How To Restore Windows 7 To A Previous Date

Windows 7 Enterprise Windows 7 Home Bones Windows 7 Home Premium Windows seven Professional Windows seven Starter Windows 7 Ultimate More...Less

INTRODUCTION

In certain scenarios y'all may need to restore your Windows 7 Computer back to the previous installation of Windows. This article walks you through the steps to manually restore your computer dorsum to the previous version of Windows.

Note: To do this, you must use the command prompt, and yous must blazon specific commands at the command prompt to rename and to motion folders between the dissimilar versions of Windows.

Note: If you currently have Service Pack one for Windows 7 installed, the uninstall steps are the same as with Windows 7 without whatsoever service packs installed. If you are restoring back to a previous Windows seven installation, you lot may need to Install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to that installation.

This article is intended for a beginning to intermediate computer user.

More Information

To resolve this issue, follow the steps listed below to restore your computer dorsum to a previous version of Windows using the Windows.Old folder.

TIP: You may find it easier to follow the steps if you impress this article kickoff.

Stride 1: Decide whether there is a Windows.erstwhile folder and whether there is sufficient free space on the Windows hard disk

Click Starting time , and so click Computer.
On the View menu, click Details.
In the Free Space column, note how much space is available for Local Disk (C:) under the Hard disk drive Drives area.
In the Hard disk drive Drives area, double-click Local Deejay (C:), and then make up one's mind whether the Windows.erstwhile folder exists.

Important If the Windows.old folder does non exist, yous cannot follow the steps in this commodity to restore the previous Windows installation to this computer. You lot must backup and restore or transfer your files to the previous operating system.
Correct-click the Windows.old folder.
Windows 7 will determine the size of the binder later several seconds.

Determine whether the Windows.quondam binder is smaller than the free infinite that is available for Local Disk (C:) in step 1.ii.

Annotation If the Windows.old folder is ii times as large as the costless infinite that is available for the Local Disk (C:) entry, y'all may be unable to restore the previous Windows installation.

Footstep 2: Start the Windows Recovery Environment

Put the Windows 7 installation disc in the DVD drive, and and then restart the computer.
Press a fundamental when you lot are prompted to restart from the disc.
In the Install Windows window, select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard input method or other input method, and and then click Side by side.
In the Install Windows window, click Repair your computer.
In the Arrangement Recovery Options window, click the version of the Windows 7 operating organisation that you desire to repair, and then click Adjacent.
In the System Recovery Options window, click Control Prompt.

The Command Prompt window opens, and it displays the command prompt. The command prompt is where you will type the commands that are described in the following steps.

Step iii: Move the Windows vii folders to a new Win7 folder

Note When you lot type one or more of the commands at the command prompt in the following steps and press ENTER, you may receive the following bulletin:

The system cannot detect the file specified.

If y'all receive this bulletin, go to the next step in this section, and then type the command in that next footstep.

Type the following commands and press ENTER after each command:

Md Win7

Move Windows Win7\Windows

Move "Program Files" "Win7\Program Files"

Move Users Win7\Users

Attrib –h –s –r ProgramData

Motion ProgramData Win7\ProgramData

Rd "Documents and Settings"

Step 4: Copy the contents or move the contents of the Windows.old binder

Note When you blazon one or more than of the commands at the control prompt in the post-obit steps and press ENTER, y'all may receive the following message:

The system cannot find the file specified.

If yous receive this message, get to the adjacent step in this section, and so type the command in the next step.

Type the following commands and press ENTER later on each command:

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

move /y "c:\Windows.quondam\Program Files" c:\

move /y c:\Windows.old\ProgramData c:\

motility /y c:\Windows.old\Users c:\

motility /y "c:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings" c:\

Step five: Restore the boot sector for the previous Windows installation

Type one of the following commands at the control prompt, equally advisable for your situation.

Note In the post-obit commands, D: represents the DVD bulldoze. If the DVD bulldoze on the computer is represented past a unlike letter, such as Due east:, use that alphabetic character in the command.

When the previous Windows installation was Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000

Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

D:\boot\bootsect /nt52 c:
When the previous Windows installation was Windows Vista

Blazon the following control, and then printing ENTER:

D:\kick\bootsect /nt60 c:

Step half-dozen: Restore the Kick.ini file for the previous Windows installation of Windows XP or of Windows 2000

Notation Follow these steps only when the previous installation is Windows XP or Windows 2000.

Type the following commands and press ENTER after each control:

Attrib –h –s –r kicking.ini.saved

Copy kick.ini.saved boot.ini

Step 7: Close the Command Prompt window, then click Restart

Type the post-obit control at the command prompt, and so press ENTER:

leave
Click Restart to restart your computer.

Note After you take verified that Windows XP is functional, you can remove the C:\Win7 folder if it is not needed for data recovery.

Additional resource

Need more help?