USB recovery not working.

[shafe88]

I have an acer desktop that came with windows 8.1 that I upgraded to windows 10, I want to restore windows 8.1 but windows 10 won't let me use my USB recovery I made when I still had windows 8.1, I boot from the drive, but all's I get is a language and keyboard layout questions.  Then my options become Continue (Exit and Continue to Windows 10), Use a device, Troubleshoot, and Turn off your PC. I got to advance settings to select USB but all's that does is cause a 2 sec pause than a reboot. I really want 8.1 as it gave a smoother experience than 10.

 

[t53186]

A recovery USB stick may not be the same as a complete installation on media which is what you need. In other words you are not trying to recover 8.1 because it does not exist anymore. You will need to do a clean installation of 8.1 to get it back

 

[captaincharisma]

you may need to enter acer's recovery mode first to use the USB stick. there should be a key you press when starting up your computer to get into it

 

[shafe88]

A recovery USB stick may not be the same as a complete installation on media which is what you need. In other words you are not trying to recover 8.1 because it does not exist anymore. You will need to do a clean installation of 8.1 to get it back

I'm pretty sure it does a full install.

 

[shafe88]

you may need to enter acer's recovery mode first to use the USB stick. there should be a key you press when starting up your computer to get into it

I went into bios and enabled legacy and booted the usb in legacy mode, I still got the keyboard layout menu, but the next menu had two options trouble shoot and turn off PC. I went into trouble shoot and resetted with re partitioning the drive, and when it finished I thought it was good to go, but nope, after the reset I get text to reboot or insert media and boot.

 

[captaincharisma]

you may need to enter acer's recovery mode first to use the USB stick. there should be a key you press when starting up your computer to get into it

I went into bios and enabled legacy and booted the usb in legacy mode, I still got the keyboard layout menu, but the next menu had two options trouble shoot and turn off PC. I went into trouble shoot and resetted with re partitioning the drive, and when it finished I thought it was good to go, but nope, after the reset I get text to reboot or insert media and boot.

do you remember what program you used to make that USB recovery? was it one of acer's recovery programs or did you have to go into windows 8 settings to make it?

 

[shafe88]

you may need to enter acer's recovery mode first to use the USB stick. there should be a key you press when starting up your computer to get into it

I went into bios and enabled legacy and booted the usb in legacy mode, I still got the keyboard layout menu, but the next menu had two options trouble shoot and turn off PC. I went into trouble shoot and resetted with re partitioning the drive, and when it finished I thought it was good to go, but nope, after the reset I get text to reboot or insert media and boot.

do you remember what program you used to make that USB recovery? was it one of acer's recovery programs or did you have to go into windows 8 settings to make it?

It was made using acer recovery management software that came pre-installed.I rebooted from the flash drive using legacy mode again and tried resetting again, this time it seems to be taking longer. Last time it took 20 minuets where this time it took about 30 minuets to get to 25%(I'm still at 25%)

 

[shafe88]

I created a windows 8.1 iso on another computer just in case I can't get the recovery USB to work. I have my windows 8.1 key and activation backed up via active back up and restore.

 

[captaincharisma]

I created a windows 8.1 iso on another computer just in case I can't get the recovery USB to work. I have my windows 8.1 key and activation backed up via active back up and restore.

did you check to see if it mentions anything about the windows licence in the BIOS? if it does then you can install a fresh copy of windows 8 using MS media creation tool if all else fails

 

[shafe88]

I created a windows 8.1 iso on another computer just in case I can't get the recovery USB to work. I have my windows 8.1 key and activation backed up via active back up and restore.

did you check to see if it mentions anything about the windows licence in the BIOS? if it does then you can install a fresh copy of windows 8 using MS media creation tool if all else fails

It didn't mention nothing about licence in the BIOS just that the activation was backed up and ready to restore. I've used this program before to backup vista activation without problem. Apparently when acers recovery management creates a recovery USB, it copies the recovery partition to the USB drive.

 

[shafe88]

The second reset did the trick, got windows 8.1 installed from the recovery USB. Just got done installing Never10 to prevent windows 10 from installing.

 

[captaincharisma]

The second reset did the trick, got windows 8.1 installed from the recovery USB. Just got done installing Never10 to prevent windows 10 from installing.

you don't need to do that anymore since the free upgrade has been over for close to 3 years now. that program is probably some sort of malware anyway

 

[shafe88]

The second reset did the trick, got windows 8.1 installed from the recovery USB. Just got done installing Never10 to prevent windows 10 from installing.

you don't need to do that anymore since the free upgrade has been over for close to 3 years now. that program is probably some sort of malware anyway

Sure the free upgrade is over, but people are still dealing with windows 10 installing without their permission. I looked into the program before using it, it is a legit program.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-update/windows-10-installed-without-permission-now-my/12fdcb47-ff41-46ad-ac5b-fecdcfe09e45?auth=1