I need to have my Thinkpad repaired by Lenovo, however, they have refused to complete the repair unless I remove Zorin OS and install an OS that they install which is either Windows or one of the following:
Is it possible to "downgrade" the OS so that it is compatible with one of the above?
No. You should make a clean install of the original OS.
p.s. what is the problem with your computer, hardware or software issue?
Well, You could install Zorin 16; this is based on Ubuntu 20.04.
hardware issues. but they won't repair without completing their diagnoses which are only run on the above OSs
is it possible to do that from within the OS and not having to clean install?
Well, you could install it aside Zorin 17. Then You would have Zorin 16 and 17 installed. But when they want only one OS ... No. Then You would have to save Your Data and install Zorin 16. A directly Downgrade isn't possible as far as I know.
This is interesting. I had a lot of issues setting up Zorin 17 on this device, mostly with scaling, sizing and resolution issues. I have now bitten the bullet and installed Ubuntu 20.04, the supported OS for this laptop and everything has worked perfectly.
Do you think if I installed Zorin 16 instead of Zorin 17 on this device that it would work as well as Ubuntu 20.04?
Just a shame that I would miss out on all of the benefits of the latest Zorin version.
It should because Zorin 16 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Zorin 17 is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
Because of the Issues: Zorin 17 runs by default in Wayland. If it is running, You can check when You go to Settings>About and there look for the Line ''Window Manager''.
If there should stand Wayland, you could try it with X11/Xorg. To change that go to the Login Screen and click on your Profile so that the Password Field appears. It has to be appeared! When it is appeeared, you should see in the bottom right Corner a Gear Icon. Click on it and choose the Option ''Zorin Desktop on Xorg'' and then log in.
Should Your Machine use an Nvidia Card, then Xorg would be in general a better Choice than Wayland at the Moment.
