As many of you know Windows 8 Developer Preview uninstall is not supported by Microsoft at this time, however if you are not afraid, you can manually restore Windows 7 after you install Windows 8. But I have to warn you that there must be a good reason to why uninstalling Windows 8 is not yet supported. This step-by-step process, which I am about to describe, worked for me and I hope it works for anyone that needs the help, just proceed with caution at your own risk. In my opinion, Microsoft should have alerted the end user about not being able to go back to the previous version of Windows once they start the setup for the upgrade by simply putting a dialog box. Although, if you were following all the Windows 8 Developer Preview presentations, Microsoft many, many times said that you cannot go back to a previous version of Windows, and if you are planning to test the new operating system, you should try it in a spare machine to experience the full capabilities of the operating system or you should use a virtual machine. Also in the download page, at the bottom, the company noted that you cannot uninstall the Windows Developer Preview. However if you upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 8 Developers preview instead of doing a custom install, and you want to go back, you should know that not everything is lost just yet, this tutorial is going to guide you through step-by-step to restore Windows 7.
Uninstall Windows 8 and restore Windows 7
If everything went well, but you forgot to backup some of the files, you may find them in the renamed folders, open the Run command and type: C:\Users.8 to find documents and files, and C:\Windows.8 to find the previous installation files of Windows 8. Also note that applications installed while you had Windows 8 may stop working after the process.
Now that you are back to Windows 7 you can just be done, but if you want to tweak the system a bit more, you can remove the Windows Developer Preview entry from the boot menu. To do this, go to Start, type and open the Run command, type msconfig, navigate to the Boot tab, select Windows Developer Preview (recovered) (C:\Windows.8), click Delete, Apply and then OK.
To reclaim the space used by the Windows 8 installation, you’ll need to repeat steps 3 to 6. If you get the message that there are some problems found, just click Cancel — in the next step we’ll make that go away –, then click Command Prompt and type the following: Now click Restart to finish I noticed that after you do this, Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, and Windows Media Player pinned links might break, but don’t worry these applications still in your system, just remove the blank pinned links, open the applications and pinned them back to the taskbar, if you need to.
Last, if you didn’t like to see the label Windows Developer Preview (C:\Windows): Current OS; Default OS, as the label for Windows 7 in the msconfig, you can easy change this back to the label Windows 7 by downloading and installing an application called EasyBCD. Launch the application, click Edit Boot Menu, select Windows Developer Preview, click Rename and type Windows 7, and finally click Save Settings.
I hope this helps to anyone that found themselves in this situation where uninstall Windows 8 Developer Preview and restore Windows 7 is necessary. Just remember to never install or upgrade to an operating system that has not been officially released and doesn’t have any official support. Be the first to leave a comment or leave questions about how to uninstall Windows 8. Update: This guide should also work to uninstall Windows 8.1 and rollback to Windows 7. All content on this site is provided with no warranties, express or implied. Use any information at your own risk. Always backup of your device and files before making any changes. Privacy policy info.
