Windows 10 is out the door and millions of users are upgrading every day, as Microsoft is offering the new operating system as a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers. While Microsoft hopes that you’ll stay the new operating system, the company also includes the option to roll back to your previous version of Windows, in case you don’t like the upgrade, or if you’re having issues.
No surprising the company does not mention the reason of the limited time to roll back to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 after upgrading to Windows 10. In part is because the company is betting big in its operating system and wants users to stay on Windows 10.
“Yes, while we think you will love all the features of Windows 10, you will have one month after upgrading to revert back to the previous version of Windows on your device.”
The other reason is that a copy of the previous version takes up a lot of valuable space in your PC’s hard drive, as such after that one month Windows 10 assumes you’ll stay in the new version and it deletes the Windows.old and Windows.~BT folders to reclaim space.
The following are the steps you must follow to rollback (uninstall) Windows 10 from your computer and go back to Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.
How to uninstall Windows 10 from your PC
- Use the Windows key + E keyboard shortcut to open File Explorer.
- Double-click the C:\ drive and make sure you have the Windows.old and Windows.~BT folders, which contains the necessary files to roll back. (You may need to click View on File Explorer, and click the Hidden items option to view the Windows.~BT folder.) If you don’t have these folders, you won’t be able to uninstall the Windows 10.
- Use the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut to open the Settings app.
- Click Update & security.
- Click Recovery.
- Depending on your previous version you’ll see a new section called “Go back to Windows 8.1” or “Go back to Windows 7”, click the Get started button.
- Answer the question and click Next to continue.
- You can now either check for updates, which may fix your current issue. If you’re ready to roll back, click No, thanks to continue.
- Read carefully what’s going to happen when you uninstall the Windows 10 Anniversary Update from your computer. For example, you’ll have to reinstall some apps, and you’ll lose the settings configured after installing the latest build. Click Next to continue.
- Remember that you’ll need the password you used to sign in to your previous version of Windows 10. Click Next to continue.
- Click Go back to Windows 8.1 or Go back to Windows 7 to begin the rollback.
If you’re still within the first month of the upgrade to Windows 10, you can also use this video tutorial for more details on how to roll back to Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.
Use the Windows key + E keyboard shortcut to open File Explorer.
Double-click the C:\ drive and make sure you have the Windows.old and Windows.~BT folders, which contains the necessary files to roll back. (You may need to click View on File Explorer, and click the Hidden items option to view the Windows.~BT folder.) If you don’t have these folders, you won’t be able to uninstall the Windows 10.
Use the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut to open the Settings app.
Click Update & security.
Click Recovery.
Depending on your previous version you’ll see a new section called “Go back to Windows 8.1” or “Go back to Windows 7”, click the Get started button.
Answer the question and click Next to continue.
You can now either check for updates, which may fix your current issue. If you’re ready to roll back, click No, thanks to continue.
Read carefully what’s going to happen when you uninstall the Windows 10 Anniversary Update from your computer. For example, you’ll have to reinstall some apps, and you’ll lose the settings configured after installing the latest build. Click Next to continue.
Remember that you’ll need the password you used to sign in to your previous version of Windows 10. Click Next to continue.
Click Go back to Windows 8.1 or Go back to Windows 7 to begin the rollback.
If you don’t want to use the built-in tool to roll back, or you don’t see the Go back to Windows 8.1 or Go back to Windows 7 option on the Settings app, you can alternatively restore by using a previous full backup of your system. In the case, you don’t have a backup, you can reinstall the your previous version doing a clean install of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
Update, August 5, 2016: Starting with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft is shortening the time you can roll back from 30 to 10 days. The new change makes possible for users to be able automatically reclaim wasted space after the upgrade.
