Will I have issues loading Win 7 onto new PC with Win 10?

...that new hardware, specifically, processors will not support old Windows versions. ...Not without the work-around that I described in the beginning. ...And that only works with SOME processors. This is because MS has gotten together with chip makers to put a stop to them supporting anything but Win 10. That is explained in the articles below:

https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/16/10780876/microsoft-windows-support-policy-new-processors-skylake

AND

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-7-wont-work-intels-current-next-gen-cpus/

What those articles talk about _IS_ the problem.

Now, AMD has ever so quietly stuck their middle fingers up at MS and, at least, their Ryzen processors (at THIS time) will support Win 7 or 8/8.1 but only by using the work-around that I had to use to install Win 7 on a new computer that I just built this past January (201 that has a 3.20 gigahertz AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core processor mounted on a Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. AB350-Gaming motherboard.

In this work-around, not only does one need to be able to use a PS/2 connected keyboard and mouse to be able to install an OS older than Win 10, but the correct drivers for that older OS are necessary for the chip to read the USB ports, as well. Unless that driver is installed, the chip simply will NOT recognize ANY of the USB ports at all.

MS has designed this because they think that there are no more PS/2 keyboards and mice around because MOST, but NOT all, of the new hardware on the market today doesn't have PS/2 ports. MS has stated that they are not going to keep even Win 10 around indefinitely because they are planning on leaving the Personal Computing business. They don't care what they break in the process or that they'll be leaving all of their customers stranded with nowhere to go but Apple/Mac and/or Linux.

Anyway, I learned of the work-around to get Win 7 working on the new processors that still "support" it by doing a LOT of research before even starting to put the computer together due to the negativity that I've seen about the subject here in Cnet and other tech mags that I'm subscribed to. I tried it and it worked...on THIS system at this time. Who knows how long this work-around will actually be able to work once the word is spread far and wide as general knowledge?

But, that is the way it is....for NOW because of MS and their underhanded tactics in an attempt to force people to "upgrade" to Winblowz 10 against their will.

AMD Ryzen is a processor and graphics combination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbridge_(computing)
https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/soutbrid.htm
https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/i/iha.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS#Boot_environment

"The motherboard BIOS typically contains code to access hardware components necessary for bootstrapping the system, such as the keyboard, display, and storage....

The BIOS provides a small library of basic input/output functions to operate peripherals (such as the keyboard, rudimentary text and graphics display functions and so forth). When using MS-DOS, BIOS services could be accessed by an application program (or by MS-DOS) by executing an INT 13h interrupt instruction to access disk functions, or by executing one of a number of other documented BIOS interrupt calls to access video display, keyboard, cassette, and other device functions.....Most modern PCs can still boot and run legacy operating systems such as MS-DOS or DR-DOS that rely heavily on BIOS for their console and disk I/O, providing that the system has a BIOS or BIOS-compatible firmware, which is not necessarily the case with UEFI-based PCs..... EFI booting has been supported in only Microsoft Windows versions supporting GPT,[40] the Linux kernel 2.6.1 and later, and macOS on Intel-based Macs.[41] As of 2014, new PC hardware predominantly ships with UEFI firmware. The architecture of the rootkit safeguard can also prevent the system from running the user's own software changes, which makes UEFI controversial as a BIOS replacement in the open hardware community."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86
"On some machines with the newer UEFI instead of BIOS, the MemTest86 website warns that PS/2 keyboard input is no longer emulated, which can cause the keyboard to be completely or intermittently unresponsive."


Yes, the BIOS
"Some computers, particularly older ones, may not have a BIOS that supports USB booting. Many which do support USB booting may still be unable to boot the device in question. In these cases a computer can often be "redirected" to boot from a USB device through use of an initial bootable CD or floppy disk."

It all depends on the BIOS, and the motherboard controller chips. The AMD Ryzen has nothing really to do with it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Human_interface_devices


"USB mice and keyboards can usually be used with older computers that have PS/2 connectors with the aid of a small USB-to-PS/2 adapter. For mice and keyboards with dual-protocol support, an adaptor that contains no logic circuitry may be used: the hardware in the USB keyboard or mouse is designed to detect whether it is connected to a USB or PS/2 port, and communicate using the appropriate protocol. Converters also exist that connect PS/2 keyboards and mice (usually one of each) to a USB port.[42] These devices present two HID endpoints to the system and use a microcontroller to perform bidirectional data translation between the two standards."

However, just how recent is that information. Has it been updated within the last 3 - 6 months? That would be interesting to know. But, really, Wikipedia? Seriously? they aren't exactly know for spot on precise and accurate reporting at times. We all know that. ...or should.

Only if you insist on always using Windows as your OS. There is Mac, there is Linux. No, Windows is not "inevitable" in all it's forms.

I do not see the phrase "dual boot" in the OP. I do see strong reservations about Win 10. Why would someone who does not want to use Win 10 want to dual boot with Win 10? I'm pretty sure the most direct interpretation is that she wants to overwrite her Win 10 installation with her older Win 7 disks.

As for PS/2, I haven't plugged a PS/2 keyboard into a computer in about a decade, yet I have successfully installed Win 7 onto several computers. So, yes, it can be installed onto modern equipment, if you can find the drivers.

The OP wants to remove Windows 10 and install Windows 7.

BobD- which generation of processors are you speaking of here? I believe that begins with the generation 8 processors (I could be wrong so someone look that up please ). Most computers on the market via NewEgg, Dell, etc. are selling generations 4 to 7 new and earlier refurbished. I am guessing if Jane goes with a 7th generation cpu she will still have the option to have a multiple boot computer.

I have an i7 7700K and according to Wikipedia that's considered generation 7. Win 7 refused to install when it saw my processor.

Mine is a fairly high end processor. I'm not sure how this translates to more budget friendly CPUs. There may be a list somewhere of the specific models Win 7 won't support.

The most important of which it that the new processors won't let Window 7 install. Only a very small handful of them have a work-around which I described elsewhere in here. That's an even bigger pain in the ...uh, neck... than waiting for updates to install!

Oh, and here's some other interesting reading: https://www.cnet.com/news/fbi-paid-geek-squad-staff-to-be-informants-documents-show/

- I just made an Internet shortcut on my Windows 10 desktop: right click>new>shortcut, type or copy/paste the url in it, give it a name and that's it. Unclear why it doesn't work with you.
- Indeed, Microsofts own Windows 7 games won't run in Windows 10. That's by design. But all other programs did with me. Unclear what programs you mean.
- Indeed, certain things are on a different location in Windows 10. But I never had something I couldn't find. Unclear what things you can't find, even with help from Google.

So it's unclear why it's a mess for you.

That is exactly where I stand with Win10.

@jasta13, are you sure you didn't mistake that for Win8? Because your description matches exactly what I went through with my students on Win8 - and for what we were trying to do there we had to have fairly deep access - install and manipulate services, deal with UAC, that sort of stuff. I have done all of that on Win10 - all fine first shot.

@kees_B, wonder what drove them to - "by design" as you say - drop the existing games, seeing that they included new games that seem to be pretty much the same as the old ones - at least the ones I tried so far.

What has irked me is that some of the older stuff won't work anymore (or maybe it does and I am just too dumb to figure it out) - but this has been post XP, mostly (not sure about Vista, never laid hands on it.) I do miss my Outlook Express - not that I didn't see room for improvement, but it was there and did it's thing for me - until I got to Win7. Likewise, my collection of Quick Basic and Quick C programs - I managed to migrate the Quick C to Borland CPP with a reasonable effort, but I haven't found a similar way out for the Basic stuff - never managed to get a simple command line Basic program to run under VB. Or anything else. But I should make that a separate discussion here. So don't respond here to this issue. This is about Win10 and Win7 - and then even not really about why it isn't a drama that you can't easily downgrade from the one to the other, which seems to be the slant most of us here are giving it.

@jane C, summarizing what I find people suggesting here, this seems to be the gist of it.

1: the downgrade probably won't be quite trivial.

2: most of us here seem to think that you should try to preserve the Win10 that came with the box, since we think you will eventually be glad that you have it.

3: Having the license key for your Win7 would make things a lot smoother - if you could look at the old computer, its hard drive or its license sticker or a photo thereof would be very helpful for that.

4: the drivers story - if you had access to what was running on the old system that would help. One can extract drivers from an installed WIndows if all else fails, but it should be easier to install what you can find on the web. Driver collections (on CD) as they are distributed with motherboards are often the easiest way, but the mobo vendors also have them on their web sites. So, have a look at what Dell put inside their computers (I have no idea, do they make their own?) - yes, check the Dell web site as well.

5: unless you really. really want a dual boot environment, my suggestion is to try all of this out on a separate, possibly a new hard drive, leaving the drive that shipped with the box and has a working Win10 on it, alone for now.

6: if all this gives you the idea that it is going to take some time - true. But some of the time would also be spent just to install all your applications to the new Windows, finding new versions or replacement software where needed. And there is a learning curve involved, regardless of which way you go. So, before you make the call, give it some thought, also bearing in mind that in teh mid term you will quite likely be doing both - the Win7 install now and the Win10 configuration in a few years' time when it turns out to be unavoidable after all. (I might do the WIn7 install just to see if it can be done and then go use Win10 after all. Okay, I have to admit that I am running more than one computer, so I won't be stuck with just one and not the other, having the best and worst of both worlds. And from time to time I have to do a few things in a Ubuntu VM, too, and that is also not as strange as some make you believe.

Microsoft wants to make everyone use their Xbox garbage. Some of us don't like being harassed to do the other junk. For example, I could not play solitaire without being harassed to do the "social" stuff. It's solitaire, for crying out loud! There is nothing social about it. My solution was to stop playing solitaire. I could also find a third party version. I chose to just stop.

I had also installed the Win 7 games, but Microsoft made it so that the program will no longer install. I'm sure that was also by design. I don't care about their social portions of the games. I don't enjoy seeing ads and I definitely don't appreciate Microsoft trying to take over my relaxation time. They are way out of line.

I have installed Win 7 Games on many W10's, have never not seen it install. But did have one case where an update removed it, ***? Who the hell does MS think they are to arbitrarily remove programs in the name of an update. And it WAS NOT a System Reset, all the other programs I had installed were still there, like Office 2007

Once Microsoft removed it, I could not get it to install again.

I finished cleaning up the other "junk" then just ran the installer and it worked.

Once I have put a shortcut on my desktop for whichever browser, sat IE. I copy and then paste that shortcut. Then I rename it to the website I want, say CHASE. Then I edit the properties and after the C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe I ADD a space and then www.chase.com. Next I CHANGE ICON of this to what I want, (Chase logo, dollar sign, etc.). Then I set START AS to MAXIMUM. Viola! All Set.

All that said, I still don't like Win 10.

as much as I cannot stand the constant updates that are NOT just to keep the OS safe and secure as the BS Artists at MS claimed before 10 came out. Far too many of the updates change things unnecessarily. Like recent change to the way the Default Programs selections work. And a Great Many Other stupid changes that are more about programmers running wild vs. actual security needs.