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Question

How do you UNDO a downgrade?

by Jul 26, 2013 8:01PM PDT

I have a HP Pro PC that was downgraded from Windows 7 to Windows XP professional a couple of years ago. However I need to undo this downgrade and have the original Windows 7 OS on it. How do I go about doing this? Is there a way I can re-set it?

(I have no disks or anything, just the computer itself).

Discussion is locked

2 Posts
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Answer
You'll need to do a factory restore
by Jul 26, 2013 11:11PM PDT

You'll need to do a factory restore and this will mean losing all files and programs on the computer. Typically the software needed to do this is stored on a separate partition on the HDD, so hopefully you didn't delete that when you installed XP over 7. If you did, you'll have to try and get restore media from HP.

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Answer
Or If You Wiped the Entire Drive to Install XP....
by Forum moderator Jul 27, 2013 3:41AM PDT

Per Jimmy's post, many computers required a complete wipe of the drive to downgrade install XP.. If that's the case, the hidden recovery partition will no longer be there and you'll need to use Recovery Discs (think DVD's) that you received from the manufacturer or you created prior to the wipe. If you don't have those Recovery Discs, you'll need to contact the computer manufacturer and obtain the discs from them.. They aren't extremely expensive but will cost you something.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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