Windows 10: Go Back to the Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10

How to: Go Back to the Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10

How to Go Back to Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10


When you Windows.old[/b] folder in the root directory of the Windows 10 drive as a backup. This backup will allow you to be able to go back to the previous build of Windows for up to a 10 days after upgrading to Windows 10 if you should want to.

To go back, you'll need to:

• You will need to have enough free space on the Windows C: drive. Usually the free space needed is at least twice the size of the C:\Windows.old folder.
• Keep everything in the Windows.old and $windows.~bt folders after the upgrade. This means to not delete these folders, and not check the Previous Windows Installation(s) box when using Disk Cleanup.
• Remove any user accounts you added after the upgrade.
• Know the password you used to sign in to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (if you used one).
• Have the USB drive you used to upgrade to Windows 10 (if you used one).

What you need to know before you go back:

It will keep your documents, photos, and other personal files, but it can't save:

• Any apps installed after the most recent upgrade
• Any changes to personal settings made after the upgrade
• If you're using a local account, you'll need to sign in to this PC with your old password after going back. This doesn't apply to a Microsoft account.
• If you go back to Windows 8.1, some apps that came with Windows, like Mail and People, might not work anymore. To fix them, reinstall them from the Store.
• If you’re a Windows 10 Insider with a Windows 10 preview build installed, going back to an earlier build won’t remove you from the Insider Program. When the next preview build is ready, it'll be installed on your PC.

If you PC has been flighting longer than 31 days, you'll need to create recovery media and clean install the old OS directly to the machine. Don't forget to back up your data and content first!

• Microsoft Software Recovery
• How to Create or Download a Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO

See also: Ending Flighting on a PC - Microsoft Community

This tutorial will show you how to go back to the previous Windows from Windows 10 without losing your documents, photos, and other personal files.

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to go back to a previous build of Windows.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Go back to Previous Windows from Windows 10 in Advanced Startup options
• Option Two: Go back to Previous Windows from Windows 10 in Settings

OPTION ONE [/i] Go back to Previous Windows from Windows 10 in Advanced Startup options
1. You will need to first delete any user accounts you created after upgrading to Windows 10.

2. Boot to advanced startup options.

3. Click/tap on Troubleshoot. (see screenshot below)



4. Click/tap on Advanced options. (see screenshot below)



5. If you don't see Go back to the previous build, then click/tap on the See more recovery options link if displayed. (see screenshot below)



6. Click/tap on Go back to the previous build. (see screenshot below)



7. Click/tap on an administrator account you want to provide credentials for. (see screenshot below)



8. Enter the password for this administrator account, and click/tap on Continue. (see screenshot below)



9. Click/tap on Go back to previous build to begin. (see screenshot below)



10. The previous build of Windows will now start restoring. (see screenshot below)








OPTION TWO [/i] Go back to Previous Windows from Windows 10 in Settings
1. You will need to first delete any user accounts you created after upgrading to Windows 10.

2. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Update & security icon.

3. Click/tap on Recovery on the left side, and click/tap on the Get Started button under Go back to the previous version of Windows 10 on the right side. (see screenshot below)



4. Check why you are going back to provide feedback to Microsoft, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)



5. Click/tap on No, thanks. (see screenshot below)

*note You can click/tap on Check for updates if you wanted to check for new updates instead.



6. Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)



7. Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)



8. Click/tap on Go back to earlier build or Go back to Windows # to begin. (see screenshot below)



9. The earlier build of Windows will now start restoring. (see screenshot below)




That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Set Number of Days can Go Back to Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10
• How to Reinstall Windows 10 with this media
• How to Upgrade to Windows 10
• How to Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro
• How to Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
• How to Upgrade Windows 10 Pro to Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
• How to Downgrade Windows 10 Pro for Workstations to Windows 10 Pro
• How to Upgrade from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 10 Enterprise
• How to Downgrade from Windows 10 Enterprise to Windows 10 Pro
• How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade
• How to Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10
• How to Refresh Windows 10
• How to Reset Windows 10
• How to Create or Download a Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO
• How to Start or Stop Receiving Insider Builds in Windows 10

:)

 

How to go back to the previous version of Windows 10?

Hi. How do you go back to the previous version of Windows 10?

 

How to go back to the previous version of Windows 10?

Option 1: you can try rolling back if its been less than 10 days since you upgraded:

How
to Use The Rollback Function in Windows 10 Creators Update and Earlier Versions of Windows 10

Option 2: If its been more than 10 days, then you will need to manually downgrade.

Step 1: download Windows 10 1607:

Download Windows 10 ISO Files Directly Using Your Web Browser

Step 2: double click the ISO file to mount it then start the installation. Choose the option, Keep files only (it probably will default to this option).

Carry out the procedures as described in the following article:

• How to: Perform a clean install of Windows 10

If you need a version of Windows 10 much earlier than 1607, see:

How to Download ISO Files or Reinstall Files for Older Versions of Windows 10

 

This tutorial has been updated for Windows 10 Insider Preview build 10122. *Smile

 

I am in the process of going back to previous build right now. So far it's been running for about 90 minutes but seems to be doing what it should. Does this generally take a while?

 

Hello Frank,

Yeah, it could sometimes take a while to finish. Especially if you had any issues in the current installation.

As long as you have hard drive activity, you should be good once you wake up from boredom. *Wink

 

I finally did get it back to the previous build and now I'll do a clean install. As far as the boredom was concerned I solved that problem the old fashioned way--I just took a nap. That worked wonders.

 

That's a perfect solution. *Wink

 

Hi Shawn,

I had a Windows 8.1 laptop and used the official 10162 ISO to run Setup.exe within Windows itself. However it won't let me go back. I get an error saying files are missing.

I don't think I should have done anything to damage windows.old or other files it needs. It's the laptop I was having activation problems with, so I did try entering different product keys, and I also tried to boot the machine's recovery options (but they couldn't find files to restore from), but I'm surprised if I did anything to break the functionality to go back.

I'd already taken a Macrium Reflect backup so hopefully that will work and it won't be an issue for me, but it does suggest that this function might not something to rely on as a way back.

 

Hey David,

Yeah, I wouldn't rely on it as an only source to go back with.

Did you use Disk Cleanup, or any similar 3rd party program, that would have removed previous Windows installation files?

 

Hi Shawn,

I'm pretty sure the only things I installed were software I use day-to-day, such as Firefox and Adobe Reader - in fact they may have been the only ones.

I did try the Manufacturer's Recovery feature (press F9 at power-on and it take you to recovery options), from which I tried restoring a System Image (but it said there was no Image saved) and a Reset from there - but it said it needed installation files to do it. So I don't think either of them should have changed anything.

It's not a problem for me (assuming my Macrium restore works out) but I'm happy to explore/ test things out tomorrow, if it would help contribute to Forum knowledge, especially as I think quite a few folks may want to roll back to their original OS in order to activate the GA release. *Smile

David

 

@DavidY

If you are an insider that upgrade from 7 or 8.1. you shouldn't need to roll back to activate the GA release. They way I understand if you upgrade for 7 or 8.1 and leave the insider program your RTM/GA will remain active & the build will become a GA release. Then of course you can download an pre-activated iso image for your system to do a clean install or an upgrade or repair install.

 

Hi there,

Thanks for that - yeah I know - but because of the activation problems at the weekend, I entered the 'testing' product key which I suspect will have made it 'forget' that it was originally upgraded from a valid 8.1 licence.

That's why I wanted to rollback and try going to 10162 again, hopefully this time it would activate straight away as I think they've fixed the activation problem.

 

Yeah, Microsoft has fixed the activation issue. *Smile

 

DavidY

I came across an unusual issue with my testing. If there is an oem maker in the firmware of your device, make sure you use that version of windows to upgrade 10 and not a retail or another oem version otherwise windows 10 will not activate. This could be an issue with those who have change there key to what on the back or bottom of the computer. Even when I knew the activation was fixed, it still didn't activate. So, I had to re-do everything. This time I am using windows 7 retail and the windows 7 oem was upgraded to windows 10.

Primary Partition 1 Windows 7 retail
Primary Partition 2 Windows 10 preview upgraded from windows 7 oem and it was not easy to say the least.
Logical Partition 5 Xubuntu
Logical Partition 6 Linux Swap