Scenario 1: You installed Windows 7 as a new installation over an earlier

version of Windows

You used the Windows 7 installation media to install Windows 7 to the same hard disk drive
on which you had Windows XP, Windows Vista, or another version of Windows 7 installed.

Note This Scenario applies when upgrading to Windows 7 using both the Upgrade media and
the Full product media.

In this scenario, the Windows 7 installation will have created a Windows.old folder that
contains your previous operating system and personal files. This Windows.old folder is in the
root of the Windows partition. To revert to this previous operating system, click the following
article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
971760  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971760/ ) How to restore a Windows 7-based
computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder
Important Reverting to a previous operating system by using the Windows.old folder does
not keep any files or settings from the current installation of Windows 7. Reverting to the
previous operating system will restore the computer back to the previous installation at the
time that Windows 7 was installed. For more information about how to back up your data,
click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
971759  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971759/ ) How to back up your data on a
Windows-based computer
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Scenario 2: You installed Windows 7 on a computer that did not have an

operating system installed

In this scenario, you used the installation media to install Windows 7 to an empty hard disk
drive.

In this scenario, there is no previous operating system to which you can revert. If you want to
back up your computer and transfer the data from this Windows 7 installation to your next
operating system, follow these steps:

1. Back up your data to a network location or removable media. For more information
about how to back up your data, click the following article number to view the article
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

971759  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971759/ ) How to back up your data on a

Windows-based computer

2. Insert the Windows XP or Windows Vista installation media, and then install the
Windows operating system.

For more information about how to perform a clean install of Windows XP, click the
following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

316941  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316941/ ) How to install or upgrade to

Windows XP
 For more information about how to perform a clean install of Windows Vista, click
the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

918884  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918884/ ) How to install Windows Vista

3. Complete the installation.

4. Restore, transfer, or copy your data to the new operating system after the installation
has completed

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Scenario 3: You upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7

On a Windows Vista-based computer, you inserted the Windows 7 installation media and
selected the Upgrade option. Then, you upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7.

Note This Scenario applies when upgrading to Windows 7 using both the Upgrade media and
the Full product media.

In this scenario, there is no previous operating system to which you can revert. If you want to
back up your computer and transfer the data from this Windows 7 installation to your next
operating system, follow the steps that are listed in Scenario 2.

Note The only Microsoft-supported upgrade scenario is from Windows Vista to Windows 7.
Back to the top

Scenario 4: You have a multiboot system that has Windows 7 installed

You installed Windows 7 on a separate partition, and kept the earlier version of Windows on
your computer. To uninstall Windows 7 from this multiboot system, visit the following
Microsoft Web site:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Uninstall-Windows-7-on-a-multiboot-system
(http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Uninstall-Windows-7-on-a-multiboot-
system)

Can I uninstall Windows 7?

You can't uninstall Windows 7, but you can reinstall your previous operating system if you
have the original installation disc. For more information, see Installing and reinstalling
Windows 7.

However, reinstalling an earlier operating system not only replaces Windows 7, but also
deletes all of the programs, files, and settings on your computer.

Before reinstalling your previous operating system, you should save your files and settings to
a storage device, and then save them back to your computer after the installation is complete.
Because your programs will also be deleted, you’ll need to reinstall your programs using the
original installation discs, or using the setup files if you downloaded the programs from the
Internet.

Note

If you are running a multiboot system, you might be able to safely delete or reformat the
Windows 7 partition and reclaim that space for use with the earlier version of Windows. For
more information, see Uninstall Windows 7 on a multiboot system.

Uninstall Windows 7 on a multiboot system

If you are running a multiboot system with Windows 7 installed on a computer that is also
running an earlier version of Windows, such as Windows Vista, you might be able to safely
remove Windows 7 from the computer, depending on how the computer is set up.

To do this, you need to format the partition containing Windows 7, or delete it entirely. This
allows the earlier operating system to reclaim the disk space.

Before you begin, you should back up your programs, files, and settings. Formatting or
deleting a partition deletes all of the data on the partition. For more information about
backing up data, search Help and Support for "back up." For more information about
multibooting, see Can I have more than one operating system on my computer (multiboot)?

A multiboot disk configuration

Warnings

 Don't format or delete the earlier version of Windows in a multiboot configuration.

Doing so could render your computer inoperable. This is because the computer uses
the startup files from the earliest version of Windows that is installed on the
computer. For more information, see Install more than one operating system
(multiboot).

 If the earlier version of Windows was somehow installed after Windows 7 was
installed on the computer, deleting Windows 7 in this case could render the computer
inoperable.
How To Uninstall Windows 7 And Return The Partition To Vista

If you have previously dualboot your Windows 7 and Vista and now you wanted to remove
it, either because you don’t like it or you are running out of hard disk space, here is the way
to do it:

Remove the Windows 7 boot entry

Previously when you install Windows 7, it modifies the bootloader and makes it the default
OS to boot up. If you are going to uninstall Windows 7, you will have to remove the entry
from the bootloader so that you don’t have any conflicts when booting up later.

install EasyBCD.

Run EasyBCD. On the left pane, click on the Add/Remove Entries.

On the right pane, highlight the Windows 7 entry and click Delete.

Close EasyBCD.

Download GParted iso file and burn the image to a CD.

Boot up your computer with the Gparted live CD. On the main screen, you should see your
Windows Vista and Windows 7 partitions.

There are two ways that you can deal with your Windows 7 partition:

1) reformat it and use it as an additional partition to your Vista partition

2) remove the partition and return the extra space back to the Vista partition

Reformat Windows 7 partition

Highlight and right click on the Windows 7 partition. Select Format to -> ntfs.
Click Apply.

Remove Win 7 partition and return it to Vista partition

Highlight the Windows 7 partition and click the Delete button.

Next, highlight the Windows Vista partition and click Resize/Move. Increase the New Size to
the maximum. Make sure that the Free Space Preceding and Free Space Following is zero.

Click Apply.
Once all the operations are completed, exit GParted and restart your computer. You should
now boot into your Vista. Depending on the option you choose, you will have either a new
blank partition that you can use to store data or a bigger Vista partition.

That’s it. Enjoy!

How to Uninstall and Remove Windows 7 or Vista Leaving Windows XP on Dual Boot
System
Windows operating system supports dual-booting a PC, where users can install multiple OSes
and select which system to boot up to on machine startup. If you have installed Windows 7 or
Windows Vista on top of current existing Windows XP to make the PC a dual boot system,
but now decided to ditch or dump the Windows 7 or Windows Vista partition to revert to the
old good classic Windows XP follow the guide below to uninstall and remove Windows 7 or
Windows Vista to leave only Windows XP without having to reinstall the OS, and without
affecting saved files and data.

Important: Do not use this tutorial if your dualboot system is Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
1. Boot up and log on to Windows XP desktop.
2. Insert the Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD installation disc into CD-ROM or
DVD-ROM optical drive.
Alternatively, mount the Windows 7 or Windows Vista DVD ISO image on any virtual drive.
3. Run Command Prompt, or click directly to Start menu -> Run command.
4. In the command prompt or the Run text box, issue the following command and hit
Enter:
[DVD Drive Letter]:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
For example,
If the DVD drive path is D:, then enter the following:
D:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
The step will remove the boot menu to select operating system to start.
5. Remove the DVD disc and restart the computer.
6. The computer will boot up with Windows XP installation partition.
7. Manually remove files and folders of Windows Vista or Windows 7, including
Windows, Program Files and Users folder. If you’re installing to separate partition,
just format the partition to clean it instantly (with FDisk, Disk Manager of Computer
Management or third party partition management software such as Partition Magic or
EASEUS Partition Manager).
8. On the root system folder of Windows XP, delete Boot.BAK and BootSect.BAK.
The two files are remnant backup leftover files of previously installed Windows Vista
or Windows 7 bootloader, but no longer useful for Windows XP only system.
Tip: NT52 is the MBR (Master Boot Record) used by Windows XP and Windows Server
2003, while Windows Vista uses NT6. So if you’re uninstall Windows 7 in Vista/7 dual boot
system, change the NT52 in the command to NT60.
Fast Shortcut: It’s also possible to format the Windows Vista or Windows 7 partition straight
away, and then start the computer with Windows XP Setup CD to repair the system partition,
or run the “bootsect /nt52 c:” command above from the \boot\ folder of leftover OS
immediately to repair the boot partition.
Tip: When startup repair the boot record after removing an installed operating system from
dual-boot or multi-boot system, always use the highest version of Windows installation
DVD/CD to perform the repair. For example, in a tri-boot PC with Windows XP, Vista and 7,
after uninstalling Windows 7, use Windows Vista to repair the system. If the PC is restored
and reverted back to Windows XP, then use the Windows XP setup CD.

How to Uninstall Programs That Are Not Appeared in Add or Remove

Programs List

Installing a program could be easy and fast. However, when come to uninstalling a program
especially for the one which always gives you lot of problems, it may take you some hassle
when the program doesn’t appear in add or remove program or no uninstall tool being
provided. Don’t worry! You actually can remove this program by executing the uninstall
string obtained from registry.

For each of programs installed in your computer, there will be some uninstall entries in
registry which are grouped under Uninstall folder. Therefore, you can identify the respective
program easily by browsing through Uninstall list located in registry. Below are detail steps
to teach you how to uninstall the program by using registry:

1) Go to Start -> Run, then type regedit and press enter

2) Locate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\currentversion\Uninstall, then
expand the Uninstall list.
3) Look for the program which you want to uninstall, then click on it
4) On the right panel, double click on UninstallString and you will see the Edit String
window pop up. Copy the value data.

5) Go to Start -> Run, type cmd to bring up command prompt.

6) Paste the UninstallString copied at step 4) and press enter to execute it. The uninstall
screen will pop up to start the un-installation process.