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How To Downgrade From Windows 7 To XP (Step-by-Step)

Posted February 11, 2010 – 5:44 pm in: Windows 7 Guides
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With the Windows 7 Release Candidate expiration date is just a few days away, many of Windows 7 RC users are asking a way to downgrade to Windows XP/Vista. In this guide, we will show you how to downgrade from Windows 7 to XP.

downgrade from Windows 7 to xp

And if you want to downgrade to Vista from Windows 7, please refer our how to downgrade from Windows 7 to Vista article.

 

1. Open your Windows 7 drive (usually C drive) and make sure that you haven’t deleted the Windows.old folder, which was created by Windows while installing Windows 7 on XP drive. Note that without the help of Windows.old folder you won’t be able to downgrade from Windows 7.

Windows old folder

2. Now check the size of Windows.old folder by right-clicking and then selecting properties. Make sure that Windows.old folder size is less than two times the amount of free space available on Windows 7 drive (C drive). If the Windows.old folder size is two times as large as the Windows 7 drive free space, disable system restore feature and also disk cleanup to get some free space.

Windows old folder size

Please note down your Windows 7 drive letter and also DVD drive letter before proceeding to the next step.

3. Insert your Windows 7 installation disc in the drive and reboot your machine. Press any key when prompted to do so.

 

4. Select your language, time, keyboard type and then hit Next button to continue.

 install Windows screen

5. In the Install Windows screen, click Repair your computer option to open System Recovery Options.

repairyourcomputer_thumb

6. Here select your Windows 7 OS and note down your Windows 7 Drive letter before clicking Next.

select Windows os

7. In the following window, click Command Prompt to start downgrading from Windows 7 to XP.

select command prompt

8. First you need to move all the contents of your Windows 7 drive to a folder. So type the following commands one by one and then hit enter after each command (here “D” is your Windows 7 drive letter).

D:

Md Win7

Move Windows Win7\Windows

Move "Program Files" "Win7\Program Files"

Move Users Win7\Users

Attrib –h –s –r ProgramData

Move ProgramData Win7\ProgramData

Rd "Documents and Settings"

commands first

9. Next you need to copy all the contents of Windows.old folder to the drive. Again, type all the commands mentioned below one by one and then hit enter after each command.

move /y d:\Windows.old\Windows d:\

move /y "d:\Windows.old\Program Files" d:\

move /y "d:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings" d:\

Commands second

10. Next task is to restore the boot sector by entering the following command:

E:\boot\bootsect /nt52 d:

(Where E is your DVD driver letter & D is OS drive letter)

bootloader successfully updated

11. Finally restore the boot.ini file by executing the following commands:

Attrib –h –s –r boot.ini.saved

Copy boot.ini.saved boot.ini

 

12. Type Exit and reboot your machine to start using your Windows XP again. You are done! If you want to free up some disk space, delete Win7 folder in the root of your XP drive. Good luck!

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77 Comments

  1. Tim
    Posted February 18, 2010 at 4:53 am | Permalink

    How can I reverse steps 8 and 9.

  2. Miguel
    Posted July 31, 2010 at 11:51 am | Permalink

    I just wanted to say thank you for this step-by-step process. I was able to do it quite easily & I hope you know that it means a lot. Thank you.

  3. Ash
    Posted August 9, 2010 at 3:56 pm | Permalink

    how to reverse steps 8?

  4. jamal Ahmed
    Posted August 16, 2010 at 4:07 pm | Permalink

    This is very helpfull

  5. I Hate W7 Now :'(
    Posted August 26, 2010 at 7:30 pm | Permalink

    Hey, i dont have that “Repair your computer” O.o is there another way to do it? :(

  6. rspzeke
    Posted August 28, 2010 at 9:33 am | Permalink

    Great help! thanks worked like a charm.

  7. Aliyu
    Posted August 29, 2010 at 3:49 am | Permalink

    You are a life saver. it worked like magic.
    Thank you.

  8. Dpeezy
    Posted September 4, 2010 at 9:22 am | Permalink

    on step 8 I can’t move any files, it says “file not found” or something like that. Please help.

  9. Dinesh
    Posted September 11, 2010 at 12:06 pm | Permalink

    It was great,it really worked smoothly
    thanks

  10. Annie
    Posted September 19, 2010 at 6:28 pm | Permalink

    On executing Step 11 it says “file not found ” .when I ignore the 2 steps in step 11 ,exit and try to login it says “NTLDR missing “…Any suggestions ??

  11. jair
    Posted September 22, 2010 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    hey on step 10 it gives me a msg that says “the system cannot find the drive spcified ” any suggestions?

  12. henry
    Posted September 22, 2010 at 5:17 pm | Permalink

    i cannot find windows.old

  13. Xioumitsou
    Posted September 29, 2010 at 2:47 am | Permalink

    Henry me to. I can’t find windows old.
    You find nothing?

  14. vv
    Posted September 30, 2010 at 6:20 am | Permalink

    can you still keep your files on windows 7

  15. Peter
    Posted September 30, 2010 at 9:43 am | Permalink

    I have a Carlson Plotter, a new W7 downgraded to XP pro system worked fine. I then changed to W7 virtual XP mode, the plotter and other stuff failed or ran very slowly.
    Found your Step by Step method to get back to XP.
    It worked and amazingly the software worked in the un locked state all as before.
    This has saved the day.
    Thanks for your help it was 100% correct, except for that line entered incorrectly.
    Regards,

    Peter Green

  16. Fred
    Posted September 30, 2010 at 10:31 am | Permalink

    Thanks it worked

  17. Will
    Posted October 14, 2010 at 3:01 am | Permalink

    How about the Product key? After i downgrade to XP, it ask me to activate XP again. My windows 7 is invalid for that. Thanks

  18. abrak
    Posted October 22, 2010 at 2:48 pm | Permalink

    HOW CAN I DOWNGRADE FROM WIN 7 TO XP WITHOUT HAVING A WINDOWS.OLD FOLDER? PLZ ANYONE…

  19. Thehan
    Posted October 22, 2010 at 10:07 pm | Permalink

    It’s simply brilliant – I followed the steps and managed to revert back to Win XP.

    Many many thanks for the step-by-step guide!

  20. Jay
    Posted November 8, 2010 at 6:34 am | Permalink

    Abrak, you are a fucking idiot. If you read the first two paragraphs, it specifically says you can’t. There is no possible way.

    Please, remove yourself from the gene pool immediately. I don’t want to consider the idea of you having children.

  21. Johnny
    Posted November 8, 2010 at 9:23 am | Permalink

    What if your Windows.old folder is the same size as the amount of free disk space? (58.8 GB)

  22. vanilynn
    Posted November 23, 2010 at 1:26 pm | Permalink

    can i do it without windows.old folder?

  23. admin
    Posted November 23, 2010 at 9:02 pm | Permalink

    You must need Windows.old folder as it contains all the old data in it.

  24. mugen
    Posted December 1, 2010 at 9:26 pm | Permalink

    If there isn’t a windows.old folder, will you have to format the drive and do a clean install of XP? thanks.

  25. admin
    Posted December 1, 2010 at 9:31 pm | Permalink

    Yes, you must have Windows.old folder. If you don’t have, doing a clean install is the only option.

  26. Justice
    Posted December 4, 2010 at 9:49 pm | Permalink

    It doesn’t have a “repair your computer” option, please help…

  27. XYZ
    Posted December 20, 2010 at 5:09 pm | Permalink

    Fuck,it doesn’t work

  28. manuel
    Posted December 22, 2010 at 4:54 am | Permalink

    install linux ubuntu and then if u still want xp u can easily intall a fresh copy

  29. Tijblar
    Posted December 23, 2010 at 2:01 am | Permalink

    I try to start windows xp but the pc says that the hal.dll file is missing and i can’t start my pc :S what should I do?

  30. paras_b2
    Posted January 1, 2011 at 1:02 pm | Permalink

    On executing Step 11 it says “file not found ” .when I ignore the 2 steps in step 11 ,exit and try to login it says “NTLDR missing “…Any suggestions ??

  31. JVH
    Posted January 13, 2011 at 6:43 am | Permalink

    When I go to complete step 11 it works fine but then it asks me to “Overwirte boot.ini? (Yes/No/All)”
    what should i answer cause it sys to type “exit” which does nothing except propt me again for the same thing.
    If I say Yes, it says Access is denied

  32. FoXX
    Posted January 15, 2011 at 6:15 pm | Permalink

    another way to fresh XP instal instead of Win7… just go to ur bios setting & change ur HD setting(sata to Ide)thn partion&format …& instal a new XP…

  33. Anuj
    Posted January 20, 2011 at 6:41 pm | Permalink

    I don’t find windows.old folder anywhere on my machine.

  34. Aviv
    Posted January 29, 2011 at 3:51 pm | Permalink

    worked like charm!!
    thanks a lot!!

  35. pcnoob
    Posted February 5, 2011 at 2:47 am | Permalink

    i havent FOLDER named windows.old
    what i do

  36. samyar
    Posted February 23, 2011 at 8:47 pm | Permalink

    If i dont have Windows.old folder I can format Win7 and can install Win xp. thats right any one has done that. thanks

  37. samyar
    Posted February 23, 2011 at 9:03 pm | Permalink

    One should need windows.old folder if Win7 installed on Win XP – what if Win 7 was already installed and need to downgrade to Win XP == any suggestions please

  38. admin
    Posted February 24, 2011 at 8:09 am | Permalink

    Samyur, you must have the Windows.old folder to be able to download to XP. Else fresh installation is the only solution.

  39. Thomas
    Posted February 24, 2011 at 3:40 pm | Permalink

    Hi guys!
    i don’t have the windows.old folder??
    i have Windows 7 Home Premium

  40. Jimmy
    Posted February 26, 2011 at 4:55 pm | Permalink

    Same here..cannot find windows.old folder. I think it is automaticaly deleted after installing win7 in some machines

  41. silas27
    Posted March 4, 2011 at 4:09 pm | Permalink

    windows.old folder will be deleted if you reformatted your pc to windows 7.
    if the “repair my computer” button is missing in the installer cd, create a repair disc of windows 7 and use it instead of the windows 7 installer cd.
    you can downgrade windows 7 to xp by reformating your pc with a windows xp disc.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  42. Danny
    Posted March 7, 2011 at 4:00 am | Permalink

    how do i uninstall if i don’t have the Windows.old folder?

  43. Kogure
    Posted March 21, 2011 at 9:39 pm | Permalink

    I’m trying to downgrade a new laptop with win 7 to xp, but every time i put the xp disc, and it start uploading the data, i got a blue screen

    any ideas how i can solve this?

  44. venu
    Posted April 5, 2011 at 7:39 pm | Permalink

    i cannot find repair option

  45. connell
    Posted April 6, 2011 at 4:44 am | Permalink

    when i put md win7 it says access denied!!????

  46. Appu
    Posted April 7, 2011 at 12:41 am | Permalink

    I am having HP Pavilion DV Series Laptop,
    I want to format my laptop installing fresh copy of Windows XP,
    Now i am having Windows 7 and when i formatted last time i deleted the widows.old folder.. So many errors are occuring so i am searching for solution about that but all the people telling that it is unable to format except that folder,
    So, please tell me the solution for that if anyone knows the alternate way to format and to install XP.

  47. shan tay
    Posted April 14, 2011 at 12:23 pm | Permalink

    i dont have repair your computer? can you help me. :(

  48. Ghil
    Posted April 18, 2011 at 5:21 pm | Permalink

    thanks alot it wrks for me on my,loptop now i, want to do the same thing but my windows old is (000) it contains 148 files on 63 folders is this normal i need help pls.

  49. Barmasai
    Posted April 19, 2011 at 11:52 am | Permalink

    its awesome because it never worked out furthermore because i never ever even give a try.
    Thank you

  50. tina
    Posted April 20, 2011 at 11:35 am | Permalink

    the OS of my laptop is Windows 7 but the system we are using in our office is windows XP which is compatible to our program. Is it okey to downgrade my current OS to XP without any effect to my files? Are the procedured stated abouve will work to what i need to do to my unit?

    Thank you.
    Tina

  51. Sheldon
    Posted May 8, 2011 at 7:35 am | Permalink

    I don’t have a “repair your computer”. Can i please have some help?

  52. edrhen
    Posted May 10, 2011 at 7:23 am | Permalink

    i don’t have windows.old folder…how do i undergo fresh install?

  53. mozhandy
    Posted May 29, 2011 at 11:56 pm | Permalink

    pc says error operating system…

  54. sandeep
    Posted May 31, 2011 at 11:42 am | Permalink

    I cant find d windows.old folder…
    is there any alternate soln for installing xp

  55. gangadharamurthy
    Posted June 7, 2011 at 4:23 pm | Permalink

    this is good soft wear in india and all peoples are work easy and good softwear .my home peopel are use this soft wear

  56. lana
    Posted June 10, 2011 at 10:19 am | Permalink

    I dont have that CD…ugh!

  57. John
    Posted June 11, 2011 at 1:52 pm | Permalink

    I dont have a repair your computer. can anyone help please

  58. rock
    Posted June 11, 2011 at 2:11 pm | Permalink

    please help i am getting some error on 6th step after clicking on next there is some error of dvd is not compatible with window install smthing like dat, actually dat dvd is having 6 types of OS in it ex win 7 ultimate, win7 interprise, 32x , 64x etc. what to do ?

  59. Alex
    Posted June 23, 2011 at 7:04 pm | Permalink

    Can I do it, I have only one partition (C:/)

  60. rolling
    Posted July 17, 2011 at 4:38 pm | Permalink

    =( i didnt knew we cant downgrade after we install new version :(

    but is any other way to install without windows.old or doing clean format?

  61. Emma
    Posted July 22, 2011 at 5:02 am | Permalink

    i have all of my business files on my computer can i downgrade without losing those???

  62. stephen
    Posted July 26, 2011 at 8:41 pm | Permalink

    What if i bought this computer with windows 7 pre installed, i do not have the windows.old folder???

  63. Maurice
    Posted July 30, 2011 at 11:06 pm | Permalink

    Step 11 it says file not found what do I do

  64. meenamata
    Posted August 8, 2011 at 9:29 pm | Permalink

    Hi Guys,

    Wonderfull tutorial,
    Was very helpfull, and worked like a charm…
    Thanks So Much for your help.

    Meenamata

  65. Viet
    Posted August 8, 2011 at 11:52 pm | Permalink

    A perfect tutorial. Worked perfectly. Your detailed instructions w/ screen-caps were greatly appreciated.

  66. breyjhan
    Posted August 22, 2011 at 11:19 am | Permalink

    guys i need some help…
    my windows cannot start normally…
    its only run in a safe mode until it cannot start in a safe mode. what i do ?

  67. Sol
    Posted August 23, 2011 at 10:18 pm | Permalink

    Hi, what is the content of Windows.old, is that the Win xp folder that created after u upgrade to Win 7? or it content the win 7 also..?

  68. james
    Posted August 29, 2011 at 2:32 am | Permalink

    this isn’t very useful since my laptop came with windows 7 from the very start so there is no windows.old folder….

  69. vinod asutkar
    Posted November 10, 2011 at 10:58 am | Permalink

    downgrade windows 7 pro to windows xp

  70. nurman
    Posted November 11, 2011 at 7:18 am | Permalink

    very very usefull. Thanks!!!

  71. Phil
    Posted December 4, 2011 at 7:57 pm | Permalink

    I also cannot find the Windows.old folder, my Windows 7 laptop came with Home Edition pre-imstalled but I upgraded to Windws 7 Ultimate which didn’t install the Windows.old files and folder??? In this case it should have even if I upgraded to Windows 7 Professional as I understand it

    I need to downgrade to Windows XP because not all installers can be runned as administrator or in compatibility mode, some work and some just refuse to install without showing any errors

    I have also tried to install Windows XP using my old laptop’s Windows XP installation disk, but it appears as a virus to my new laptop with Windows 7 currently running on it even after a successful installation, so there is really no way I can downgrade unless Microsoft adds a download for this

  72. Avinash
    Posted December 5, 2011 at 3:28 pm | Permalink

    I have windows 7 pro license copy so downgraded windows Xp may also the license copy..?

  73. admin
    Posted December 5, 2011 at 4:38 pm | Permalink

    @ Avinash
    Depends. Pls check out this official page: http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/downgrade_rights.aspx

  74. yubs
    Posted December 20, 2011 at 9:59 am | Permalink

    will this work using a bootable USB where XP SP3 is?

  75. sdman786
    Posted December 21, 2011 at 5:29 pm | Permalink

    thank you soooo much this worked soo well… much luv.. done tgis for ma dad and he’s happy

  76. aggie
    Posted December 26, 2011 at 2:39 am | Permalink

    breyjhan, mine did this, on the start menu on the search type in “Command Prompt” and then the window appears and you should be able to start from step 8 :) thank me later haha
    also, at step 11, I am getting a message saying “The device is not ready” it would be greatly appreciated if anybody could help…

  77. Ramesh
    Posted December 30, 2011 at 4:08 pm | Permalink

    How about the Product key? After i downgrade to XP, it ask me to activate XP again. My windows 7 is invalid for that,so what to do ?

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