Can't Uninstall Windows 10 to get back to Windows 7

[Johnny]

Hi everyone,

I tried to go back to windows 7 by reverting back to the previous builds but after I did it once, it says there no other builds to go back to. What can I do to get back to windows 7 without having the windows 7 OS on a disk? Also, does anyone know how I can get back Microsoft office that was deleted once I went back to a previous build? Thanks in advance.

 

[Trouble]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
If the option described in this article here is not an option for you then you're left with very limited options.
https://techingiteasy.wordpress.com...-previous-version-of-windows-from-windows-10/

As far as installation media, if you have a legitimate product key, you can get it here http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

As far as MS Office, that may be a little more difficult to recover from. How did it come to be installed? What was your source for the install?

These types of issues is expressly why this site and others place disclaimers such as this

Windows 10 Technical Preview is an early stage Operating System Evaluation and should not be employed as a upgrade or replacement for the Operating System on your primary computer without foreknowledge and consideration as to the consequences of what will happen to your system as the builds advance toward a final finished product.

SOURCE: https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/windows-10-technical-preview-notes.154/

A system image prior to installing Windows 10 would sure come in handy right about now.
Sorry I don't have better news, but.....
Do keep us posted as to how to progress moving forward.

 

[Johnny]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
If the option described in this article here is not an option for you then you're left with very limited options.
https://techingiteasy.wordpress.com...-previous-version-of-windows-from-windows-10/

As far as installation media, if you have a legitimate product key, you can get it here http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

As far as MS Office, that may be a little more difficult to recover from. How did it come to be installed? What was your source for the install?

These types of issues is expressly why this site and other place disclaimers such as this

SOURCE: https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/windows-10-technical-preview-notes.154/

A system image prior to installing Windows 10 would sure come in handy right about now.
Sorry I don't have better news, but.....
Do keep us posted as to how to progress moving forward.

Hi thanks for the response,

I'm trying to open the start menu but it never opens, the only thing I can do is left click it to open up a menu. The search bar is completely unresponsive as well. Any advice?

Sadly, I don't have a product key or proof of purchase, all I have is a product ID. Would contacting Microsoft do me any good?

I found that Microsoft office showed up in my removed apps but it does not give me any options.

 

[Trouble]

I tried to go back to windows 7 by reverting back to the previous builds

If your goal is to "go back to Windows 7" without a product key or some type of documentation regarding a legitimate license, then that ship might have already sailed.
A call to Microsoft might be worth the effort assuming you can contact the "right guy" who can actually provide some help. I do wish you good luck with that (seriously.... they have some great folks working there but often you'll end up with one of the drones who can only read from pre-printed troubleshooting steps and can't manage to think outside the box).

With respect to your current dilemma with the Windows 10 build (which ever build you actually have installed) you might try re-downloading the ISO http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso
Soon if not immediately, because they have already stated that they are in the process of taking it down.
Once you have that ISO burned to a USB or DVD you can attempt to perform and in-place / upgrade repair by launching the Setup.exe application there from within Windows 10 and let it upgrade install over top of itself.

You might try this first. There is a powershell script in this article which some have reported worked for them.
https://www.techmesto.com/fix-start-menu-broken-windows-10-technical-preview/

Another powershell script which might help
Get-appxpackage -all *shellexperience* -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml”)}
SOURCE: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...t-appear/a7c56613-277c-4993-bb74-08650dce7b21

AND yet a third where some have reported that the Phone Companion App caused their problem
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/build-10166-introduces-new-problems.731/#post-3240

 

[bassfisher6522]

Hi everyone,

I tried to go back to windows 7 by reverting back to the previous builds but after I did it once, it says there no other builds to go back to. What can I do to get back to windows 7 without having the windows 7 OS on a disk? Also, does anyone know how I can get back Microsoft office that was deleted once I went back to a previous build? Thanks in advance.

When you installed windows 10 did you upgarde overtop of 7 or did you clean install it on the HDD that 7 resides on.....that's what it sounds like to me. If that is the case, then like Trouble stated....that ship has sailed.

 

[BigFeet]

Microsoft warned many times not to replace your day to day OS with Windows 10 preview for this specific reason.

If your PC came preinstalled with Windows 7, there should be a Windows sticker on it with a key. If so, you just need to go to the link above and fill out the info. As for Office, if you don't have the key or proof of purchase of some kind, you're most likely out of luck.

 

[baldqban]

Windows 10 has been nothing but grief. On the first machine I upgraded (from 8.1) I lost a lot of data due to a missing IrDA driver that was removed when the system went from final beta to production release. It took almost a year for a solution somehow surface to that issue.

Now I "upgraded" my production Win 7, and the "upgrade" has hopelessly scrambled everything - I have executables in the middle of data libraries, missing items, etc. None of my applications work, except for Chrome.

Prior to the "upgrade" I made a Win 7 system repair disk, and created an image, but the machine won't boot from the DVD. I can get it to boot from the Win 10 installation media USB, but not from the DVD, and the media wants me to reinstall Win 10 <ugh!>. And I can't get (or can't find) the "go back" option.

I want to install Win 10 clean, but not at this point. I need to get some productive work done! And then I will do a clean install and configure it properly, not with a standard load vendors will give you which are not tailored to your hardware configuration.

Is it possible/does anyone know how to get the system image recovery besides the repair disk. I may have a system install disk, but I am not sure - the system wants to run "set up.exe" Assuming it does, how does one run the repair utility off it, assuming it has them>

By the way, about the only bright point is that ir seems that the windows 10 hash has been properly recorded in the MSFT servers. The machine says I have a valid win 10 system