Need to downgrade 5 identical Lenovo computers from Windows 7 64-bit to 32-bit for 3 months!! Do I buy 3 DVDs, or just 1 DVD and clone 5 hard disks?
1288584
Interesting scenario. Have you contacted Lenovo to see if they can send you 32 bit disks? Licensing forbids multiple installations from one license. Some of the Windows 7 came with virtual XP (32bit), could you app run on that?
1823572
Actually, the description is slightly off. Here is the set up this computer comes with: Windows 7 Pro 64-bit preloaded - use it as long as you want to. It's preloaded there by Lenovo through the Microsoft Downgrade Rights Licensing program. The computer has Windows 8 sticker, as well as Windows 8 product key encrypted into BIOS. In the box, you will find Windows 8 Pro recovery disks, in case if you ever decide to install that. You don't need to pay for anything. Basically, both Windows 7 and Windows 8 are included. You can use any of them without paying anything extra.
1806045
From what i have found it is not possible to downgrade to Windows 7 pro unless you have Windows 8 pro. You can however put windows 7 on this computer but you could void your warranty in the process depending on Lenovo and you will have to format the disk which will cause you to loose your recovery partition. So if your absolutely positive you do not want Windows 8 you can do this. I recommend installing all windows 8 updates first, after that you can go into your Intel program and update your drivers from there. Lastly update your NVIDIA driver via the website which can detect what you have. I have not had any problems since doing it this order. I do not have Windows 8.1. From what i have found it is not possible to downgrade to Windows 7 pro unless you have Windows 8 pro. You can however put windows 7 on this computer but you could void your warranty in the process depending on Lenovo and you will have to format the disk which will cause you to loose your recovery partition. So if your absolutely positive you do not want Windows 8 you can do this. I recommend installing all windows 8 updates first, after that you can go into your Intel program and update your drivers from there. Lastly update your NVIDIA driver via the website which can detect what you... » Read More From what i have found it is not possible to downgrade to Windows 7 pro unless you have Windows 8 pro. You can however put windows 7 on this computer but you could void your warranty in the process depending on Lenovo and you will have to format the disk which will cause you to loose your recovery partition. So if your absolutely positive you do not want Windows 8 you can do this. I recommend installing all windows 8 updates first, after that you can go into your Intel program and update your drivers from there. Lastly update your NVIDIA driver via the website which can detect what you have. I have not had any problems since doing it this order. I do not have Windows 8.1. « Show Less
1177937
It is called a downgrade license. When the time comes and you want to install Windows 8, you don't have to purchase it as you already own it. If you want Windows 7 recovery disks, you will need to make them using Lenovo's software for creating them.
719581
Check with Lenovo sales. However, I would not hesitate to get it with windows 8. While I use and plan to stay with windows 7. I have been running windows 8 in a virtual machine on the Y580 windows 7 machine. While I am not messing around with an upgrade, if you get windows 8, get one of the following utilities to return the start menu. --classic shell, free, http://www.classicshell.net/ I tried this and it works great.--Start8, 30 day free trial, then only $5, http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/Both Classic shell and Start8 have received good reviews with Start8 getting the best reviews. As mention, I tried classic shell in my virtual windows 8 machine, have not tried start8 Check with Lenovo sales. However, I would not hesitate to get it with windows 8. While I use and plan to stay with windows 7. I have been running windows 8 in a virtual machine on the Y580 windows 7 machine. While I am not messing around with an upgrade, if you get windows 8, get one of the following utilities to return the start menu. --classic shell, free, http://www.classicshell.net/ I tried this and it works great.--Start8, 30 day free trial, then only $5, http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/Both Classic shell and Start8 have received good reviews with Start8... » Read More Check with Lenovo sales. However, I would not hesitate to get it with windows 8. While I use and plan to stay with windows 7. I have been running windows 8 in a virtual machine on the Y580 windows 7 machine. While I am not messing around with an upgrade, if you get windows 8, get one of the following utilities to return the start menu. --classic shell, free, http://www.classicshell.net/ I tried this and it works great.--Start8, 30 day free trial, then only $5, http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/Both Classic shell and Start8 have received good reviews with Start8 getting the best reviews. As mention, I tried classic shell in my virtual windows 8 machine, have not tried start8 « Show Less
556788
Yes. I found out just the other day. You need to format the Target Drive before duplication. I did mine, took forever but, No Errors !
1182757
if it is possible to upgrade. There is a video on YouTube showing how to open the laptop and do the replacement. there is also a guide that describes the procedure on page Lenovo Support.
613954
Thank you Kenneth.....if I bought a new laptop with Windows 7 and 64 bit OS, would the programs in my current 32 bit Vista machine work--or other 32 bit programs?
1233654
All of the disk drives are combined into one logical drive. This means that you would loose the data on your existing drives.As a side note, this unit is very fast. I have had mine about a year with no problems (Windows 7 x64).
1335204
I would not recommend doing that. Having owned two of these I can say that these "wanky" units do not respond well to any modifications. All the software is embedded in the unit/on a chip. Stick with Lenovo/Iomega's specs for the hard drives with regards to disk size and rpm. That is what I would do based on my experience.
736708
Yes, way too long for DVD-burning! I was surprised they only included the ultilities & driver DVD and we had to burn the rest. I'd have preferred a straight-forward Win 7 64-bit Premium DVD over creating 4 restore DVD's I'll never use (and if I did, it wipes the partition and sets it up to factory settings.)
594623
As long as you have a clean Win 7 copy, sure. Can you downgrade win 8 that's on it to win 7? No. They push out new systems with the new operating system to further that gen of software
1285458
Yes, this computer comes with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit preinstalled by Lenovo. It's also licensed for Windows 8 Pro and comes with Windows 8 Pro recovery disks for future upgrade.
9722
You'll need to buy Windows 8 professional if you want to have a downgrade license, you /cannot/ downgrade this out of the box. You can buy this with Windows 7, but not from this vendor, check in the 'x new and used from x dollars' section, look through the details. You'd also need to buy or have a copy of Windows 7. The windows 8 pro upgrade is $25 through Amazon. I'm not a Windows 8 afficionado, as a matter of fact I almost didn't get this computer even though it was on sale for only $700, simply because it had Windows 8. However, after using it, and changing it to boot to desktop instead of the 'Metro' menu, I have to say I almost prefer it to Windows 7, because of the improved explorer (pause file transfers, individual file comparison with all meta data, etc.) and task manager (... no words really, it's just much better in every way) plus the fact that this is the first and only version of Windows I've been able to run all my software on (Roller coaster Tycoon, Crysis 2 and [prototype], and huge amounts of benchmarking, video editing, and virtual machine software). I have never had all that software successfully running on the same box, even with VMs and compatibility fixes. So try it, and if you don't like it, downgrade.
254567
What is says in the title is normally what it comes with. They do a downgrade on a windows 8 machine. If it comes with Windows 7 they normally send you both recovery disks in case you change your mind.
1174316
Ron ... I did not attempt to downgrade. I am still getting used to Windows 8, which for how I use this machine is overkill. But I am banging my head on the counter less these days. The PC itself is great. I had a Terabyte of SSD installed and 9 months later I am still experiencing 7-9 second boot up time.
1619510
HiReally depends on the age of your machine. This version is for system builders, meaning you'd have to wipe windows xp and install win7 fresh. This won't upgrade an existing windows installation.If your machine is older than 4 years, I'd suggest a new machine.The install took 15gb of my hard disk