How do I get back to windows 7 from windows 8 beta?

I installed windows 8 beta and i want to get back to windows 7. How do i do it?

windows windows7 windows8

asked Sep 18 '11 at 10:31

first it's a dev build. it is far, far from being beta.

(Sep 18 '11 at 12:47) Chuckys Child

second did you upgrade 7 with 8? did you wipe 7 and install 8? or did you do a dual boot and simply not getting the boot menu?

(Sep 18 '11 at 12:50) Chuckys Child

10 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

2	Formating, using the restore DVD's to factory make, installing Windows 7 again. answered Sep 18 '11 at 10:56 Patxi 12.6k●206●272●386

1	This is why I will be partitioning my drive before I install Windows 8 answered Sep 18 '11 at 11:05 Josh_M 2.7k●6●15●51

1	You can't. Reinstallation of windows 7 is the only option. http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-uninstall-windows-8/ answered Sep 18 '11 at 11:37 mad0865 156●1●4

Depends if you installed it over windows 7, or on another partition or drive.

If you installed over it, as in not seeing the choice between which to load then you will have to format and reinstall. If you do see the choice, then you can click the text at the bottom to select which will be the default to boot into.

Though judging from your question you are not even seeing that, so it looks like you wiped it out with windows 8 and will have to start from scratch.

answered Sep 18 '11 at 11:38

EnvoyOfTheEnd
1.2k●1●8●21

You cannot return to Windows 7 if you installed 8 over it. Windows 8 isn't meant to be in production, thus these safety features aren't included nor well documented. You should have made a separate partition on the hard drive or installed it using a virtual machine. You need to backup your data, format the hard drive, and find a Windows 7 installation DVD or a recovery partition factory image if that was included.

answered Sep 18 '11 at 11:51

Alastor Moody ♦♦
6.5k●11●35●60

1	If you installed Windows 8 over 7 then you'll need to re-install Windows, but if you installed it on a separate partition you can switch to Windows 7 on the Windows Boot Manager. answered Sep 18 '11 at 22:07 nickjuly4 951●9●16●21

0	I use a Virtural Machine. answered Sep 18 '11 at 11:35 Rb81690 1

0	Wait, you mean you didn't do a backup? :\| answered Sep 18 '11 at 16:00 Warship 76●4

At least in my case I still had the Windows.old folder on the root of my C drive. So I booted up Ubuntu Linux from a flash drive and copied all of the contents from Windows.old and replaced what was on the C drive. It worked for me although Windows 7 isn't exactly like it was before. But pretty close.

answered Sep 18 '11 at 16:35

Liam Quade
7.4k●92●121●197

0	http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-uninstall-windows-8/ answered Jun 04 '12 at 12:46 Omair1717 1

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