Stupid Man Needs Help Reverting to Vista

[tontonz]

Okay, so it turns out I'm not that bright.
After years of using Vista64 i decided I'd make the move to W10 and, according to the specs and all I'd read my system could handle it. So I bought a copy of the new OS, did a backup of my C drive just in case and went ahead with the installation.

As it turns out my system - in particular my motherboard - cant handle it. My audio is full of crackling and pops and as I work in sound recording this cannot stand. SO! I'm going back to Vista where i didnt have this issue - at least till i can afford to upgrade the whole system.

MY QUESTION - W10 saved my Vista setup as under the windows.old moniker. Can i revert to my last setup using that? What if I had that and a full backup of that drive? OR do i have to do a clean install?

PLUS - is it possible to retrieve my Vista product code from somewhere in my system? I still have my installation disk but i cant, for the life of me, find the serial. I can't find NTUSER.DAT anywhere in the windows.old folder.

Many thanks!

 

[Brink]

Hello tontonz,

You have up to 10 days after upgrading to Windows 10 to be able to go back to Vista using the method below.

Go Back to the Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10

 

[tontonz]

Hello tontonz,

You have up to 10 days after upgrading to Windows 10 to be able to go back to Vista using the method below.

Go Back to the Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10

Hey Brink - Thanks for the response. Yes, I've tried this without any luck. The system files one might assume to be stored in the windows.old folder appear to be gone altogether.
Thanks

 

[Brink]

If you created a system image of your Vista installation, then you could restore it and have it activated afterwards.

If you're computer came with Vista preinstalled, then you could check to see if you may have a COA sticker on the computer with the product key still on it. Back of PC case, bottom of laptop, or under battery of laptop.

 

[tontonz]

No, i bought Vista separately from the system. Ive got the CD but I've misplaced the case which had the product key on it. By rights I should be able to use something like Produkey or Jellybean to dig the old key out of Windows.old but all the system files that were supposed to have been stored in the folder were disappeared when I installed 10. And that was only four days ago so the ten day limit hasnt kicked in.

I did create a complete backup of the whole C drive so im hoping if i do a clean install - which it appears I'll have to do - then i can use that to get me back to work

Thanks Brink. If you have any more suggestions please let me know.

Cheers

 

[tontonz]

Good news! Just found the old cd case lurking in a drawer!

 

[Brink]

Great news. Please let us know how it went.

 

[tontonz]

Well, I'm back in Vistatown. Fortunately I had a copy of SP2 to get her up to date. I ran the backup and while all my folders are there none of the data is in them - in particular the program files folders and system folders. I'm assuming W10 swallowed all that on install though I dont know why the backup didnt save them as such.

Now it's back to reinstalling every program and plugin i need to get back to work.

Thanks so much for giving me a hand Brink. Youre a good guy.

 

[Brink]

I hope it goes smoothly.