, the installation media for the latter must come from a prior, legally licensed version of Windows 7 from either the OEM or the retail channel. Finally, you must also have the genuine Windows 7 activation key at hand to be able to complete the downgrade.

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Once the requirements are met, the process is as simple as inserting the Windows 7 installation disc in the optical drive of your computer and following the on-screen instructions. When you’re asked for the product key, supply that, keeping in mind that if it came from a previously-activated copy of Windows 7 Professional, you won’t be able to activate your downgrade copy. In such a case, an activation support phone number will be provided, whereby you can call to get your downgraded Windows 7 Professional activated under special circumstances.

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The information provided above might make it sound as if the downgrade rights usage is perhaps far too complicated to be of any actual use, but in real, it isn’t. If you meet all the requirements, the process is hardly any different from installing a new copy of Windows, and even the activation bit is fairly easily taken care of, if you’re eligible to exercise your Windows 8 Pro downgrade rights.

For more details and technical information, you may want to check out Microsoft OEM Partner Center’s take on downgrade rights.

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This is very welcomed news as I for one am struggling with Windows 8, much prefer Windows 7 which is IMO a very clean OS.

4me2 is going to cum in his pants at this news!

just install classicshell and save yourself a few hours

It's an improvement but still not as good as Windows 7 IMO. I install classicshell for all my customers getting new Windows 8 PCs but I rather have Windows 7 if possible.

I don't understand the issue with Windows 8, yes its different but so was Windows 7 compared to XP etc etc.

Once you learn the nuances and how to use Windows 8 it does its job, its faster and more secure than Windows 7 and with the way MS will be rolling out new updates each year will continue to develop.

I bet in 3 ish years time when they bring out Windows 9 everyone will be moaning saying what is wrong with win 8. IMO it more to do with people not liking change rather than any problem with the OS.

I don't see why you would reinvent the wheel when everyone is happy with it. IMO this is 'innovating' for the sake of it. Windows XP was great, I moved to Vista on release day and regretted it... Moved to Windows 7 on release day and loved it right away. No plans to move to Windows 8 as of yet, just got a VM for when I need to support that OS.

It's not just innovating for the sake of it.

MS seem hell bent on trying to push a unified os for phones/tablets/pcs while forgetting there is many good reasons these os'es have differing user interfaces.

Just like how in the server market they appear to be trying to push people to the cloud, forgetting that there's many good reasons customers have been paying Microsoft for software to run in house servers.

i like 7 and 8, i run 8 at home purely because i need to know how to use it if anyone rings up with a problem but its grown on me
also due to my MSDN subscription i have Windows 8 (mainly but lots for other Microsoft OS's too) keys coming out of my ass, ive been installing them on all my families PC's so they can keep up to date, think they gave me 20+ Windows 8 codes which seems excessive so im guessing the sales of it aint great

happens every revision of Windows, you might as well just get on with it as its gonna be installed on all the new stuff now.

Learn its pro's, learn its cons - you will have to eventually.

I only updated to 7 this year because I had to to make use of my SSD and to be honest, 7 is ok, but I am not really seeing anything I would class as being better than the ancient xp, other than the visual elements. After persevering with it as stock for a few weeks I had to install a few tweaks to make it more like xp therefore more useable, but there are still little things I cant really understand why they have changed. I strongly suspect the default HDD sleep settings killed one of my 1TB drives too.

I'll drag my heals for as long as I can before making another upgrade.