[GetReal]

One family PC irreparably died recently via smokey mobo. So went to Walmart & bought a mid-range Acer laptop with Win-8 Pro installed. Now find that no other family member is interested, even to experiment further, with W8. Already have a DVD of Win-7 home premium 32-bit that I would now like to use for downgrade - unfortunately over the past 2 years I have lost the activation code.

Having heard/read that Microsoft will allow downgrades for $14.99, I first went to Acer support, who knew NOTHING about downgrades - just telling me to go buy another consumer copy of W7.

Then searched the Microsoft website - find the only things that come up are "rights" documents plus suggestions of what to do forum comments about preserving the backup copy of W8 supposedly already on the Acer HD.

So. Does any reader know details or exactly what & where I need do or go to get this downgrade done - with materials I have on-hand if possible?

HELP and/or SUGGESTIONS very welcome....

This post has been edited by GetReal: 07 December 2012 - 03:32 PM

[LiveBrianD]

That $14.99 is if you had bought a machine with Windows 7 soon before 8 came out, allowing you to UPGRADE to 8. ($40 otherwise, until January I think.)

First, what model exactly did you buy? You might not have drivers available for 7.

[GetReal]

Thanks for the response. Possibly I am confused between upgrade/downgrade prices but think I have read that both cost the same(?) I already have W7 media, just no activation code and don't want to pay $50 to $200 again in a transaction of basically just buying that code. Will keep looking for info but loosing hope already.

The only good I got from a long chat at Acer was a link to their W7 support page and assurance that I could ind necessary W7 drivers there.

[LiveBrianD]

If you don't have the product key for the copy of win7, I can't help you there. I think (you might want to do more research on this) that you might have downgrade rights, since you bought a Pro copy of Windows though.

[compnovo]

Hey GetReal,
If you can't find a way to downgrade to Win7 you might want to try something like Start8 or Classic Shell...
http://www.stardock....roducts/start8/
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
It's about the closest thing you can get to Win7 without actually being there.

[GetReal]

LiveBrianD, on 08 December 2012 - 08:08 AM, said:

If you don't have the product key for the copy of win7, I can't help you there. I think (you might want to do more research on this) that you might have downgrade rights, since you bought a Pro copy of Windows though.

I have today installed Classic Shell. It's helping my wife adapt a bit but the children still complain that W8 won't run all their games - and I certainly will not attempt replacement!!!!

I have located a website that advertises W7 Activation code sales (no media) for $55 - might have to go that route since I can't remember exactly what or where I was (mis)-informed about downgrades to Win-7 and apparently whatever article I read has not been seen by anyone browsing these forums.

Intend to contemplate this misfortune from my easy chair all day tomorrow - hope for an inspiration. ha

[LiveBrianD]

How exactly is it not running games? The compatibility on the desktop side is pretty much identical to Windows 7. (if those are 16-bit games, that's almost certainly the issue - everything comes with a 64-bit OS nowadays, which can't run those)

I would be suspicious of a website selling Windows 7 license keys for $55 though, given the OEM copies cost $100 normally and I think the upgrade ones are $110 or so.

[LincolnSpector]

LiveBrianD, on 07 December 2012 - 04:59 PM, said:

That $14.99 is if you had bought a machine with Windows 7 soon before 8 came out, allowing you to UPGRADE to 8. ($40 otherwise, until January I think.)

First, what model exactly did you buy? You might not have drivers available for 7.

Wait!

If you bought a machine with Windows 7, then spent $40 to upgrade to Win8, you have to pay another $15 to get Win7 back?

In that situation, shouldn't you be able to use the recovery tool that came with your PC?

Lincoln

[LiveBrianD]

No. $15 only gets you 8 if you bought the machine shortly before that came out. That has nothing to do with getting 7 back.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 09 December 2012 - 11:01 AM

[GetReal]

All is well here now. At prompting of family, I bought online an activation code for $55 >>> removed Win-8 (keeping the recovery partition) and have successfully installed Win-7 - almost. Had to download 2 drivers from Acer and still indicate as needing SM-bus and USB drivers - no software yet found for these two, even after web search, but W7 boots & runs all apps of prior concern!
Cost me $40 more than initially expected, plus about 3 days work >>> all is well here now!

[LincolnSpector]

LiveBrianD, on 09 December 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

No. $15 only gets you 8 if you bought the machine shortly before that came out. That has nothing to do with getting 7 back.

Thanks for the clarification.

Lincoln