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Install windows 764 bit over windows 864 bit
Posted on 2013-01-01
Would there be any issues in installing windows 7 64 bit over windows 8 64 bit?
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are you looking to dual boot or run windows 7 ?
dual booting requires its own partition, if you install over windows 8 windows 7 will overwrite it
dual booting requires its own partition, if you install over windows 8 windows 7 will overwrite it
You can do a clean install of windows but you should not be doing a roll back or downgrade of OS as it will fail.
First check whether your PC supports Windows 7 (check the manufacturer's homepage whether drivers are available).
If that is the case make sure you have made recovery media of your system so you can restore it to factory defaults if needed.
Then change the secure boot option in the BIOS. It would have to be disabled so you can boot your installation DVD and install the new OS. There should be an option in the system settings of Windows 8 to turn the secure boot option of the BIOS off.
Another option would be to use Hyper-V which is included with Windows 8 and then install Windows 7 as a VM inside that.
If that is the case make sure you have made recovery media of your system so you can restore it to factory defaults if needed.
Then change the secure boot option in the BIOS. It would have to be disabled so you can boot your installation DVD and install the new OS. There should be an option in the system settings of Windows 8 to turn the secure boot option of the BIOS off.
Another option would be to use Hyper-V which is included with Windows 8 and then install Windows 7 as a VM inside that.
A few things to consider ...
=> First, this is a common-enough request that Microsoft has included downgrade rights for the Pro version ... i.e. if you have Windows 8 Professional, you can downgrade to Windows 7 Professional at no cost. You have to go through your system vendor to get the Windows 7 install media and key for this.
=> Second, BEFORE starting the install, go to the vendors site for your system and confirm that Windows 7 drivers are available for all the key components [network adapter; video card; audio adapter; etc.]. You do NOT want to be searching for drivers in the middle of an install. (rindi noted the need to do this also)
=> Third, as noted above, you'll need to disable Secure Boot in the BIOS to boot to the Windows 7 installation media. This will have the side-effect of no longer being able to boot the pre-installed version of Windows 8; so be sure you've saved any data you need to transfer to an external location (network; external HDD; flash drive; etc.).
=> Finally, WHY are you downgrading? If it's a mandatory downgrade (e.g. corporate standard is W7, etc.) then you need to do it. If it's because of dissatisfaction with the Windows 8 GUI, then you may be able to completely avoid the downgrade with StarDock's excellent Start8 utility ... a very well spent $4.99 that makes Windows 8 "feel" very much like Windows 7. Definitely worth trying (there's a free 30-day demo period).
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
=> First, this is a common-enough request that Microsoft has included downgrade rights for the Pro version ... i.e. if you have Windows 8 Professional, you can downgrade to Windows 7 Professional at no cost. You have to go through your system vendor to get the Windows 7 install media and key for this.
=> Second, BEFORE starting the install, go to the vendors site for your system and confirm that Windows 7 drivers are available for all the key components [network adapter; video card; audio adapter; etc.]. You do NOT want to be searching for drivers in the middle of an install. (rindi noted the need to do this also)
=> Third, as noted above, you'll need to disable Secure Boot in the BIOS to boot to the Windows 7 installation media. This will have the side-effect of no longer being able to boot the pre-installed version of Windows 8; so be sure you've saved any data you need to transfer to an external location (network; external HDD; flash drive; etc.).
=> Finally, WHY are you downgrading? If it's a mandatory downgrade (e.g. corporate standard is W7, etc.) then you need to do it. If it's because of dissatisfaction with the Windows 8 GUI, then you may be able to completely avoid the downgrade with StarDock's excellent Start8 utility ... a very well spent $4.99 that makes Windows 8 "feel" very much like Windows 7. Definitely worth trying (there's a free 30-day demo period).
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
It's required by the company to work with their existing software. It's not my fualt they are not up to speed with updating their software... just needing to comply with them
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