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Follow up to How to revert to Windows 7 after installing Windows 8?

I've installed W7 off the CD, so all of my old programs are now in the Windows.old directory. How do I restore these programs for use?

Community
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user72923
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2 Answers2

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Programs need to be installed again, you can possibly migrate some of the settings and program data after you re-install the program(s)

Moab
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  • The reason for this is because programs need to be thrown in the registry, linked with all their dlls, and other such stuff that you normally don't think about. You may have the main files, but there's no way you'd know that word goes in this reg key, and that a dll is in a folder nested deep within system32. You just need to reinstall programs, sorry! – Duall Sep 15 '11 at 22:56
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Building off what Moab said, you can probably copy the contents of your User folder over your current one.

As for reinstalling your software, ninite.com can be really helpful for bulk installing software, so you won't have to go hunting around for individual programs.

avaleske
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