Revert to factory condition after installation of WIN 10

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  1. Posts : 51
    Win 7
       #11

    Are you using a Wireless keyboard? If you are try connecting a USB keyboard and try again. Don't just hold down the F2 function key. Press/Tap and Release multiple times as soon as you press the power button.

    I believe that is the same way you get to the UEFI/BIOS settings for that system. I didn't read the whole manual but on Dell computers F2 brings up a One Time Boot Menu screen and the F12 key brings up a screen when you can enter the BIOS/EFI or do other things.

    Also how are your Function keys assigned? You might also have to hold down the FN key and press/Tap the F2 key. But I'd connect a Wired keyboard first. The Wireless key might not get activated until after the Basic Input Output System (BIOS) finishes checking all the hardware connected to the system.
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  2. Posts : 46
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #12

    edwar said:
    Are you using a Wireless keyboard? If you are try connecting a USB keyboard and try again. Don't just hold down the F2 function key. Press/Tap and Release multiple times as soon as you press the power button.

    I believe that is the same way you get to the UEFI/BIOS settings for that system. I didn't read the whole manual but on Dell computers F2 brings up a One Time Boot Menu screen and the F12 key brings up a screen when you can enter the BIOS/EFI or do other things.

    Also how are your Function keys assigned? You might also have to hold down the FN key and press/Tap the F2 key. But I'd connect a Wired keyboard first. The Wireless key might not get activated until after the Basic Input Output System (BIOS) finishes checking all the hardware connected to the system.
    Thank you - It is a wired keyboard and the applicable F keys work to get into BIOS or Boot but not F2 to get into any recovery environment. The BIOS does not contain any option to then subsequently get into any recovery environment. I am beginning to think that installing WIN 10 may have deleted the functionality of accessing the original recovery partition so looking for a work around to access and use it some other way provided it still contains all the relevant data / instructions.

    I do tap the F2 key multiple times during the boot but it has no effect and goes straight and very quickly into WIN10.
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  3. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #13

    AjayK47 said:
    Thank you - It is a wired keyboard and the applicable F keys work to get into BIOS or Boot but not F2 to get into any recovery environment. The BIOS does not contain any option to then subsequently get into any recovery environment. I am beginning to think that installing WIN 10 may have deleted the functionality of accessing the original recovery partition so looking for a work around to access and use it some other way provided it still contains all the relevant data / instructions.

    I do tap the F2 key multiple times during the boot but it has no effect and goes straight and very quickly into WIN10.
    Try turning off fastboot.
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  4. Posts : 46
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #14

    cereberus said:
    Try turning off fastboot.
    No luck I'm afraid.

    Thinking of purchasing Recovery Media for the original OS (WIN 7 Home Premium) from Lenovo.

    Am I likely to have any problems installing this considering the machine has had WIN 10 on?

    Would the original Product Key on the COA still work?
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  5. Posts : 51
    Win 7
       #15

    You'll need to wipe the drive before or during the installation of Win 7.

    If you get the OEM Recovery media from Lenovo you shouldn't even need the key code on the license sticker. 99% of all major manufacturers use a version of Windows that look for their model computers and are Pre activated.
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  6. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #16

    AjayK47 said:
    No luck I'm afraid.

    Thinking of purchasing Recovery Media for the original OS (WIN 7 Home Premium) from Lenovo.

    Am I likely to have any problems installing this considering the machine has had WIN 10 on?

    Would the original Product Key on the COA still work?
    You do not need to buy a recovery cd.

    You have the COA key, and I gave a link to download an iso earlier. You just extract iso contents to a usb stick using rufus, boot from usb stick, and reinstall it.

    You do not say why you are returning. We may be able to help getting Windows 10 working ok if issues.
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  7. Posts : 46
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #17

    cereberus said:
    You do not need to buy a recovery cd.

    You have the COA key, and I gave a link to download an iso earlier. You just extract iso contents to a usb stick using rufus, boot from usb stick, and reinstall it.

    You do not say why you are returning. We may be able to help getting Windows 10 working ok if issues.
    Just a very brief history of what has happened:
    This is a friends PC and I was trying to help out.
    It had been running WIN 7 but the OS had somehow got corrupted (not sure of exact details)
    Instead of doing a factory reset the owner attempted an upgrade to WIN 10
    The upgrade failed and would not boot
    This was when I attempted to help without much success.
    Tried all of the normal routes to revert to WIN 7 without success
    In the hope that the owners upgrade attempt to WIN 10 had registered WIN 10 successfully (even though not working) I attempted a clean install of the relevant WIN 10.
    WIN 10 now running perfectly but of course not registered so only have limited days trial before needing to purchase a license.
    I was hoping to thus be able to use the factory recovery partition to get back to WIN 7 but as per previous history in this thread have been unsuccessful.
    The cheapest way to now get WIN 10 seems to be to buy a recover CD at GBP18.20 and then upgrade to WIN 10

    Regarding the links you gave to download WIN 7 I was unsure of how exactly to use them or if they would be downloads with lots of unwanted free software packaged in with them that would then be difficult to remove from the PC as I assume these are not actually downloads from MS.

    What is rufus and how exactly do I use the download. Sorry but not totally familiar with this.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #18

    AjayK47 said:
    Just a very brief history of what has happened:
    This is a friends PC and I was trying to help out.
    It had been running WIN 7 but the OS had somehow got corrupted (not sure of exact details)
    Instead of doing a factory reset the owner attempted an upgrade to WIN 10
    The upgrade failed and would not boot
    This was when I attempted to help without much success.
    Tried all of the normal routes to revert to WIN 7 without success
    In the hope that the owners upgrade attempt to WIN 10 had registered WIN 10 successfully (even though not working) I attempted a clean install of the relevant WIN 10.
    WIN 10 now running perfectly but of course not registered so only have limited days trial before needing to purchase a license.
    I was hoping to thus be able to use the factory recovery partition to get back to WIN 7 but as per previous history in this thread have been unsuccessful.
    The cheapest way to now get WIN 10 seems to be to buy a recover CD at GBP18.20 and then upgrade to WIN 10

    Regarding the links you gave to download WIN 7 I was unsure of how exactly to use them or if they would be downloads with lots of unwanted free software packaged in with them that would then be difficult to remove from the PC as I assume these are not actually downloads from MS.

    What is rufus and how exactly do I use the download. Sorry but not totally familiar with this.
    Hold your horses.

    You never said you wanted to go back to Windows 10!!!

    You do not need to go back to Windows 7 to activate Windows 10.

    All you need to do to activate Windows 10, is to enter the windows 7 key in the activation menu

    settings, update and security, activation, change your product key.

    This assumes you are running new Windows 10 version 10586, not older version 10240.

    Open a command prompt, and top line will say 10240 (old) or 10586 (new).

    If it says 10240, then you will need to reinstall latest version first.

    So what version of Windows 10 do you have?
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  9. Posts : 1,579
    Windows 10 Pro
       #19

    AjayK47 said:
    ...
    What is rufus and how exactly do I use the download. Sorry but not totally familiar with this.
    Check Option 2 here: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html
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  10. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #20

    Edit: he will need to create windows 10 stick if using 10240 of course.
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