how can i downgrade to the other system

[andreasaspenberg]

my newest laptop came with windows 10 but that is running very slowly. there is a windows.old folder which contains 64 bit vista which should be less power hungry. i am considering 2 options. multiboot so that both systems can be switched between or downgrade to vista. how do i do either?

 

[Dr Super Good]

You will need to reinstall the operating system you require. That old windows folder for vista has long since expired and certainly cannot be processed by Windows 10. When installing you should be able to configure for multi boot with the various installation Wizards which guide you through what to do.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i do not have a 64 bit vista to install so i have to use the one already present.(in the windows old folder).

 

[Dr Super Good]

If you are using Windows 10 then the "Windows.old" folder is for old Windows 10 versions (created every month or so by updates, deleted after a month or so). Vista has long gone and probably been deleted, if it ever existed in the first place.

Even if somehow it contains windows Vista there is no way to downgrade using it. Windows 10 does not have such a path.

Your only option is to reinstall. If you do not have the installation media you can try downloading it from Microsoft. If that cannot be done then you are out of luck.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i checked it an it contains windows vista 64 bit.

 

[Dr Super Good]

i checked it an it contains windows vista 64 bit.

As I already said, there is no downgrade path from Windows 10 to Windows Vista. You will need to reinstall.

Even if it contains Windows Vista files, there is no way to restore them as the operating system files. How do you even know it contains Vista files? Vista uses similar files to Windows 7 and 8.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

do you know where in the folder i can find the cd key?

 

[Dr Super Good]

do you know where in the folder i can find the cd key?

If you mean the "licence" then no I do not. It is probably encrypted anyway.

 

[The_wand_mirror]

Apparently you can use either;
ProduKey - Recover lost product key (CD-Key) of Windows/MS-Office/SQL Server or KeyFinder | Magical Jelly Bean
to find a serial, you just need to point it to the windows.old map.

Usually you can download windows from microsoft with a genuine key https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/
But it doesn't seem to have vista available, maybe it can be downloaded somewhere else.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i will try the first option as the second have no support for vista. how do i safely multiboot with nt based systems? (last time i tried it one of the systems broke when i installed the other one).

 

[Dr Super Good]

Some OS like Windows 10 have very strict partitioning requirements. This can limit the number you can install on a single physical drive to 1 in legacy BIOS systems.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

There is no point in downgrading back to Vista if you are on W10. Trust me on that.

Vista is horribly optimized and in no way faster than W10. If your laptop struggles with W10, throw it out the window and get a new one.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Vista is horribly optimized and in no way faster than W10.

It was not that badly optimized. Just not as well optimized as Windows 10 is.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

The only OS I would recommend for downgrading is W7. Everything else would be just asking for trouble. Stick to W10. According to Microsofts new business strategy it is planned to have a much longer lifecycle than all their OS before. Thr UI is clunky, but there is classicshell for that.