Trying to uninstall Win8

[freak69ize]

Ok my problem is is that i deleted the partition win8 was on and recovered the space back to my C drive but when i restart my pc the win8 bios is still there and just say error.. blah blah some other crap. Ive tried to make win7 my default os but its not showing up in either startup and recovery or system configuration. What can i do??

62695

[ONE MAN ARMY]

Not 100% sure on this issue but when your in the bios in the boot options do you see somthing that says Legacy Boot. If So Enable legacy boot. and your Win 7 should load with no problem. This worked for me.

[razorsedge]

Ok my problem is is that i deleted the partition win8 was on and recovered the space back to my C drive but when i restart my pc the win8 bios is still there and just say error.. blah blah some other crap. Ive tried to make win7 my default os but its not showing up in either startup and recovery or system configuration. What can i do??

62695

Hi Bud :)

This happened cause when u deleted the win 8 partition you forgot that when u installed win 8 it took over the hidden partition that win 7 or 8 will put on ur hd aka the boot sector.

win 8 does this puts it's own boot sector for the hd taking it over from the win 7 one that is there. By just deleting the win 8 partition you kind of bricked ur hd in that way as the boot partition is still there for 8 and u can't remove that or no os will be able to boot cause the boot sector will be missing.

you should back up your data and do a clean wipe of that hd then install win 7 back to get it operating properly. Thats one thing about windows 8 it pretty well takes over everything if your trying to dual boot with another os.

[MongerVog]

Razor is correct, If you can get your hands on an external HD use disc startup repair to move your files. Dont load repair, select search for drivers. Its a work around. Youll be able to copy folder and paste into external drive. It takes awhile but its worth it when you have valuable content.
Then clear your drive. Format then do a fresh install of your os.


Hi Bud :)

This happened cause when u deleted the win 8 partition you forgot that when u installed win 8 it took over the hidden partition that win 7 or 8 will put on ur hd aka the boot sector.

win 8 does this puts it's own boot sector for the hd taking it over from the win 7 one that is there. By just deleting the win 8 partition you kind of bricked ur hd in that way as the boot partition is still there for 8 and u can't remove that or no os will be able to boot cause the boot sector will be missing.

you should back up your data and do a clean wipe of that hd then install win 7 back to get it operating properly. Thats one thing about windows 8 it pretty well takes over everything if your trying to dual boot with another os.

[8pecxstudios]

you could always try repairing the boot sector by using windows PE disk and bcdboot http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744347%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

[2635599]

you could always try repairing the boot sector by using windows PE disk and bcdboot http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744347(v=ws.10).aspx

i'm with Toady (http://virtualcustoms.net/member.php/208186-Toadyshadow101), but one more thing you can try and i know it works when you are dual booting 7. backup the drive if you have spare space for it on another drive, partition the space back for 8, reinstall 8, now you show be able to uninstall 8 the proper way and have 7 boot properly.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/remove-windows-8-from-a-dual-boot-configuration/6571

[Mr GRiM]

I have been through this before and learned the hard way, I tried a dual boot with Windows 8 but I also have EasyBCD http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ installed and fixed the boot sector after I deleted the partition, I only use Windows 8 on the VM now, I think that's the best option if you are just interested in having a play with it, if you have a decent system then VM ware can run it pretty good, you can hardly notice that it's a virtual machine, although I have not tried to play games on it and pretty sure it would fail there.

[freak69ize]

I have been through this before and learned the hard way, I tried a dual boot with Windows 8 but I also have EasyBCD http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ installed and fixed the boot sector after I deleted the partition, I only use Windows 8 on the VM now, I think that's the best option if you are just interested in having a play with it, if you have a decent system then VM ware can run it pretty good, you can hardly notice that it's a virtual machine, although I have not tried to play games on it and pretty sure it would fail there.

I ended up having to reinstall win8... kinda ironic seeing how thats what i was trying to get rid of. hahaha I can get 7 to install but i dont have a product key for it but i do 8.. guess im stuck with 8 cuz im not buying one for 7.. id rather just get a new lappy... Thanks guys. :)

[Dark Knight]

I ended up having to reinstall win8... kinda ironic seeing how thats what i was trying to get rid of. hahaha I can get 7 to install but i dont have a product key for it but i do 8.. guess im stuck with 8 cuz im not buying one for 7.. id rather just get a new lappy... Thanks guys. :)

If you don't have a product key for 7 then chances are 7 was never loaded on the laptop.....
So let me see if I am getting this, your laptop came with Windows 8 and you decided you liked 7 better and tried to uninstall 8 and put 7 on it BUT you don't have a product key for 7, so if you were going to put 7 on the laptop how did you ever think you'd get it to work without a product key?

I'm going to give you a jump start here if you are really looking to downgrade to 7, but the work and research is going to be up to you....
Do a Google search for the DAZ loader, I could give you the direct link but I am not going to do it here, DAZ is legit and can make Windows 7 genuine when you have problems with 7 saying it is not genuine, I suspect the laptop came with 8 so there may be some work to be done in the bios before you load 7, make sure you research it completely before you try it.

Personally my system came with Vista when I bought it but I also got the free Windows 7 upgrade with it, since then I have upgraded to 8 then downgraded back to 7 without any problems whatsoever, I think you just went about uninstalling or better yet "removing" 8 from the system wrong, if the laptop came with 8 it should definitely be able to run 7 without a problem and the DAZ loader will help you out with doing that.

[freak69ize]

If you don't have a product key for 7 then chances are 7 was never loaded on the laptop.....
So let me see if I am getting this, your laptop came with Windows 8 and you decided you liked 7 better and tried to uninstall 8 and put 7 on it BUT you don't have a product key for 7, so if you were going to put 7 on the laptop how did you ever think you'd get it to work without a product key?

I'm going to give you a jump start here if you are really looking to downgrade to 7, but the work and research is going to be up to you....
Do a Google search for the DAZ loader, I could give you the direct link but I am not going to do it here, DAZ is legit and can make Windows 7 genuine when you have problems with 7 saying it is not genuine, I suspect the laptop came with 8 so there may be some work to be done in the bios before you load 7, make sure you research it completely before you try it.

Personally my system came with Vista when I bought it but I also got the free Windows 7 upgrade with it, since then I have upgraded to 8 then downgraded back to 7 without any problems whatsoever, I think you just went about uninstalling or better yet "removing" 8 from the system wrong, if the laptop came with 8 it should definitely be able to run 7 without a problem and the DAZ loader will help you out with doing that.

No it came with Win7. I had it for about 3 years and last Oct. i installed Win8 and was dual booting up untill yesterday when i decided that i would uninstall 8 and just run 7. So i guess i did it all wrong. I tried to just delete the drive i had 8 on in disk management and resized my c drive from the 30 gb i had 8 on. I wasnt even thinking about the recovery bios.. but everytime i reboot i would get this screen. And everytime i tried to enter bootloader pushing f12 i got the same screen. I could however get back into 7 by pushing f9. Long story short.. i got win8 installed by downloading it from the email i kept when i purchased it. Shouldnt the bios be intact now and i should be able to push f12 to get into the bootloader so i cant format the drive before installing 7??

62717

[Dark Knight]

If the pc came with 7 you should have a product key that came with the recovery disk, if you didn't get a recovery disk, the product key is located on the Windows sticker located somewhere usually on the bottom of the laptop, or if a tower the sticker is usually on the side with the product key on it. IF you have the product key and a copy of Windows 7 the pc came with (home, premium or Ultimate) , it doesn't even have to be YOUR disk necesassarily, it could be a friends or sometimes you can download it directly from Microsoft, BUT it must match the type of Windows 7 that was originally installed on the pc and you must have that product key.
If you have or had a recovery partition (If it's a Dell then you probably do) and you cannot access that recovery partion due to Windows 8 dominating the pc then you should have been given a recovery disk when you purchased the pc, or had the oportunity to make a set of recovery disks when the pc was new.
Also if you downloaded the Windows 8 upgrade from Microsoft, I have been told that the Windows 8 upgrade cannot or shouldn't be dual booted, you need an oem disk to dual boot Windows 8 with another OS.

I do not know what you have as far as recovery goes for Windows 7, if it were me and I had a recovery disk or a Windows 7 disk, I would just do a reformat and reinstall of 7. If you want to keep 8 just stick in the media you have the download stored on and it follow the directions for 8 to repair itself.

[freak69ize]

If the pc came with 7 you should have a product key that came with the recovery disk, if you didn't get a recovery disk, the product key is located on the Windows sticker located somewhere usually on the bottom of the laptop, or if a tower the sticker is usually on the side with the product key on it. IF you have the product key and a copy of Windows 7 the pc came with (home, premium or Ultimate) , it doesn't even have to be YOUR disk necesassarily, it could be a friends or sometimes you can download it directly from Microsoft, BUT it must match the type of Windows 7 that was originally installed on the pc and you must have that product key.
If you have or had a recovery partition (If it's a Dell then you probably do) and you cannot access that recovery partion due to Windows 8 dominating the pc then you should have been given a recovery disk when you purchased the pc, or had the oportunity to make a set of recovery disks when the pc was new.
Also if you downloaded the Windows 8 upgrade from Microsoft, I have been told that the Windows 8 upgrade cannot or shouldn't be dual booted, you need an oem disk to dual boot Windows 8 with another OS.

I do not know what you have as far as recovery goes for Windows 7, if it were me and I had a recovery disk or a Windows 7 disk, I would just do a reformat and reinstall of 7. You are probably getting that screen because there are remnants of 8 left in the MBR which the reformat and reinstall would or should take care of on it's own.

The only other way that I know of may to be to do a repair of the MBR, there are tools that help you do it but dude, it's a long and tedious process and if you mess it up you might as well take the pc to the shop to be fixed.

Ok ill give installing 7 a shot from my external dvd drive.. internal doesnt work anymore. I bought my laptop from a rent to own place so i didnt get the install disk with it. And yeah.. the recovery drive isnt even there anymore. Ok thanks bro.. appreciate the help. :) and everyone elses

[Dark Knight]

Ok ill give installing 7 a shot from my external dvd drive.. internal doesnt work anymore. I bought my laptop from a rent to own place so i didnt get the install disk with it. And yeah.. the recovery drive isnt even there anymore. Ok thanks bro.. appreciate the help. :) and everyone elses

Those rent to own places are supposed to give you the recovery media after you have paid off the pc, if it's paid off and you didn't get it, I'd be making a phone call, If it's NOT paid off, you have violated the rental agreement by changing the operating system, I've gone that route and you cannot alter the state of the pc as long as you are making payments on it, but 3 years old, I assume you own it outright by now.

Recovery disk(s) or not as long as the Microsoft sticker is on the pc with the product key on it you can go the route I explained above.

[freak69ize]

Those rent to own places are supposed to give you the recovery media after you have paid off the pc, if it's paid off and you didn't get it, I'd be making a phone call, If it's NOT paid off, you have violated the rental agreement by changing the operating system, I've gone that route and you cannot alter the state of the pc as long as you are making payments on it, so I would do my best to get the OS back to where it was if that is the fact.

Recovery disk(s) or not as long as the Microsoft sticker is on the pc with the product key on it you can go the route I explained above.

Its been paid off for 2 years. I asked for the disk a long time ago but didnt get it. One last question.. I just tried to enter bootloader by pressing f12.. do i have to change the boot sequence to cd/dvd there in startup setting 1st? I have to admit.. i know android soo much better then windows.. lol

[Dark Knight]

Its been paid off for 2 years. I asked for the disk a long time ago but didnt get it. One last question.. I just tried to enter bootloader by pressing f12.. do i have to change the boot sequence to cd/dvd there in startup setting 1st? I have to admit.. i know android soo much better then windows.. lol

You shouldn't have to, What I usually do is make sure the cd/dvd is in the drive while the computer is on, as soon as you close the drive door, reboot the system, if your re installing 7 you should be taken to the Installation/setup screen, if your keeping 8 you SHOULD be taken to the repair/install screen. If for some reason it doesn't then yes, you'll need hit F12 to change the boot sequence. Just make sure to change it back after you are done with the repair / reinstall.

[8pecxstudios]

Hi freak69ize (http://virtualcustoms.net/member.php/201075-freak69ize) by chance does it still have the recovery partition it originally came with and are thos files still in tact if so you can make an install disk from tho's files been that its an oem factory recovery partition it has all the files in it to restore your pc to the stat it was when first brought as well and activate it with the license key.

http://virtualcustoms.net/showthread.php/51373-How-To-Make-Custom-Windows-Deployment-%28-Advanced-Recovery-%29-Windows-7 downloading the PE disk and using the pre-install environment you can copy your recovery partition files to an external HDD and i can tell you what to do from there.

[freak69ize]

Hi freak69ize (http://virtualcustoms.net/member.php/201075-freak69ize) by chance does it still have the recovery partition it originally came with and are thos files still in tact if so you can make an install disk from tho's files been that its an oem factory recovery partition it has all the files in it to restore your pc to the stat it was when first brought as well and activate it with the license key.

http://virtualcustoms.net/showthread.php/51373-How-To-Make-Custom-Windows-Deployment-(-Advanced-Recovery-)-Windows-7 downloading the PE disk and using the pre-install environment you can copy your recovery partition files to an external HDD and i can tell you what to do from there.

Im downloading the Win7 Home Premium iso right now and am gonna burn it to a disk and do a fresh install using the product key Dark Knight told me about on the bottom of my laptop. That partition isnt intact any longer anyways but thanks bro. :)

[Dark Knight]

Im downloading the Win7 Home Premium iso right now and am gonna burn it to a disk and do a fresh install using the product key Dark Knight told me about on the bottom of my laptop. That partition isnt intact any longer anyways but thanks bro. :)

Let me know if I can be further help or how you make out dude :nerd:

[freak69ize]

Let me know if I can be further help or how you make out dude :nerd:

I got it bro.. back on 7 now. However.. the product key on the botton of my laptop didnt work.. said it was invalid.. so i used Daz Loader. :) Thanks alot bro.. appreciate your help.. everybodies.. ;)

[Dark Knight]

I was also thinking that since your laptop is a Dell (I have one too ) not only should you have gotten a restore disk you should have gotten a "driver" disk with it also, I'm assuming the rental place gave you none of those .......SO, you may run into some hardware issues from time to time since you now loaded Windows 7 from a downloaded .iso and not the Dell recovery disk.
For instance, my laptop came with Vista and I upgraded it to 7 and I ran into a hardware issue with the touch pad mouse and had to hunt the latest compatible drivers for it.
I would take a look at the device manager and see if there are any issues off the bat, if not leave well enough alone, if so you may have to hunt down the latest drivers for whatever is having issues.

Anyway I am so very glad you are back to where you want to be and everthing is going good for you :happy: