Hi,

Thank you for writing to the Dell Community Forum. 

There are two ways to downgrade to Windows 7 from Windows 8:

1. If you have Windows 8 Professional you can downgrade to Windows 7 Professional, but you will need to reinstall windows using the Dell OEM Windows 7 Disc. Backup your data before you do this step. Use the below link for help:

http://dell.to/1HSc7C1 

2. You can do a clean installation of Windows 7 using the disk you have. This will not void the hardware warranty. Please refer the link below on how to manually install Windows 7 : 

http://dell.to/1cDFLSW  

Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any question

In the sense that Dell could require you to restore the 8.1 install before rendering hardware repair, it could, so be sure you make a set of recovery media BEFORE you start.

At this point, with 7 entering its twilight phase and Windows 10 due out in less than two months, it makes very little sense to spend the time installing 7.

Thanks for the reply I acutally have the dell windows 7 oem disc aswell if I install it do I need a serial key fpr it or will it detect my computer as being a dell/aleinware computer and not need to activate windows 7 ?

Just one more thing is there a software warranty for dell ?

Hi, 

Thanks for your reply. 

If you are installing the Windows 7 with Dell OEM disk, then it would not ask for the product key and will get activated automatically.

Software support is available from Dell depending on your region. Please find an overview of this from the link below:

http://dell.to/1FBbigh