Use Windows key on OEM sticker to downgrade OS

[PowerPigeon]

My cousin recently got gifted an old office machine that he wants to try to play some games on. It's about 6 years old and doesn't have dedicated graphics (yet) so it's not going to run anything wonderfully but he still wants to give it a shot. Only problem is the person who wiped it and gifted it to him installed Windows 10 and there aren't any graphics drivers available for the chipset after Windows 7.

 

My question is, can I use the product key on the sticker stuck to the case to reinstall Windows 7 using a bootable flash drive? I checked the key with the Volume Activation Management Tool and it appears to still be valid. Since the mobo hasn't been changed (as far as I can tell) will I be able to downgrade?

 

Thanks in advance!

[dalekphalm]

4 minutes ago, mistertimn said:

My cousin recently got gifted an old office machine that he wants to try to play some games on. It's about 6 years old and doesn't have dedicated graphics (yet) so it's not going to run anything wonderfully but he still wants to give it a shot. Only problem is the person who wiped it and gifted it to him installed Windows 10 and there aren't any graphics drivers available for the chipset after Windows 7.

 

My question is, can I use the product key on the sticker stuck to the case to reinstall Windows 7 using a bootable flash drive? I checked the key with the Volume Activation Management Tool and it appears to still be valid. Since the mobo hasn't been changed (as far as I can tell) will I be able to downgrade?

 

Thanks in advance!

What OS is the key printed on the case for? It should clearly say the exact version and variant of Windows (Eg: Windows 7 Professional).

 

Assuming it's a Windows 7 key, then yes, of course you can reinstall using bootable flash drive.

[swordsman247]

4 minutes ago, mistertimn said:

My cousin recently got gifted an old office machine that he wants to try to play some games on. It's about 6 years old and doesn't have dedicated graphics (yet) so it's not going to run anything wonderfully but he still wants to give it a shot. Only problem is the person who wiped it and gifted it to him installed Windows 10 and there aren't any graphics drivers available for the chipset after Windows 7.

 

My question is, can I use the product key on the sticker stuck to the case to reinstall Windows 7 using a bootable flash drive? I checked the key with the Volume Activation Management Tool and it appears to still be valid. Since the mobo hasn't been changed (as far as I can tell) will I be able to downgrade?

 

Thanks in advance!

It should work, but have you tried running the drivers in 7 compatibility mode or manually installing them in 10?

[knightslugger]

yes. The product must match, ie: Win7Pro PK = Win7Pro .iso =/= Win7Home .iso

[PowerPigeon]

Just now, swordsman247 said:

It should work, but have you tried running the drivers in 7 compatibility mode or manually installing them in 10?

Tried that and tried installing the ZIP version of the drivers through Device Manager. Also tried the generic drivers but that failed with an "unknown error."

[PowerPigeon]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

What OS is the key printed on the case for? It should clearly say the exact version and variant of Windows (Eg: Windows 7 Professional).

 

Assuming it's a Windows 7 key, then yes, of course you can reinstall using bootable flash drive.

It's a key for Win 7 Pro OA (which just means it's an OEM key I think).

[swordsman247]

Just now, mistertimn said:

Tried that and tried installing the ZIP version of the drivers through Device Manager. Also tried the generic drivers but that failed with an "unknown error."

Well personally I'd stick with 10, but you should be able to get 7 running if you have the install media for the key it came with.

[PowerPigeon]

Just now, swordsman247 said:

Well personally I'd stick with 10, but you should be able to get 7 running if you have the install media for the key it came with.

I'd prefer to stick with 10 too. I think we'll try to find a cheap dGPU online and see if we can find drivers for that. Get some better performance too hopefully (although I suppose ANY performance is better when you can't even play games).

[nsinnott]

Just now, mistertimn said:

I'd prefer to stick with 10 too. I think we'll try to find a cheap dGPU online and see if we can find drivers for that. Get some better performance too hopefully (although I suppose ANY performance is better when you can't even play games).

Why is it that you would prefer to stick to 10? Is there any particular reason?

[swordsman247]

Just now, mistertimn said:

I'd prefer to stick with 10 too. I think we'll try to find a cheap dGPU online and see if we can find drivers for that. Get some better performance too hopefully (although I suppose ANY performance is better when you can't even play games).

okay good luck, I saw some hd 4670 going for under 20usd the other day on ebay, that would get you started.

[PowerPigeon]

Just now, nsinnott said:

Why is it that you would prefer to stick to 10? Is there any particular reason?

It's the only Windows OS I have experience with besides 8/8.1 as I've only used OS X up until about 2 years ago when I built my own rig. 10 runs everything well for me on my machine, and seems to be working fine on my cousin's (besides the driver issue). Plus I prefer to keep things up to date, and who can say no to a free OS upgrade? I've been getting them for years from Apple haha.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, mistertimn said:

I'd prefer to stick with 10 too. I think we'll try to find a cheap dGPU online and see if we can find drivers for that. Get some better performance too hopefully (although I suppose ANY performance is better when you can't even play games).

If you want to stick w/ Windows 10, format the HDD and do a fresh install.

 

Prep the USB 10 Creation Tool first before formatting the computer.

 

During the install process, if it asks you for a product key, click Skip - it should activate once you have an internet connection.

 

I'd try reinstalling the GPU drivers again after that - the unknown error issue may be because of corrupted system files.

[PowerPigeon]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

If you want to stick w/ Windows 10, format the HDD and do a fresh install.

 

Prep the USB 10 Creation Tool first before formatting the computer.

 

During the install process, if it asks you for a product key, click Skip - it should activate once you have an internet connection.

 

I'd try reinstalling the GPU drivers again after that - the unknown error issue may be because of corrupted system files.

I'll add that to the list of "things to try" haha. For some reason the old owner partitioned the 1TB drive into ~200 and ~600 GB pieces so I kind of want to fix that too, a fresh install would be a good chance.

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, mistertimn said:

I'll add that to the list of "things to try" haha. For some reason the old owner partitioned the 1TB drive into ~200 and ~600 GB pieces so I kind of want to fix that too, a fresh install would be a good chance.

Yep - blow away the partitions and start with a single large partition of the whole drive.

 

Partitioning a HDD in a modern OS is simply personal preference and organizational - there's no technical or performance reason to split it anymore.

[PowerPigeon]

4 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Yep - blow away the partitions and start with a single large partition of the whole drive.

 

Partitioning a HDD in a modern OS is simply personal preference and organizational - there's no technical or performance reason to split it anymore.

Him and I will have to get together again soon, he's heading home momentarily so I won't start anything now. I'll try reinstalling 10 and if that doesn't work, look for a cheap dGPU or revert to 7. Thanks for the help!

[PowerPigeon]

Dumb Internet keeps double posting...

[dalekphalm]

Just now, mistertimn said:

Him and I will have to get together again soon, he's heading home momentarily so I won't start anything now. I'll try reinstalling 10 and if that doesn't work, look for a cheap dGPU or revert to 7. Thanks for the help!

Not a problem at all. Keep us in the loop!

[demonix00]

Have you tried a google search to see if there's a third party source for drivers.

 

Or better, just go to driver scape as they're more likely to have windows 10 compatible drivers available even when the manufacturer doesn't support it on that system.