Your OEM will have the best information about how to downgrade your specific PC and in some cases may decide to send you installation media or a PC that has the operating system downgrade already installed. OEM downgrade rights apply to only Windows 8 Pro and allow for downgrades for up to two earlier versions (to Windows 7 Professional and to Windows Vista Business). For a PC that has Windows 8 preinstalled by an OEM That is, you have to buy or have previously bought a product key for the earlier version of Windows and then install that version by using the recovery or installation media. The process for downgrading to an earlier version of Windows is the same as it is for a retail version of Windows 8. It's governed by the personal-use Microsoft Software License Terms for the product. If you installed Windows 8 by purchasing and installing Windows 8 System Builder yourself, there are no downgrade rights. For a personal-use license of Windows 8 System Builder Make sure that you have this recovery disk before you upgrade, because you won't be able to use the recovery partition to create a recovery disk after you install Windows 8.įor more information about how to start your PC from recovery media, see Create installation media for Windows. Check the support section of your PC manufacturer's website for more information. If you don't have recovery media, you can create it before you upgrade from a recovery partition on your PC by using software that is provided by your PC manufacturer. If you upgraded Windows by using a retail version of Windows 8, you have to reinstall your earlier version of Windows by using the recovery or installation media that was included with your PC. There are no downgrade rights for retail versions of Windows 8.

The downgrade rights for each scenario that is mentioned in the previous section are as follows. You can buy a Volume Licensing agreement and then install a Windows 8 Pro upgrade or Windows 8 Enterprise on a PC that is running a qualifying operating system.You can buy a PC that has Windows 8 preinstalled from an OEM.You can buy and install a personal-use license of Windows 8 System Builder.You can buy a retail version of Windows 8 and install it as an upgrade on a PC that is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.The primary methods of obtaining Windows 8 are as follows: If you do have downgrade rights and decide to use them, you continue to keep the license and rights of use for your original version and may 'upgrade' back at any time. Not all Windows editions provide downgrade rights. Your ability to downgrade Windows 8 to an earlier version of Windows depends both on the version of Windows 8 that you've and on the method by which you obtained Windows 8. Applies to: Windows 8 Original KB number: 2832566 Summary

Downgrading to windows vista from 7