just correcting some typing errors... when i said "good disk left" i meaned "good space left"
sorry for my error :P
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How to rollback from Windows 7 to Vista
Hi,
I made the mistake of doing an upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 on my laptop instead of just installing it on another partition. it doesn't work with McAffe, and now bluescreens when booting.
As far as I know I can't roll back to Vista and I really can't be bothered to do a fresh install as I don't want to re-install all my applications again.
Is it possible, using my Vista DVD/CD to create a partition on my laptop, install Vista (so it's a dual boot), and then remove Windows 7 from my Vista boot?
can someone please talk me through this.
thanks
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Answers
Hi
from my sources if you wish to dual boot Vista with windows 7 Vista must go first.
Pain !!!
I'd consider buying another hdd slave the windows 7.
Then run vista setup to the new hard drive.
try this good guide
http://lifehacker.com/5126
From what i understand, he doesn't want to use windows 7, he just updated the vista to the 7 and don't want use the windows 7 anymore...
Oh yes, when you install any version of windows, if there's already another windows installation regardless of the version (can be 2k, XP, vista...) the new windows setup set up an windows selector at the PC's startup automatically.
Never had problem with this.. here in my PC, i use windows 2008 'workstation', windows xp and windows 7 without any trouble.
You can also use Windows EasyTransfer to copy all your personal files and Settings from one Windows installation (Xp,Vista,7) to another. I don't know if its included in the beta tho.
Just start the tool and Select USB-Drive. Then Windows stores all the relevant stuff into one file which can be importet after the reinstall of Windows and all Applications.
You have to install the apps again, but the settings will be copied.
I don't know for sure if this works for downgrades so you should test it by trying to copy some files from your 7 installation to another vista machine using EasyTransfer.
just a little note... if you want get rid of everything then a clean format is the best option...
the solution I said before assumes that you don't wan't to lose anything (please note that not every program installed previosly will work, you may have to reinstall some of them and also that you may get your files in the old My Documents/Desktop folders by going to the windows.old folder after installing vista in the same part of win7)
Again sorry for my bad english :P
Hi, I meant to say, I want to get rid of Windows 7 completely, keeping all my programs and files replacing 7 with Vista.
do you think this will work??
http://support.microsoft.c
thanks
Yeah, that just what I thought.
as for the MS Support article you mentioned, yes this will work, but as the MS article says, you must check for the windows.old folder as it contains all system files.
If you did an "fresh" install of win7 in the same partition that your vista was, then 99% of chance that you have an "windows.old" folder. If you have used the upgrade option of the win7 installer I'm not so sure, but anyway is good to check if you have an windows.old folder.
In case you don't have an windows.old folder my suggestion is to install vista in the same partition of win7, without formating or nothing, the contents of the old win7 (including the My Documents and Desktop folder) will be moved to "windows.old" (or "windows.old.000" case you already have one "windows.old")
So first checkup for an windows.old folder, if exists do as the MS article says, case don't then pickup the vista disk and do an "fresh" install in the same partition of win7 one without formating or nothing.
Sorry for any eventual english error again :P
The way described in the kb-article would not work in my optinion because it doesn't account for WinSXS.
Maybe i was not clear about the EasyTransfer way:
1) Export all your settings and files with easy transfer
2) Format your drive, install Vista
3) Install your Software
4) Import all your settings with Easy Transfer
You would only have Vista installed in the end.
Did you read my comment ?
consider slaving this if you don't wish to chance losing your programs
any chance you had a look here too?
http://lifehacker.com/5126
What I meant was:
Suppose you upgrade from Vista to 7, then intall app A which copies some dlls to the winsxs store.
Since a downgrade mean either you reinstall theo old os or copy over the .old dir those dlls needed by the app will be missing. In systems pre vista you could just copy over the missing files, in vista, 7 not so easy any more.
So your'e right I need to clarify: The .old downgrade approach (KB article) works if you don't have installed any new apps while running 7.
The KB article did not work, so I'm back to having Windows 7 on my PC. I've got it to at least go into Windows now by renaming the McAfee .sys files that were causing the BlueScreen.
Now I need to create a partition on my Laptop HDD so I can install Vista, dual boot, and then somehow remove 7 and rejoin the partitions.
In The Disk Management I have gone to my primary partition, Shrunk the volume but I can only get just under 3GB of unallocated space from it, even though I have 30GB free.
I've tried a defrag to see if that makes a difference but it doesn't. I've tried using Acronis but I get the error message
"Cannot get exclusive access to hard disk drives. please makes sure that Windows Computer Management Console, or other software that locks the hard disk drives, are not running". (I've done this before I open the console)
Is there anyway to free up the space using Disk Management console??? I just need enough to install Vista.
thanks
just adding.. it isn't need do another partition to install vista, if you have about 5-10gb free space in the disk (the amount needed to install vista) you can install vista in the same partition of win7 without formating
i've done this a lot of times and never had problems...
the old windows7 files will be moved to the "windows.old" folder
I've tried to install it over windows 7, but the only option I get is
Custom (Advanced)
Install a clean copy of windows, select where you want to install it, or make changes to disks and partitions.
this option does not keep your files, settings and programs.
If I proceed with this option it looks like it will be a clean install. Should I proceed with caution??
I will give Acronis a go if this is not an option....
thanks
yes, you must do an clean install
just a thing DON'T REMOVE OR FORMAT THE WINDOWS7 PARTITION, JUST SELECT THE WINDOWS7 PARTITION AND INSTALL
the windows vista installer then will install vista and will copy all windows 7 files to the windows.old folder (windows folder, program files folder and misc)
the installer says that it does not keep your files, but in fact it keep yes, it just moves the files to the windows.old folder, so after the installation you can pickup your files in the old windows installation and move to anywhere you want
but again, don't move or format or mess anything with the windows7 partition just select it and proceed as normal
just adding
this would like a clean install, but in fact isn't quite a "clean" install
what we're trying to do is to install windows vista in the same partition of win7 one, we'll install vista in the win7 partition, but without formating or deleting the old partition, so we can still get the old files that you had in the win7
after the vista installation, your files should be in the same folders of the win7, if they aren't there, then they will be somewhere in the windows.old folder (vista setup never removes anything, it just moves to the windows.old folder)
strange... most times installation errors mean low disk space or bad disk condition...
if the disk space and disk are fine, well.. i don't know
you can try the acronis method if you want to
note: if the error appeared after setup started and win7 don't boot anymore, your old win7 files should be on windows.old folder, or windows.old.00x (x being some number)
if acronis don't too work then i think is the vista disk
The Acronis Software didnt work, it can't find my HDD for some reason.
I need to increase the size of a 3GB partition I have, or just create a new 10GB partition from main 70GB partition I have.
Does anyone know of any NTFS partition software I can use, using a Boot CD? I have the Ultimate Boot CD but I don't think it has any partition software for NTFS. any ideas?
thanks
i recommend Bootit-ng (free for what you want)
download it, make a boot floppy or cd and boot from it
do NOT install it on the disk - hit cancel
then select partition work
to make the c: partition larger, you may have to create adjacent space next to it; so select d: partition first, select shrink
then select slide to move it to the end of space
now select C: and resize it !
done!
ccccccccddddddddd original
ccccccccdddddd----- <---= free space
cccccccc-----dddddd
ccccccccccccdddddd << new layout
link : www.terabyteunlimited.com/
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by: danilolessaPosted on 2009-01-27 at 02:08:45ID: 23474855
I think there's is a way of removing Windows 7 without losing data.
First, you need have the vista DVD, then you go to the vista install and install vista in the same windows 7 partition
BEWARE! DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING IN THE INSTALLER PARTITION MANAGER! JUST PICK UP THE SAME WIN7 PARTITION! AND DO A FRESH INSTALL
Make sure you have some good disk left, as the windows installer will copy the old program files and windows folder to an "windows.old" folder.
I've done this for many years, as i don't like to format my pc but wanted have a "fresh" windows.
As of the question of dual-boot, yes, you can install vista in another partition and after that remove windows 7 safetly, but the vista DVD only creates partition when the HD have unformated partition, so if you are interested in having a dual-partition HD, it's interesting you have some disk manager or partition manager (partition magic, paragon and others that i can't remember now)
I hope this helps you :)
Oh, sorry for my bad english :P I'm from Brazil and we don't know how to speak english perfectly, but we're trying :)