Can I Downgrade to Windows 7 Without Losing My Data?

[McKennan McCall]

Title. I have way too much stuff to back up from a 2TB hard drive, and I can't afford another drive at the moment. Is there a way I can do a clean install of Windows 7 without having to go through the setup process again? I really hate Windows 10. Significantly slower than any other OS I've used.

Thanks

 

[Barty1884]

No, can't be done. You can utilize "downgrade" rights with a Windows 10 license, but I think there's a limited timeframe from purchase, and still requires a clean install (which will lose data).

 

[McKennan McCall]

No, can't be done. You can utilize "downgrade" rights with a Windows 10 license, but I think there's a limited timeframe from purchase, and still requires a clean install (which will lose data).

I hate Microsoft. Thanks, pal

 

[Kasper Jorgensen]

If Windows 10 is more slow for you, you are doing something wrong as Windows 10 is actually faster. Maybe it feels slow because your HDD is to full and fragmented.
What i mean to say is, why downgrade to an old OS that no longer have general support and also soon will no longer get security updates?
To answer your question, there is no way to install Windows 7 without going through setup process.
What are your system specs? You do know that Windows 7 is no longer supported by the newer CPUs and chipsets and you will not be able to find chipset drivers for anything than Windows 10.

 

[13thmonkey]

personally understand what's causing your win10 problem an fix, whining about 'hating microsoft' (but you are willing to use win7, also by microsoft), is a bit pointless unless you are going to change to linux or something.

Next time, partition your drives so that you have a smallish OS drive, and a data & other program drive, then you can reinstall the OS without losing the data.

 

[USAFRet]

Title. I have way too much stuff to back up from a 2TB hard drive, and I can't afford another drive at the moment. Is there a way I can do a clean install of Windows 7 without having to go through the setup process again? I really hate Windows 10. Significantly slower than any other OS I've used.

Thanks

On all of my systems, from a teeny 2GB RAM Asus Transformer, to a 8 year old low end Tosh laptop, to a Haswell i7 with 32GB RAM...
None of them are 'slower' with Win 10 than they were on Win 7, or 8.1.

Presumably, you have other issues going on.

 

[McKennan McCall]

If Windows 10 is more slow for you, you are doing something wrong as Windows 10 is actually faster. Maybe it feels slow because your HDD is to full and fragmented.
What i mean to say is, why downgrade to an old OS that no longer have general support and also soon will no longer get security updates?
To answer your question, there is no way to install Windows 7 without going through setup process.
What are your system specs? You do know that Windows 7 is no longer supported by the newer CPUs and chipsets and you will not be able to find chipset drivers for anything than Windows 10.

I installed Windows 10 the second I built this PC. I'm pretty sure I didn't cause this.

My specs are:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
i-5 4590 CPU
8GB RAM
Asrock h97m pro4 motherboard
750W PSU.
2TB HDD

I'd rather use Windows 7 because it's much faster and simpler. My games stutter a whole lot more since I started using Windows 10 as well.

 

[McKennan McCall]

personally understand what's causing your win10 problem an fix, whining about 'hating microsoft' (but you are willing to use win7, also by microsoft), is a bit pointless unless you are going to change to linux or something.

Next time, partition your drives so that you have a smallish OS drive, and a data & other program drive, then you can reinstall the OS without losing the data.

I hate Microsoft because of what Windows became. Idk, I've been tinkering with PC's and using them since XP and when my dad put Windows 7 on our family computer, I thought it was perfect the way it was. But I'll definitely partition my drives next time, thanks!

 

[Kasper Jorgensen]

You also hate Nvidia because that old gt4200 doesn't play your games anymore and you also hate Intel because they stopped support for Win 7 and 8.1?
Dude, hardware and software develops, hate the game not the players.

 

[13thmonkey]

personally understand what's causing your win10 problem an fix, whining about 'hating microsoft' (but you are willing to use win7, also by microsoft), is a bit pointless unless you are going to change to linux or something.

Next time, partition your drives so that you have a smallish OS drive, and a data & other program drive, then you can reinstall the OS without losing the data.

I hate Microsoft because of what Windows became. Idk, I've been tinkering with PC's and using them since XP and when my dad put Windows 7 on our family computer, I thought it was perfect the way it was. But I'll definitely partition my drives next time, thanks!

win10 is in nearly everyone's experience better than win 7, the typical arguments are:
It looks different - really, is that all? the only difference is the expanded start menu bar.
It collects info - you're on the internet, probably been doing that for a long time.
It's slow - not really, most machines it's faster and more secure, if your's isn't figure out why.

 

[McKennan McCall]

You also hate Nvidia because that old gt4200 doesn't play your games anymore and you also hate Intel because they stopped support for Win 7 and 8.1?
Dude, hardware and software develops, hate the game not the players.

You're completely missing my point and not helping at all lmao. I said I hated Microsoft not because just how it runs, but because I didn't like the big changes that Windows 10 had. I *do* understand that things are being improved overtime which requires some upgrading, which I'm totally fine with, but my experience with Windows 7 was way better than Windows 10. That's all. Literally two people gave useful advice, while you're criticizing me just for liking Windows 7 better than Windows 10. I understand Windows 7 is going obsolete, but that doesn't mean I can't use it.

 

[13thmonkey]

What are the 'big changes' to win 10? win 8/8.1 was problematic, but from a user point of view there is very little difference from 7 to 10. The big start menu is it. The control panel you might think is a problem, but it is still there. What else? lets get specific.

 

[Kasper Jorgensen]

Problem with most Windows 10 haters is that they tried it 2 years ago when it came out, didn't like it or got some bugs. Well 2 years has passed, many bugs have been fixed, criticized settings has been reverted and last but not least, the argument that Windows 10 is slower is not true.
I don't criticize you for liking Win 7 more, but I do find it stupid to waste time and efforts to revert to an old and obsolete OS, when you could spend the time learning the new features in Windows 10. I also say that if you find Windows 7 to be faster you have another issue going on, as Windows 10 is faster for everyone else and in benchmarks as well.

 

[McKennan McCall]

Problem with most Windows 10 haters is that they tried it 2 years ago when it came out, didn't like it or got some bugs. Well 2 years has passed, many bugs have been fixed, criticized settings has been reverted and last but not least, the argument that Windows 10 is slower is not true.
I don't criticize you for liking Win 7 more, but I do find it stupid to waste time and efforts to revert to an old and obsolete OS, when you could spend the time learning the new features in Windows 10. I also say that if you find Windows 7 to be faster you have another issue going on, as Windows 10 is faster for everyone else and in benchmarks as well.

My start menu doesn't load half the time and I need to restart windows explorer from the task manager. Chrome opens pretty slow as well, but that could just be Chrome (it IS a memory sucker). It's really a pain and I never experienced that with 7. And I already know all the new features of Windows 10, and I will say that there are some handy features.

Thanks for your, and everyone's, feedback

 

[13thmonkey]

Problem with most Windows 10 haters is that they tried it 2 years ago when it came out, didn't like it or got some bugs. Well 2 years has passed, many bugs have been fixed, criticized settings has been reverted and last but not least, the argument that Windows 10 is slower is not true.
I don't criticize you for liking Win 7 more, but I do find it stupid to waste time and efforts to revert to an old and obsolete OS, when you could spend the time learning the new features in Windows 10. I also say that if you find Windows 7 to be faster you have another issue going on, as Windows 10 is faster for everyone else and in benchmarks as well.

My start menu doesn't load half the time and I need to restart windows explorer from the task manager. Chrome opens pretty slow as well, but that could just be Chrome (it IS a memory sucker). It's really a pain and I never experienced that with 7. And I already know all the new features of Windows 10, and I will say that there are some handy features.

Thanks for your, and everyone's, feedback

If that's your issue, reinstall windows, if it was from an upgrade then this could be a bad upgrade.

 

[Barty1884]

Was just about to say the same thing 13thmonkey.

OP, those are relatively common symptoms with the in-place upgrade to Windows 10. Either way (7 or 10), you're looking at a clean install..... and the issues should be fixed with a clean 10 install. From a support standpoint alone, 10 should be what you're aiming for unless you absolutely *must* run a prior OS.

 

[McKennan McCall]

Was just about to say the same thing 13thmonkey.

OP, those are relatively common symptoms with the in-place upgrade to Windows 10. Either way (7 or 10), you're looking at a clean install..... and the issues should be fixed with a clean 10 install. From a support standpoint alone, 10 should be what you're aiming for unless you absolutely *must* run a prior OS.

Last night I put the disc in and ran the setup once more. Now my CPU idles at 60 degrees. It used to be 40 degrees. Can someone explain? I'm about to scan with Malwarebytes to scan for any hidden PUPs.

 

[Kasper Jorgensen]

Did you wipe the drive before installing? When we say clean install it means you have to format the drive first so you don't install it on top of the last installment.

 

[McKennan McCall]

No, I figured I'd just repair any missing or corrupt files. I scanned with Malwarebytes and it found 30 threats, I removed them. After installing over the last installment, my start menu finally opens after ONE click and not 10+. I'll think about a clean install, but I think I'll do it when it's needed (so probably whenever this HDD dies).

 

[Kasper Jorgensen]

No, I figured I'd just repair any missing or corrupt files. I scanned with Malwarebytes and it found 30 threats, I removed them. After installing over the last installment, my start menu finally opens after ONE click and not 10+. I'll think about a clean install, but I think I'll do it when it's needed (so probably whenever this HDD dies).

There you have the reason for your issue with Windows 10 running slower than Windows 7. Do a clean Windows 10 install and it will run much better.

 

[silva.kvesic]

It wont run better no matter if he reinstalled it 12 times... Everybody is saying it's his problem blah blah... IT'S NOT! And stop saying that, it's not helping... There are tens of thousands of people asking for solutions on forums all over the internet... Windows 10 IS slower than Windows 7 and that's just how it is... You can't change that...

1) PHOTOS app needs 27 seconds to open a photo - Photos - Microsoft software... Windows 7 had Windows Media Player and it could open anything and Windows 10 has a program for each thing - like photos - it's so slow! When I open it with MS Paint it opens instantly...

2) Sometimes when I click on start, as this guy said, I need to wait 10 seconds for start panel to appear, or even have to restart the system...

3) When it opens eventually, there is "MINECRAFT" and "XBOX" and a lot of stupid stuff that I don't use or need there. Microsoft programs like "Alarm & Clock", "Groove Music", "Mixed Reality Portal", "Advices"... there is more of them.. And there are some weird games already installed... WHO SETS AN ALARM ON A COMPUTER?? WHAT IS MIXED REALITY PORTAL? WHEN I INSTALL WINDOWS 7 ONLY THING I HAVE IS RECYCLE BIN ON THE DESKTOP AND NO WEIRD SH*T ON THE START PANEL...

4) When I search for something, it shows no result, (ex. I type "devices and printers" and it shows me some other settings that are for something else)

5) When I search "mouse", it shows me Windows 10 options for mouse, which are "choose which button is to select - "left" - "right" and it's so useless, it shows me that instead of control panel mouse settings for cursor speed and stuff...

6) Options that are hard to find - I wanted to show "This PC" icon on the desktop. On Windows 7, easy - right click on My Computer - Show on Desktop. Done. Windows 10 - I had to find it on the internet - It was under "THEMES" section for background and taskbar color which makes no sense...

7) For something I could access in few clicks on Windows 7, here I need to click 7 times and can't find it, type for it to get no result and go to google to find out... And don't worry, I'm not a dumb idiot that doesn't know where to find something, but Windows 10 made it so complicated to do anything... I grew up on a keyboard (metaphor) and I've tried many OS's and Windows 10 is the slowest and most complicated one ever...

8) Personalisation - Yes, it does matter. It just sucks...

I can't type this anymore I'm just getting angrier...

 

[USAFRet]

1) PHOTOS app needs 27 seconds to open a photo - Photos - Microsoft software... Windows 7 had Windows Media Player and it could open anything and Windows 10 has a program for each thing - like photos - it's so slow! When I open it with MS Paint it opens instantly...

Maybe on your system.
It doesn't on any of mine.

Even on my cheesy low end Asus Transformer, accessing a photo across the LAN from my NAS box.
No more than a couple of seconds.

That said...the Photo app in Win 10 sux. I never use it, in light of much better options.

 

[Kasper Jorgensen]

None of the above is true on my system. Windows 10 has always been running better than Windows 7.