I want to downgrade to WINDOWS 7 PRO, please.

That's not the product key (I found what you described). It's probably different for Windows 8 then. -_-''

This is so frustrating. My family has been a long-time loyal customer of Dell since 1995 and the three times we've needed help from them it's near impossible. I don't get what it is with customer service being so hard. ;___;

You can request the discs for free here:

support.dell.com/.../backupcd_form

I ran Belarc Advisor (thanks for the tip!) and it does give me the product key, but not for the disc they sent me apparently... =/

I tried that Dell order form the moment I got the new machine and could retrieve the Service tag that is required on that order form.

I got an email from US_REL_Media stating that because I had specifically ordered a computer with no reinstallation disks (I was given no choice when I ordered to get the disks with the order) I would have to pay for them and I was given an email address or sales number to call. When I sent another email, I was told that NO disks are provided anymore even if you are willing to pay for them.

Philip then contacted Lorna (Dell customer service) and she sent me USB sticks that I can't figure out how to use. She said that Dell doesn't send DVD reinstallation disks any longer...yet you guys are getting them. She said I can return the machine since Dell has no reinstallation disks to send.  She has not replied to my last email of several days ago.

This is just horrible customer service.

See what I mean? It's hard, confusing and difficult to follow.

Dell customer service should be easier. =/

To my amazement, earlier today I finally got a Dell Hardware Premium Warranty tech for XPS 8500 to explain how I use the USB Key dell sent to downgrade to Windows 7 Pro. At first, he tried to tell me that I had go to Microsoft website and purchase Windows 7 Pro. I said no, that is incorrect.  He put me on hold, came back and to my surprise said I was correct and he would help right then to downgrade using the USB Key Dell had sent me. 

I had spent over one hour in Dell's crazy maze of transfers from one department to another, on long holds for XPS support, and no one had the correct information about downgrade rights from Windows 8 Pro to Windows 7 Pro until this tech (who had it wrong also until he put me on hold and talked to his supervisor).  I was tired and did not want to downgrade right that minute so he sent an email so I can contact him in the next seven days for help downgrading). Downgrade is a bit tricky with XPS 8500 and particularly if one has the 256 GB SSD as I do.

His supervisor asked to speak with me and he assured me that, since my call at the end of November when NO ONE, including a Supervisor, could answer my questions regarding my downgrade rights from Win 8 pro to Win 7 pro, Dell is trying to fix this and have the techs give correct information that we do have downgrade rights, we do not have to go purchase Win 7 Pro from Microsoft to get a key to use, and that Dell will send either Reinstallation disks for both OSes or USB Keys and support will help us do the downgrade. 

I was also told that the Win 8 USB Key or the Reinstallation DVD will pick up the individual COA key that Dell was required by Microsoft to place in the bios so there is no worry about there being no Microsoft COA sticker on these new Windows 8 machines and no need to use Belarc Advisor to get the key.

I feel better about it. But NOTHING can compensate me for all the MANY HOURS I have spent on this issue because Dell did not properly prepare its hardware warranty support to handle the requests for DVD Reinstallation disks/USB keys, and downgrade rights from Win 8 Pro to Win 7 Pro, correctly and is only now trying to do so.  I also told the supervisor to please contact Philip Yip and give him all the information he needs so he can write a wiki on how  to do a downgrade from Win 8 Pro to Win 7 Pro on Dell machines (and address also the particular issues of the XPS 8500 when downgrading).  He said he would but ....

Thanks, glad to see you are getting somewhere at least... but it shouldn't be such a painful process.

With regards to using the installation media. You might need to perform the following alterations in the BIOS setup:

Secure Boot may need to be disabled in the BIOS setup and UEFI may need to be changed to legacy mode see my quick wikies Disable Secure Boot and Disable Secure Boot and UEFI. Also for USBs you should use 2.0 ports and not 3.0 ports, if you only have USB 3.0 ports try Disable USB 3.0 functionality to install Windows 7 from a USB Flash Drive.

You got WIndows 8 or Windows 8 Professional with your computer?

Downgrade rights only apply to Windows 8 Professional, so if you got Windows 8 you will need to buy a new license to run Windows 7.

I was contacted by a Dell rep yesterday regarding a computer I have on order. I asked about the system reinstall disk. He said they normally ship with them. I asked if it did not what to do? He said he would make it right if I did not get the disk and he would see that I got one. This would be for Win8 premium, not pro.

This is VERY important if you plan to downgrade:  Make absolutely sure your hard disk is partitioned as NTFS format, and not GPT.  If your disk is GPT the downgrade won't work unless you repartition at least a portion of your disk as NTFS.

I have done this downgrade from Windows 8 Pro x64 to Windows 7 Pro x64 for a customer using a Dell OEM disc.

There is no Windows key sticker stuck to the underside of the Dell Vostro 2520 laptop, only a Windows 8 Pro holo sticker.

Where can I find the Windows 7 Pro key to activate Windows?

Hi jacosmitza,

If you have used Dell OEM disk to downgrade from Windows 8 Pro to Windows 7 Pro using F12 menu to boot from the disk, ideally it should not ask you for a product key. Please share the procedure you followed for downgrade. Also ensure that the latest BIOS for the system is updated. You may refer to the link: http://dell.to/151JK3l.

Note: Before updating BIOS please ensure that:
*Battery is 10%> or >10% charged
*Battery charger should be connected
*No external devices (flash drives, printers, external hard drives) should be connected.
*All other programs should be closed and documents saved. 

Keep me posted with the information. I will be glad to assist further.

Can you tell me exactly what partitions need to be deleted for me to install Windows7?  I keep getting the error, can't install on a gpt disk.  I am lucky.  Dell did sent me the Windows7 Pro reinstallation media.  It only took 2 requests and was here in 1 day.  Thank you Dell.  Now if only I could get it to install.  Should I wipe the entire disk.  I hesitate to do that because at least now I can get windows 8 to install.  Thanks in advance.

Hi xFan1,

I would suggest you to do a clean install of Windows 7. You may delete all the partitions, select unallocated space and install Windows 7.

Please feel free to reply for any further questions. I will be glad to assist you.

I did this yesterday and it worked fine for me I just installed windows 7 Pro and then rang microsoft and got it activated

I followed these steps on downgrading from windows 8.1

I told microsoft what I was doing and they activated it.