first of all: it’s absolutely HORRIBLE!
how unecessarily complicated it is to install windows 7 on sony’s latest notebooks.
but you will need a lot of more steps to be able to install windows 7 on your sony vaio.
why? because i guess microsoft WANTS YOU TO BUY THEIR LATEST LICENSES! (they do not do this FOR YOU AND YOUR NEEDS, but FOR THEMSELVES… )
Maybe it would be easier to go Ubuntu + VirtualBox and have your Win7/WinXP there in a VirtualMachine … (you will probably have to do some custom package stuff… not tested! the community will shurely help you!)
or you want to go through the pain of this process:
let me show you how.
0. start -> run -> compmgmt.msc -> disk-management -> shrink the C: volume (so you have a volume to backup to)
0.1. format the new volume you just created
1. go to bios… now here is where the fun starts… in any other laptop you would hit something like “DEL / ENTF” “F2” or something… no…. power it off and hit the “ASSIST” button (many times until it comes up)
now choose “BIOS SETTINGS” and disable the “secure boot” feature
2. while still in bios, go to BOOT and change UEFI to LEGACY (or it will not detect your win 7 usb boot stick)
3. create a backup of your system/data (i used acronis 2012 boot iso to do this and worked fine)
3.1. transfer the backup to another PC/External-USB drive/NAS
3.2. boot with GPARTED http://www.chip.de/downloads/GParted-Live-ISO-Image_26460627.html
choose Device -> new partition Table (choose msdos = MBR)
say YES I WANT TO DELETE ALL PARTITIONS (your windows 8 recovery partition will be lost)
4. create a bootable win 7 usb stick
you can do this with a Win7 iso (you got from i don’t know where) or your favourite Win7-DVD in your drive.
and http://www.chip.de/downloads/Windows-7-USB_DVD-Download-Tool_38589636.html
5. also download sisoft sandra which is a hardware detection tool
http://www.chip.de/downloads/SiSoft-Sandra-Lite-2013_12998086.html
6. in sisoft sandra (skip all the directx + .net stuff… you don’t need it :-D) go to hardware-informations -> mainboard
and note down what you have under system model:
mine is: SVE1712H1EW
(which is != UNEQUAL to the label on the back of the laptop that reads: SVE171G11M)
googlin SVE171G11M DOES NOT HELP!
while googlin SVE1712H1EW brings you to http://www.sony.de/support/de/product/SVE1712H1EW/updates
which says http://download.sony-europe.com/PUB/VAIO/Win7Downgrade/SVE/Ethernet_Driver_(Realtek).zip in it’s name
Wish you good luck!
and slap sony over the head from me…
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