Sign in
 
HomeWindows 8Windows 7Windows VistaWindows XPMDOPWindows IntuneLibraryForums
Windows Client >
> 
> 
Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7 - GPT partition question

Answered Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7 - GPT partition question

  • Wednesday, November 21, 2012 4:41 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I have a new Samsung laptop with Windows 8 on it. Want to downgrade to 7. I own a family license for 3 PC's for Windows 7 so I have a valid Windows 7 license and DVD. 

    To get the laptop to boot from the DVD, I had to change the BIOS and turn off the "Secure Boot" feature. The BIOS information also said I had to change OS Mode Selection from UEFI to CSM OS (I don't know what this is).

    Anyway, the three options for OS MOde Selection are "UEFI", "UEFI and CSM OS" and "CSM OS." If I change the setting to CSM OS, the Windows 7 Installation starts up and when I select the partition to install Windows on, the message I get is "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style. This confuses me as I thought Windows 7 could be installed on a GPT style disk. 

    If I change the BIOS to be "UEFI and CSM OS", I get to the step to select the partition and the message I get is "The partitions on the disk selected for installation are not in the recommended order. Do you want to proceed with installation?" 

    I'm not sure if I should proceed. 

    Can someone clue me in on what to do next? 

     

All Replies

  • Wednesday, November 21, 2012 8:25 PM
     
     Answered
    Sign In to Vote
    1
    Took care of it myself. I deleted all the partitions that were on the drive and proceeded with Windows 7 install. It worked!
    • Marked As Answer by lrthames Wednesday, November 21, 2012 8:25 PM
    •  
     
  • Thursday, November 22, 2012 5:52 AM
    Moderator
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Hi,


    Thanks for sharing. We really appreciate your time and efforts. Hope your experience will help other community members facing similar problems.


    Regards,

    Vincent Wang
    TechNet Community Support

     
  • Saturday, March 02, 2013 5:02 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    +1.  I just had this exact scenario - and your solution worked perfectly. Thank you.
     
  • Sunday, April 28, 2013 6:00 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    I have a Samsung laptop as well with Windows 8 that I needed to install 7 on instead. By switching the bios boot mode to UEFI only I was able to install my 64 bit windows 7 on the hard drive without having to delete all partitions. This allowed for keeping the windows 8 recovery from the factory if I ever decide to go back to windows 8.
     
  • Tuesday, May 21, 2013 11:24 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    I am in the exact same boat now, how do I go about deleting the partitions? Your help would be great.
     
  • Wednesday, May 22, 2013 1:04 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    You can delete the partitions during the Windows 7 setup. Boot from the Windows 7 DVD and when the hard drive partitions are listed, delete them one by one. Or you can do as SnarkyShark did. 

    I had to change the boot mode in the BIOS to UEFI just to get the laptop to boot from the Windows 7 CD.