M17x R4 uninstalling windows 8 and installing windows 7

Ok so I bought an m17x R4 with windows 8... I tried to get used to it, but after a couple of weeks I'm still missing windows 7.


Is there any way to remove windows 8 and install windows 7 on an r4 shipped with windows 8? It won't let me, it hangs at the "loading windows" screen. I'd label myself as fairly handy when it comes to computers, but still can't figure it out.

 

Honestly I would just try and get used to it. There are some mods out there that give it more of a feel like 7.

 

But if I don't want to get used to it, there's no option? I bought a 2,000$ laptop and can't use my operating system of choice? That's what dell tells me.

 

Wipe the hard drive. That's what I did, the Windows 8 drivers just weren't ready in my opinion. My Killer wifi dropped constantly in 8, which was the last straw. I liked it otherwise and it was fast... I'll go back after it's fixed.

You're going to have to get a copy of Win7. Are you a student? Have a friend or old computer with a license?

 

I already have a copy. But my issue was that it wasn't able to install at all on a clean SSD.

 

Disable secure boot in bios and enable legacy mode.

Then do a fresh windows 7 install.

Job done.

 

No offense but I have been using Win8 on my R4 since beta, granted not using Enduro, just straight 7970 but I have not had a single driver issue.

 

It definitely has a learning curve and takes some getting used to. Making things worse are trying to get used to it without a touch screen. Just know that instead of a Start button, you now get an entire page. Instead of clicking start hit your Windows key, takes you to the start page. Off the start page there is a tile for your desktop. Once you get the navigation down, I am finding it is hands down one of the best OS's I have used.

On another note, a company called Stardock makes a nice UI mod that lets you get your Start button back. Might be worth taking a look at because the OS itself is extremely polished and smooth.

 

Microsoft locked users into Windows 8 once you have upgraded or did a clean install, since all Windows 8 hardware will be shipping with UEFI secure boot enabled by default. Furthermore, the Windows 8 operating system install will modify your BIOS to use UEFI by default. If you have a newer hardware system with newer UEFI bios support, you MUST change your BIOS setting to boot the Windows 7 system disk using Legacy BIOS settings. Failure to do this will result in the install locking up at the first screen. This is true even if you try to do the install of Windows 7 from Windows 8 by loading your Windows 7 system install disk and running SETUP. You will think all is well, until the system is ready to boot into Windows 7 for the first time. It then locks up again.

If you are an unfortunate one that loaded Windows 8 on a hardware with a legacy BIOS, there is no option to reset the BIOS from UEFI BIOS to Legacy. The only choice you have is to re-flash your BIOS, since the Windows 8 install has already updated it to UEFI to support their Secure Boot feature.

Re-flashing your BIOS back to it's previous version should allow you to do a clean boot of Windows 7, in most cases.

By the way, the above is true for Windows XP and VISTA (thank you very much, Microsoft!!)

GOOD LUCK! I'm told The Geek Squad charges $150.00 for this, and further advises ALL legacy hardware owners NOT to upgrade to Windows 8.

 

This is the way you do it. Give that a try and let us know.

 

I'm also thinking of a Win 7 install from Win 8, is this all I need to do too? what about what ThePruGuy said above?

 

Would this be right then?