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Remove Windows 7???

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12 replies

by avonrep4u

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I was given a new to me pc with a Windows 7 30 day trial installed. The 30 days is just about up and I don't want to buy it. I want to install the XP I already own on the pc. When I boot the pc with the XP disk in I am getting the following message:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you are seeing this message etc etc etc

Check for viruses. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check you hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated.

Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption and the restart

***STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF78D2524, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

Results of doing the above: No viruses found. CHKDSK /F found no problems. Not sure how to check if it's properly configured, but I'm guessing Windows 7 wouldn't run if it wasn't... The hard drive is new to this pc, but all has been running fine with Windows 7 so do I really need to remove the hard drive and controllers?

How can I get this OS off???

12 replies

by nexs

Selecting to boot off the optical drive?

Have you tried to use a different CD drive?

by nexs

So, did you 'press any key to boot from CD'?

Can you try and get another CD drive, connect it to your problematic computer and 'boot from CD' with it?

This will indicate the scope of the problem, and help to find where to look next.

by ic-it

Whomever gave you that computer did not have a legitimate copy of Windows 7.
Try chkdsk /R
when it finds errors run it again.
It could also be a reset to default Setup parameters i.e. enter BIOS and change the drive type from native to SATA or vice versa.

by oh smeg

There is no M$ product that exists like that.

W7 has a 90 Day Trial but a Legit Install of 7 has a 30 Day period before Activation is required. You need to activate Windows 7 to use it longer than the 30 Day Limit but generally speaking most people Activate it along with any M$ Office Product when they first start the computer.

However if you must remove Windows 7 and you do not want to use it at all you need to use a Wiping Utility like Boot & Nuke or Kill Disc both are free and available from these Web Sites

http://www.dban.org/download

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

[b]Caution[/b] the use of either of the above programs will delete the entire HDD and this includes any Recovery partitions that may be involved.

Without Wiping the system you can not install an older version of Windows to a HDD that has been formatted with a newer version of Windows. This started with the release of Windows Vista and continues with 7. ;)

Col

by christianl2010

Just like there comes a time when its time to move into a bigger house or buy a bigger car or truck for the growing family, it may be time to upgrade to a better OS. Microsoft is even about to stop supporting XP with updates, so eventually XP will be shut down for lack of patch updates and security fixes. Its even been leaked that Microsoft is releasing Windows 8 sometime in a couple years. until then we have what we have. Win7 is a great OS and if you go Win7 Ultimate, you get even better user features and security. HOWEVER if your just bent on using XP, a full wipe and install should do the trick. Doing a full wipe and then stepping backward and installing XP may be an issue, if the computer recognizes you have a more current version. If all else fails though, New hard drives are 50 bucks these days and come pre-formatted.

by who am i really

people would be mighty choked if they bought a new drive installed it in their windows box
and it had the Mac HFS+ file system on it,
or installed it in their Mac and it had an EXT3 file system,
or installed it in their RedHat Server and it had an NTFS volume
etc.
an internal drive is always shipped blank with no MBR, no partition(s), etc.

[win7 rant]
I've had the occasion to screw around with win7 recently and I hate it
it's junk
I the user have no control over the system anymore
even the way I store "MY Files!" is dictated to me
and to me that's useless
even the Media player is a hunk of junk

MP10 was MS's last good MP
and MP11 was trash and so is whatever version number shipped with win7
don't know, there's no
Help > About

win7 may be fine for those who just surf and do email and don't use the system for anything else
or are just happy with the "come and get me" default settings which are now nearly impossible to change

in IE8, the setting for
"Do Not Search From The Address Bar"
[b]isn't there anymore[/b]

. . . . . . . !!!!!
[/win7 rant]

Now to answer the question,

Required Steps:

1> - go to the manufacturers web site and check for XP drivers support
a - if drivers are available download them all and put them on a USB stick
b - if no driver support you're hooped and are stuck with win7 (if no drivers: goto end)

2> - use DBAN or the HDD Mfg. tools to erase the Drive
a - enter BIOS and change the SATA controller From AHCI to some form of IDE / Legacy etc. mode
b - boot the DBAN CD or floppy and erase the drive

3> - verify service pack level of XP CD and pop the XP CD into the drive to begin installation
a- don't activate
- you have 30 days to activate the reason for this is, if you screw up while setting up the system configuration or get a bad driver installation etc.
you can erase the drive again and re-install without triggering the MS anti-pirate server and saving you hours on the phone to MS

4> - install necessary Service Packs if your XP CD isn't SP3,
a- if your XP CD is a no service packs CD, you have a long road to get to SP3 before you can get any updates
as you'll need to find and install both SP1 and SP2 before you can install SP3

5> - install hardware drivers for:
- MB chipset, LAN, sound, etc.

6> - set automatic updates to:
"Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them"
you should get around 80 or so post SP3 updates
a> - install them one at a time if you don't want to have to be starting from scratch again

:end

by nexs

Sure, but it's still a helluva lot better than MacOS!
;)

by oh smeg

The nicest thing I can say about it is that all of it's early adopters are paying M$ Beta Testers.

I still don't think it's ready for Prime Time yet but Home Users will probably be happy with it and the inability to alter much at all.

Also recently something I found Interesting about 7. If you use GParted or Parted Magic to Format the Windows 7 Partition you can install XP to it without needing the Wipe the HDD. Great if you have a Recovery Partition on the HDD as you get to keep the Recovery partition and can load 7 if ever necessary.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

http://partedmagic.com/download.html

Col

by who am i really

if you know your way around Unix

you can still "Root" a Mac

and if you're good enough at it
you don't have to wait for the warranty to expire
_ _ _ _

you can't really do squat with windows anymore

I can at least when I setup XP, strip the configurations so much that a fully booted system is 20 - 26 processes depending on the hardware
the general average around here is 22 processes
though I do have one machine that boots to 18 processes

even with XP Homeless, I can kill the garbage

here's just one of the .reg files I use to kill a whole lot of junk instantly

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveAutoRun"=hex:ff,ff,ff,03
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000ff
"NoDesktopCleanupWizard"=dword:00000001
"NoRecentDocsMenu"=dword:00000001
"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000001
"NoInstrumentation"=dword:00000001
"NoThumbnailCache"=dword:00000001
"NoFind"=dword:00000001
"Intellimenus"=dword:00000001
"NoSMMyPictures"=dword:00000001
"NoStartMenuMyMusic"=dword:00000001
"MemCheckBoxInRunDlg"=dword:00000001
"NoAutoTrayNotify"=dword:00000001
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=dword:00000001
"NoRecentDocsNetHood"=dword:00000001
"MaxRecentDocs"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetIcon"=dword:00000001
"NoPublishingWizard"=dword:00000001
"NoOnlinePrintsWizard"=dword:00000001
"NoWebServices"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001
"NoFavoritesMenu"=dword:00000001
"NoStartMenuSubFolders"=dword:00000001
"NoSMMyDocs"=dword:00000001
"NoSMHelp"=dword:00000001
"NoSimpleStartMenu"=dword:00000001
"NoShellSearchButton"=dword:00000001
"NoRecycleFiles"=dword:00000001
"RecycleBinSize"=dword:00000000
"NoSharedDocuments"=hex:01,00,00,00

drop that "configuration bomb" on your win7 system and see if it freaks out

do I need to say it?

I will anyway:

*I am not responsible if you hose your system with any reg entries provided here!*

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