By
Delia
/ Last
update
February 18, 2022
Windows 11 is the latest operating system from Microsoft, and it has been optimized to become better in the past few months. However, some users may feel uncomfortable after updating to Windows 11, or their devices are not running smoothly enough and they want to use the previous OS back. So what to do? Actually, Microsoft comes with a rollback option. After upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11, a copy of the old operating system will be stored on your computer for 10 days so that you can return to it. But if it takes longer than that, you may have to use other methods.
Downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10 within 10 days
If you have not upgraded to Windows 11 OS for more than 10 days, you can use the method described below to downgrade to Windows 10.
Please note that you may need to reinstall some applications after rolling back from Windows 11 to Windows 10. The data you saved on your Windows 11 computer will not be transferred back to Windows 10 either, so it is best to make a backup beforehand.
1. Press Windows + I to enter the Windows 11 settings page.
2. Click "Windows Update” on the left panel and choose “Advanced options” on the right.
3. Next, you need to click “Recovery” under Additional options. Then in the Recovery page, you will find the “Go back” option to rollback to Windows. Remember, you will only see this information within 10 days of upgrading to Windows 11, after 10 days, this option will disappear.
4. After clicking the “Go back” button, Microsoft will prompt you for the reason you decided to return to Windows 10. You can select any of the options on the screen, or enter your own answer. Your answer will help the Windows 11 development process. When you're done filling it out, click Next at the bottom to continue.
5. Then Windows 11 will ask you if you want to check for updates. These may help with issues you are experiencing (such as AMD GPU performance issues). If you don’t want it, just select “No, thanks”, and then follow the wizard to complete the process.
Depending on your computer's performance, you will need to wait for a while. Then your PC will reboot about twice and once the reboot is complete, you will be back to Windows 10.
Downgrade after upgrading for more than 10 days
If you have upgraded to Windows 11 for more than 10 days, the rollback option is no longer available. In this case, you need to do a clean installation of Windows 10. This will erase everything on your PC, so please back up your files beforehand.
To do this, visit the Microsoft download page, download Windows 10 installation media, then run it on your PC, select "Upgrade This PC Now" and follow the wizard to complete the operation.
If you have created a full system image on a Windows 10 PC, you can also restore a Windows 11 PC to it. Or, some backup tools that support dissimilar hardware restore enable you to create backups on other Windows 10 computers and then restore your Windows 11 to Windows 10 via it.
Above are the ways to roll back Windows 11 to Windows 10, you can try them according to your situation. But before downgrading, you may want to check if the latest version of Windows 11 has any features you like. After all, Microsoft's current focus is on improving Windows 11, and you can expect it to get better and better.