How to remove Windows 8 and install Windows 7 on a Lenovo ideapad z580 laptop

My friend just bought a new Lenovo ideapad z580 laptop with Windows 8 on it. She was not sure if her special statistical programs will run on Windows 8, so she asked me to remove Windows 8 and install her copy of Windows 7  64 bit on it. As it turned out the Lenovo laptop arrived with UEFI boot turned on and it did not accept the original Windows 7 64 bit DVD as a boot device. The solution is to turn off UEFI in the BIOS and enable the legacy boot.

To enter the BIOS

• Turn off the Lenovo ideapad z580 laptop
• Press the small “Novo” button next to the power button to turn on the computer and display the Novo Button Menu
• In the Novo Button Menu select BIOS Setup and press Enter
  

Turn off the UEFI boot mode in the BIOS

• In the BIOS setup select Boot on the top of the screen
• Press Enter on the Boot Mode option and select Legacy Support
• Select Boot Priority, press enter and select Legacy First

Save the BIOS settings

• Select Exit on the top of the screen
• Select Exit Saving Changes and press Enter
• Press Enter on Yes to save the changes

The computer will automatically restart into Windows 8

• Keep the power button pressed to shut it down

Boot from the Windows 7 DVD

• Start the computer with the “Novo” button
• Insert the Windows 7 DVD into the DVD drive
• In the Novo Button Menu select Boot Menu and press Enter
• In the Boot menu select 2. ATAPI CD… and press Enter

Install Windows 7

• The computer will boot from the Windows 7 DVD
• Select Install, Advanced installation
• Delete all partitions on the hard drive
• Create one partition (Windows will create another 100MB system partition for itself)
• Select the large partition as the destination of Windows 7