How To Revert Back To Windows 7 With A Broken Start Menu
Aug 19, 2015
want to switch back to Windows 7. However, my Start menu doesn't work. This proves to be very problematic, because the Settings menu within the Start menu seems to be the only path to reverting back to Windows 7. I've tried a few times to get my start menu back in order to restore Windows 7, but nothing I've tried has worked. Here's what I've tried:
(1) Entering a special command in Windows PowerShell [URL]..... Didn't work.
(2) Creating a new account with administrator privileges. Start menu works, but I can't use it to revert to Windows 7. I'm prompted to delete all other accounts created after the upgrade before reverting back to Windows 7.
(3) Accessing the Settings menu from within the Control Panel. Settings menu doesn't seem to be accessible from the Control Panel.
Is there a way to go back to Windows 7 without using the Start menu? I would rather not have to go find my original product key for Windows 7 and reinstall it, but if that's the only way, so be it.
I have recently upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Build 10074. When I first upgraded the start menu and cortana were working fine until i turned off my pc and turned it back on. I have used the command in power shell but that didn't work.
I installed the upgrade to W10 and I think I should have waited. Things are slow to open and lockups, frozen screens and streaming problems are happening all the time. I see there is a go back to Windows 7 option and I may take it for now, and do a clean install at a later date.
I installed the Windows 10 update on the twenty-fourth of October this year. The first thing that I saw was a Rundll32 error or something. Next, OneDrive stopped working. A few days later, GTA V stopped working. Now, the Start Menu doesn't work, meaning if I click the Windows logo, it'll prompt me to sign out to "fix" the problem. So, I tried to go back to Windows 8.1 (64-bit flavor) one week after the update-a quarter of the deadline to update. Instead, apparently "the files that were needed to take you back were deleted", even though they're in plain sight according to file explorer-$SysReset, $WINDOWS.~RT, and $Windows.~WS I believe. Is there anyway that I can go back, or do I have to cough up another $90 to go back?
I have an OEM Gateway computer and I recently bought a new desktop on Black Friday. I want to revert my Gateway desktop back to Windows 7 and do a factory restart so I may sell it. However, when I try to download the iso from Microsoft, it tells me my key is an OEM one and to contact the manufacturer.
So I went to Gateways website and it says to press F8 during boot and do a bunch of stuff but pressing F8 when it says to does nothing and Windows 10 boots like normal.
My Windows 7 was updating to Windows 10. When it appeared to almost be done configuring a message appeared stating the Windows 10 could not be installed and it was restoring the previous version of Windows.
Well that did not work. The pc will not boot up now. Instead I get: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows root>system32hal.dll Please reinstall a copy of the above file"
I hope I can add the file using the win7 dvd. I know I was getting low on hard drive space, but had cleared enough to have 4 gig or so free. It was either not mentioned anywhere or I missed how much hd space would be needed. Of course I am assuming that the install bombed due to this?
So I made the mistake of upgrading my Dell Venue 8 Pro to Windows 10... It's very slow and buggy.
I tried using the built in "Revert back to Windows 8.1" option in the Settings "app", but it says that files have been deleted and it can no longer perform the uninstallation.
I also tried going into the tablet's built in Backup and Recovery from Dell, but that doesn't allow me to reinstall Windows 8. It's merely a diagnostic.
I installed the technical preview on my Surface Pro (gen 1), It's great and all. Gets smoother with each update, however, I'd like to revert back to 8.1 pro so I can reserve my copy of Windows 10.
I don't exactly know if the tech preview will auto-update to the full OS when Win10 releases July29 and I've tried to search for an answer to that question and the answers I find refer to Microsoft releasing "ISOs" when the full OS comes out and I don't know how to do those things so that's why I want to revert back and reserve.
This is my first time trying out OS preview builds. I made a USB recovery drive before I installed it though. I tried using it to refresh my SurfacePro back to windows 8.1 using my USB recovery drive, but the only option I get when it comes to choosing a target operating system to refresh is just windows 10.
I'm trying to run programs upon boot in W10 but it doesn't work.I have put them in Start folder and if I go to Task manager I can see the programs are there as well in Startup tab and enabled...but they will not start. I have to manually launch them anyway.I found out a thread where someone was able to get a fix in the same situation by going to taskbar and menu properties and selecting 'use the Start menu instead of start screen' but my menu has no such tab.
How to try to get them programs to launch upon boot. The machine was just freshly clean installed with W10 and it has but a couple of programs on it - exactly the programs I'd like to auto-start. Done all windows updates as well. Another machine of mine developed a weird glitch in that the start menu doesn't suddenly work at all.It just raises a red box in the middle of screen saying something like 'oops your start menu doesn't seem to work but don't worry, we'll fix it up for the next boot' and then it promptly reboots, but whatever I try it doesn't get fixed.
I have updated the machine several times without issues and it works fine, just can't use the start at all or it reboots...been using it for a month now as it is now, got the big updates and all...but it doesn't get fixed. Start menu would sometimes be rather convenient in a machine, no?
The latter machine I might just re-install clean anew. I have 7 windows boxes all now W10 and it appears every one needs to be freshly clean installed to W10 before they really start working well.
After upgrading my Surface Pro from W8.1 to W10, I have discovered the hard way that Windows 10, even in tablet mode, is not touch-centric. (I also think that the W10 UI is much more cluttered by comparison, but I realize that that is a matter of taste.)
How can I revert my Surface Pro from W10 back to W8.1?
When I started the recovery process to revert back to Windows 7, I saw a warning that I would need to reinstall some programs after reverting. I aborted at that point. What programs I would need to reinstall?
How to be able to get to the login screen and actually log in by booting through a USB. But then when I try to revert, it restarts and when it reboots. It gets locked in a screen that has a blue Windows logo and a black screen with nothing else.
Win 10 not working. Went to settings to revert to win 8. The settings screen will not pop up other than an instant flash.
Problems with 10- won't let me sign in to outlook (outlook wont respond). wont let me connect a monitor. typing delay. no settings screen. won't let me open downloads from internet. no email unless i sign in from chrome search engine.
Recently upgraded to w10 from w8.1 via the upgrade option, then proceeded to make a USB boot with w10 and performed a clean install.
However, something is fishy with my system and w10 so for now i want to revert back to w8.1 via a clean install of w8.1
When i installed w10 however i noticed i have an abundance of partitions, and preferably i would only like to have my SSD and HDD as optional storage spaces. I do of course not want to delete any necessary recovery or system partitions, but to me it seems like i currently have too many.
Which of the partitions in the picture below can i delete? Is it safe to delete all the recovery partitions when clean installing w8.1 from usb? meaning that will the installation create the necessary partitions required by windows?
I tried out the Insider Preview 10547 build last night, but chose to roll back to the full Windows 10 Pro build due to not being able to fully apply custom themes and the context menu not coming up on the desktop. Anyway, the rollback went fine, but now for some reason I can't make adjustment to the Start Menu. When my desktop had finished rolling back to the previous build, most of my live tiles had disappeared, specifically the Settings, CMD, and a few other apps I had pinned to the menu. The only tiles that were still showing were the games I'd pinned before applying the 10547. I can't even bring up the Weather, Store, or many other apps by searching for them. The apps still show in Apps and Features under System in Settings, which means the apps are still installed, I just can't seem to access them, although I haven't tried to get to them through a file explorer yet. Also, under Choose which folders appear on Start, every setting is grayed out. I actually rolled back from a previous test build before and everything came up normally, so I'm not sure what happened this time.
I like Windows 10 but it caused too many problems, so I used the option to revert to Windows 7. This has also meant a return to getting insistent messages wanting me to install Windows 10 again (and on one occasion, an attempt to install it without my permission). My question is, if I do reinstall Windows 10 and run into the same problems, will I have the option to return to Windows 7 a second time?
I'd like to perform a manual revert to Windows 7.An elderly client accidentally upgraded what I believe was Windows 7 Home to Windows 10. This was within the last week, and Windows.OLD is still there, but “Go back to Windows 7” is not an option.
(Yes, he was the only user, and he was an admin. For some reason, Windows 10 says it's the Pro edition now. I don't know why. I don't understand why “Go back to Windows 7” isn't present. Client doesn't know what he did, nor what options he selected along the way. Yes, a clean reinstall could be done, but returning to the old setup saves about four hours of other reinstalls and setups.)
Microsoft has a KB971760 "How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder".I'd like to confirm that this same process would work from Windows 10 to Windows 7.
I recently upgraded to Windows 10 and have encountered an interesting problem. I realized it initially when I would press start and begin to type a program's name in order to run it, as I was doing with Windows 7, but it would not find any results and would prompt me to Google the program. I found it strange but didn't think much of it.
Once I started looking into the issue, I noticed when I go to Indexing Options it says "Indexing is not running." When trying to rebuild indexing, it gives the message about how it will take a while, and then does nothing. So I decided to look into Windows Search.
Windows Search is not and will not run. First: If I go to services.msc and try to start the Windows Search service, it tells me that "The Windows Search service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs."
So I tried through an elevated cmd prompt: "net start wsearch" gives me error 15:
"C:WINDOWSsystem32>net start wsearch The Windows Search service is starting.. The Windows Search service could not be started. A system error has occurred. System error 15 has occurred. The system cannot find the drive specified."
Finally, and perhaps the strangest thing, one post told me to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows Search SetupCompletedSuccessfully and change the value to 0. However, the only thing in the registry under Windows Search is a Preferences folder. There are no keys there. So to me it looks as though Windows Search does not currently exist on my computer.
So of course I run sfc /scannow. Unfortunately, it tells me:
C:WINDOWSsystem32>sfc /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan. Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windirLogsCBSCBS.log. For example C:WindowsLogsCBSCBS.log. Note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios.
I recently upgraded to Windows 10 and have encountered an interesting problem. I realized it initially when I would press start and begin to type a program's name in order to run it, as I was doing with Windows 7, but it would not find any results and would prompt me to Google the program. I found it strange but didn't think much of it.
Once I started looking into the issue, I noticed when I go to Indexing Options it says "Indexing is not running." When trying to rebuild indexing, it gives the message about how it will take a while, and then does nothing. So I decided to look into Windows Search.
Windows Search is not and will not run. First: If I go to services.msc and try to start the Windows Search service, it tells me that "The Windows Search service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs."
So I tried through an elevated cmd prompt: "net start wsearch" gives me error 15:
"C:WINDOWSsystem32>net start wsearch
The Windows Search service is starting..
The Windows Search service could not be started.
A system error has occurred.
System error 15 has occurred.
The system cannot find the drive specified."
Finally, and perhaps the strangest thing, one post told me to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows Search SetupCompletedSuccessfully and change the value to 0. However, the only thing in the registry under Windows Search is a Preferences folder. There are no keys there. So to me it looks as though Windows Search does not currently exist on my computer.
So of course I run sfc /scannow. Unfortunately, it tells me:
C:WINDOWSsystem32>sfc /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windirLogsCBSCBS.log. For example C:WindowsLogsCBSCBS.log. Note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios.
I have issues with missing quick launch icons, tray icons and broken start button ALL AT ONCE (and I've installed win 10 just a few days before that), i did the DISM restore (using this [URL] ... ) but this happened.
