Downgrading Windows 8 Home Premium to Windows 7

Question

Someone generously donated a Windows 8 laptop to the organization I work for, however we just (finally) standardized on a single OS -- Windows 7. I would like to downgrade to Windows 7, but the OS that came with the system was Windows 8 Home Premium, not Pro. If I use Windows Anytime Upgrade to move to Pro, will it then let me downgrade to Windows 7 Pro? Is there another cost effective way to dump Windows 8 for Windows 7 Home Premium or Pro?

Answer 1

As per Microsoft Web Site:

The following OEM versions of Windows software are eligible for downgrade rights.
Windows 8 Pro includes downgrade rights to:
- Windows 7 Professional - Windows Vista Business

So to answer your question, no you cannot downgrade directly from Windows 8 Home Premium. If you were to upgrade from Home Premium to Pro you would downgrade back to Win7 Pro using the following steps (also from the Microsoft website):

The downgrade process Follow these steps to downgrade to a previous version of Windows software:

Obtain genuine Windows media and a corresponding product key for the version of Windows that is eligible for downgrade.
- The media should come from a prior legally licensed version from the OEM or retail channels.
- Qualified OEMs have the option to distribute downgrade media and product keys directly to end users, per end user request.
- End users who are licensed separately through Microsoft Volume Licensing (VL) may provide their VL media and key to a system builder to facilitate the downgrade on their own systems.

Insert the downgrade-eligible version of Windows media in the CD drive and follow the installation instructions.

Type the product key.

• If the software was previously activated, you will not be able to activate it online. In this case, the appropriate local Activation
  Support phone number will be displayed. Call the number and explain
  the circumstances. When it is determined that the end user has an
  eligible Windows license, the customer service representative will
  provide a single-use activation code to activate the software. Please note that Microsoft does not provide a full product key in this
  scenario.

Activate the software.

Depending on your licensing arrangement, you may be able to obtain a Windows 7 Pro key for much cheaper than buying a Win 8 Pro key. Verify this before attempting to proceed. If you really are standardized, I would assume you would have a volume license agreement with Microsoft.