Hi,

Welcome to the Community. The Windows 8 key is injected on the Motherboard so the downgrade may not work. Which version of Windows 8 are you using? If you have a Windows 8 Pro you can downgrade to Windows 7 Pro, but you will need to reinstall windows using the Windows 7 Disc. Backup your data before you do this step. Use the below link for help.

support.dell.com/.../document

Thank you.

The system has Windows 7 Home Basic OS. Can he go in for dual booting so that he need not touch the original OS.?

Thanks.

Hi,

I dont know if you will be able to do it. As the Windows 8 product key is registered on to the motherboard. So Installing Windows 7 may come back with an error saying invalid Product key. We do not recommend Dual Boot as well.

Thank you.

Only Windows 8 Pro carries rights to switch to Windows 7 -- the standard Windows 8 does not.  You CAN still run Windows 7 but will need to purchase a copy of it.

There's no way to install 7 in a dual boot mode using the standard Windows 8 disc layout schema shipped by Dell.  You CAN run it but need to start over from a blank disc to do it.

Thanks for all your replies. As EJN63 mentioned, if I format all partitions ( except MSR & OEM partitions), merge, format and then install Windows 7 on the created partition will it work? by the way I have purchased an original Windows 7 64bit DVD. Another question is that if It does not work and I need to revert back to Windows 8 will I be able to do so using a restore USB Key which I have made and will the key be automatically installed?

Thanks.

 sonny.

As near as i can tell - no, it won't.  The trip to Windows 7 is a one-way trip.  If you want to keep the system the way it shipped, install a new hard drive and put the original one aside for safekeeping.

Correction to this - it does appear that when you boot a Dell recovery flash drive, it WILL reset the system to as-shipped.  I'm testing it now and it appears to be working.  This system had 8, and I put 7 on it - will update when the process completes.

Update:  if you try the Dell WIndows 8 restore without deleting the partitions from the Windows 7 drive, it fails.  However, if you blank out the drive (remove all partitions), reboot the system with the Dell recovery USB flash drive, and then do the restore, you can revert to Windows 8.

Thanks EJN63. You clarified most of my doubts. I bought a new15R  Inspiron 5521 and don't like Windows 8. Also, the WiDi onboard is not compatibile with my TV etc and am thinking to install Windows 7 on the laptop. 

So, just to confirm - 

(1) The laptop comes with standard Windows 8, so I do not have downgrade rights. But, I have a Windows 7 Professional DVD and I can use this to clean up the partitions, merge and format the hard drive and install Windows 7? Correct? Do you know if I can delete and merge all partitions or should I leave the default system (or backup partition) as is for going back to Windows 8?

(2) I haven't yet created a start-up disk for Windows 8. Will do that, because if I start from a clean slate approach (like you indicated in your post above - deleting all partitions and merging), I will be able to go back to Windows 8. Correct?

(3) Do you know if features such as WiDi will be compatible on the newly installed Windows 7?

Thanks for your time...

UEFI 3.0 based systems will ONLY BOOT 64 bit windows 8.

The UEFI 3.0 spec does not have a Legacy mode.

Disable secure boot and use Legacy mode if possible.  If its not there you have an EFI 3.0 system.

EFI partitions are not needed for drives LESS THAN or equal to 2.1 TB.

SECURE BOOT is not needed or required to run WINDOWS 7.

Thanks for your reply. I have couple more follow up questions (sorry!). I am not an advanced user. I have formatted my laptop couple of times using disks, created partitions at time of installing (blue screen) etc, but, I am NOT familiar with UEFI mode etc.

So, my questions -

1. What do you mean by legacy mode? All that I know is press and hold down F10 (or some other combination) and choose to boot via DVD. Is that legacy mode? Or are you guys referring to some changes that should be made to BIOS?

2. What is UEFI mode? If I decide to come back to Win 8 (not within the next year :)), how can I boot the laptop in UEFI mode?

Thanks again ...

1.  You must delete all the partitions on the disc to install Windows 7 - and as above, boot in legacy mode.

2.  Make sure you make a COMPLETE SET of recovery discs (or use a flash drive, which is how I did it).  Yes, the flash drive recovery WILL restore the partitioning scheme (and Windows 8) - but you have to go into Windows 7 and wipe the disc clean again, and then boot in UEFI mode to the flash drive (or presumably the DVDs, though I did not try that method).

3.  There is a full set of 7 drivers for the system so everything will work.

When you boot the system, press F12. You'll see the "legacy boot" and UEFI boot.   The Windows 7 DVD will only boot in legacy mode -- and the restore flash drive requires UEFI mode.

Please have a look at Windows Reinstallation Guide and Related Wikies/A Clean install of Windows 7:

http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/

This will guide you through the BIOS changes necessary for Windows 7 installation and will also guide you through the installation process.

Before attempting to install Windows 7 64 bit it is recommended that you clone your Windows 8 installation with Acronis onto an external hard drive (preferably a WD one) this is explained in section 3 of the guide. Also it may be a good idea to create the Dell DataSafe recovery media (section 10 of the guide). These will allow you to return to Windows 8 and the factory settings should you want to. I would also recommend contacting Dell for a Windows 8 Reinstallation DVD but this really seems to have mixed results at the moment as explained in my reinstallation guide.

Dual boot will be difficult to achieve with only factory media at your disposal, a reinstallation DVD is in general required for custom partitions. However it is possible to use a utility such as EaseUS Partitiion manager to shrink your Windows 8 partition and this will free up some space for installation of Windows 7. Again a dual boot is not recommended as it can run into some difficulties and in my opinion Windows 7 is way more functional than Windows 8 so there is no need for Windows 8 if you ahve Windows 7. You can however attempt to set one up if you wish (I have a dual boot on my prmary desktop for instance but both OS were clean installed).

Thanks ejn63 and others for your advice. I successfully installed Windows 7 on my machine. I backed up the data, created restore USB and went ahead with the installation. No issues whatsoever .. followed the F12 path. All is good. I don't anticipate moving to Windows 8 anytime soon. Thanks again.