Dell XPS 13 and restore options / Win7 downgrade.

Question

Hi,

Does the XPS 13 (2014) comes with a restore option? and how to activate and install win8 again.

Second: if i have the Win8 DVD and external DVD player, is it possible to install Win8 OR Win7?

Does the XPS comes with a Win8 product key?

Thanks for the reply's :)

Balaji M Kundal · Answer

All the PCs shipped with Windows 8/8.1 comes with factory restore option. The following link will be helpful:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

If your PC is shipped with Windows 8 preinstalled, the product key is present in the BIOS. When Windows 8 installation is performed, the installer will fetch the product key from the BIOS automatically.

As with Windows 7, you can install Windows 7, but make sure Windows 7 is installed before installing Windows 8 (from lower version to higher version). If the order is changed, the higher version OS will fail to work.

Centman · Answer

Hi, Two more questions. 1) do i have to make any changes to the BIOS before do a clean install of Win7_64bit? 2) where can i find the installation sequence of the win7_64 drivers? Thanks again.

Philip_Yip · Answer

On this system you need to disable USB 3.0 functionality because Windows 7 has no native driver support for USB 3.0 and the install will halt midway. You can do this in the system BIOS see here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/ensure-you-have-the-correct-sata-configuration-in-the-bios-setup-for-your-configuration/disable-usb-3-0-functionality/

You may disable secure boot and UEFI:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20278835.aspx

However you should be able to install Windows 7 64 Bit in a UEFI environment if you use a utility like Rufus to make a bootable USB:

http://rufus.akeo.ie/

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/