How to roll back to Windows 10 from Windows 11 OS

Just a couple of weeks back, Microsoft announced their upcoming Windows 11 operating system continuing the legacy of Windows 10 OS which was weird for many as Windows 10 assumed to be the last version of its kind. Even then, Microsoft confused a huge number of its consumers with their new security and system requirements which sounds good but doesn’t stand practical. These requirements created a great hurdle for many and you can look at these requirements yourself.

Windows 11 previews are already available for testers who enrolled in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program. However, since these are pre-releases, it's likely to run into unknown bugs, compatibility problems, and unfinished features that can ruin your experience.

If you have experienced any sort of issue(s) with one of the most recent builds or still do not feel okay to switch, you can still roll back the computer to the stable version of Windows 10. But, the process will depend on when you upgraded the computer to Windows 11. Like, you can use the Recovery settings to restore the previous installation from a backup that the setup created automatically before the upgrade but the only caveat is that this option is only available for the first 10 days after the upgrade and after that, the system will delete the previous installation files automatically to free up space on the device. 

Don't worry! you still can roll back to Windows 10 but you have to perform a full reinstallation.

Today, we will walk you through the steps to roll back to Windows 10 from Windows 11, just follow the guide.

How to roll back to Windows 10 from Windows 11 via Settings

To use the Settings app to roll back Windows 10 if your Windows 11 computer is acting weird, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Settings. You can also Win + I shortcut to do so.

Step 2: Click on System

Step 3: Click the Recovery page on the right side.

Step 4: Under the "Recovery options" section, click on the' Go back' button in the "Previous version of Windows" settings.

Quick note: If you are unable to find that option, you may need to follow the installation process as mentioned below. 

Step 5: Select any given reason when Windows ask for "Why are you going back" and hit the Next button.

Step 6: Click the No, thanks button for 'Check for updates?'

Step 7: Now, Windows will show a 'What you need to know" screen where it tells you about the implications of the process. After reading or ignoring that, hit the Next button.

Step 8: Hit the Next button on the 'Don't get locked out' screen.

Step 9: Finally, Click on the Go back to the earlier build button. 

Once you complete these steps, the setup process will come into action and revert the system to the previous version of the operating system. 

Pro Tip: This process preserves your files, but you should rely on this. You should always keep a backup of your files in an external hard drive or cloud storage service. 

Quick Note:  If you have installed any applications while staying on Windows 11 then it will be uninstalled and certainly you have to install those again.

How to roll back to Windows 10 from Windows 11 via re-installation 

If you have used Windows 11 for more than 10 days and now you want to roll back to Windows 10, then you can restore the computer by performing a reinstallation of Windows 10.

To roll back to Windows 10 from Windows 11 with full re-installation, follow these steps. 

Step1: Open Windows 10 download page. 

Step2: Under the "Create Windows 10 install media" section, click the Download tool now button.

Step 3: Double-click to run the MediaCreationTool21H1.exe file to launch the setup.

Step 4: Click the Accept button. 

Step 5: Select the Upgrade this PC now option, hit the Next button, and click the Accept button again. 

Step 6: Select the Nothing option since you can only perform a clean reinstallation and hit the Next button. 

Step 7: Click the Install button.

After following these steps, Windows 10 will be restored on the computer as a clean installation. Using this process, you need to go through the out-of-box experience (OOBE) to create a new user account and configure your preferences. After that, all you need to do is restore your files from a previous backup if you want that.

Alternatively, you can also use USB media to start the computer and proceed with a clean installation which takes a few more steps.

This will restore your Windows 10 OS from the Windows 11 preview build.