AfterDawn: News

Windows 7 users can downgrade to XP until 2020

Microsoft has extended the downgrade period for Windows XP until 2020, allowing owners of some Windows 7 versions to "downgrade" to the aging operating system if they choose to.

In the past, Microsoft killed off downgrade rights within months of releasing a new OS, so the new move is somewhat surprising.



Microsoft had limited 7-to-XP downgrades to six months when 7 was released, but extended the rights almost immediately after. It changed the date until July 2010, but that day has now come and gone, with Microsoft doing the lengthy extension.

The new downgrade rights are for users of Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, who can downgrade to XP Pro.

"Our business customers have told us that the removing end-user downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional could be confusing," adds Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc.

Furthermore, downgrade rights are only available on OEM copies of Windows 7, meaning it had to have come pre-installed on your new PC.

"Going forward, businesses can continue to purchase new PCs and utilize end-user downgrade rights to Windows XP or Windows Vista until they are ready to use Windows 7," LeBlanc concluded.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Jul 2010 23:06

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• 15 comments

• dEwMe

  Downgrading from Vista I understood but Win7 seems to be really great in my experience. Though industry does have a much larger risk and can't afford being anything but a late adopter...
  
  

  Just my $0.02,
  
  dEwMe
  

  13.7.2010 08:45 #1

• Mysttic

  I agree, this is flabbergasting; but it makes sense on a business standpoint. If this was just retail consumers, then this would be a joke.

  13.7.2010 11:02 #2

• plazma247

  Even in a business stand point, ive rolled out win7 at loads of sites and never ran into any software it couldnt run that winxp did and never failed to get a driver for older hardware.
  
  When its comes to backwards compatibility ive a number of customers running vmware/dosbox/virtualpc systems to get old dos apps to run and talk to old dongles etc.
  
  This is much better a the old software doesnt need legacy hardware and is freed from the chains of trying to find old bits to keep things like eprom programmers going.
  
  So even in a business enviroment i can imagine that anyone would down grade unless they want more work having to reimage the drive with xp, find drivers for new hardware to install a poduct that was less secure and basically end of life.
  
  Ive had windows 7 running on some pretty slow hardware and in all cases i can say once booted and with enough ram they all ran so much better with 7 than xp.

  13.7.2010 12:28 #3

• gnovak1

  I defy anyone to want to downgrade back to Vista from Windows 7.
  That would be insane.
  
  I have Windows 7 and have had no issues. I have some old software that even runs well on Windows 7. The only issue is that to install or run certain programs you have to 'Run as an Administrator' or some software won't install or run properly, but that's a minor complaint.

  13.7.2010 12:51 #4

• domie

  Running XP in 2020 ? ermm no thanks lol

  13.7.2010 14:59 #5

• dEwMe

  Originally posted by domie: Running XP in 2020 ? ermm no thanks lol ROFL!!! I never thought of that!
  
  

  Just my $0.02,
  
  dEwMe
  

  13.7.2010 15:10 #6

• GryphB

  I'll stick to using linux.

  13.7.2010 15:49 #7

• DXR88

  i remember i had windows 98 on a P4HT with 2gig of ram. it was so fast 98 would crash. it was funny.

  13.7.2010 17:05 #8

• xboxdvl2

  we have an old computer at my mums with a pentium 2 processor,96mbs ram and windows 98 with a 16kb/s dial up modem.its a nightmare to use.windows XP use to be the thing to have but i find windows 7 is a lot better.can't see why anyone would downgrade unless they had to remove some ram or downgrade their computer to make it run smoother.
  

  PS2 with 12 games.
  pc-windows 7,intel core quad Q8400,4 Gb ddr2,WD 500 GB hdd,ATI Radeon HD 4550 graphics,AOC 22inch LCD moniter.

  14.7.2010 07:41 #9

• malone78

  How about a downgrade for Office 2007 to Office 2003? I hate that ribbon.

  16.7.2010 18:46 #10

• malone78

  Just as Millennium owners should have been offered a free upgrade to XP, Vista owners should be offered a free upgrade to Windows 7.

  16.7.2010 18:52 #11

• elitepunk

  ...ill be running xp till 2020...thats sad i know...

  17.7.2010 18:47 #12

• ST2006

  Originally posted by malone78: How about a downgrade for Office 2007 to Office 2003? I hate that ribbon. Dude, you can remove that lol. Have a search for Classic Menus.. I think Microsoft try charging for it but really, I'm sure you can work your way around that.
  

  SmokeThis2006

  18.7.2010 12:25 #13

• wazzat

  glad you people have such a great experience w/ wins7. home premium here. where's outlook express? why am i still stuck with internet explorer? why's 7 FREEZEUP? had to install a new version of AV protection for 7 when i run last year's on XP. triple boot system here. and media center does not work well with ati 650 pcie tuner card. it's nice to change bootscreen and desktop though. anyone else think that ati has less support since amd bought them? i've switched to nvidia graphics cards in the last year.

  18.7.2010 16:48 #14

• wazzat

  oh and firefox seems really sluggish, runs choppy with wins7. sure wish Linux had a good distro.

  18.7.2010 16:52 #15