You’ve upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and now realize you’re not that crazy about Microsoft's newest operating system. Maybe you don’t like the new Start menu or taskbar. Perhaps you miss certain built-in apps or features. Or maybe you just miss the familiarity of Windows 10. Whatever the reason, you can jump back to the older OS.
Microsoft gives you 10 days to revert from Windows 11 to 10. However, there is a way to extend that deadline. Here's how to return to the comfort of Windows 10.
Downgrade Within 10 Days
Let’s say you upgraded to Windows 11 fewer than 10 days ago and want to go back to Windows 10. That’s easy enough. Go to Settings > System > Recovery. In the Recovery options section, you should see Go back: If this version isn't working, try going back to Windows 10.
Before you make the trip, however, know that if you've installed any applications or tweaked any settings specific to Windows 11, they may not survive the journey back to Windows 10 intact. But since Windows 11 has been in place fewer than 10 days, then hopefully you haven’t made too many major changes. To proceed, click the Go back button.
A pop-up window asks why you're going back to Windows 10. Check your answer and click Next.
The next window suggests installing the latest updates to fix whatever problems you've encountered. To bypass that step, click the No, thanks button.
The next window cautions you that you won't be able to use your PC until the process is finished, that you'll have to reinstall some apps and programs, and you'll lose any changes made to your settings after Windows 11 was installed. To proceed, click Next.
The next window warns you to remember your password so you don't get locked out. Click Next.
At the next window, Microsoft thanks you for trying Windows 11. Click Go back to Windows 10.
The process finally kicks off. Downgrading from Windows 11 to Windows 10 make take awhile, so be patient. After the downgrade has completed, sign into your restored Windows 10 environment. You'll want to hunt for any applications you installed or settings you changed under Windows 11 to find any that need to be reinstalled or modified.
Downgrade After 10 Days
Now, let’s say you'd like more than 10 days to use Windows 11 but still want the option to go back to Windows 10. You can check the number of days left and even extend the deadline to as many as 60 via a handy Microsoft command line tool. At the search field, type cmd. From the search results, click the one for Run as administrator to open a command prompt with administrative rights.
At the command prompt, type the following string: DISM /Online /Get-OSUninstallWindow. The number after the phrase Uninstall Window indicates how many days are left.
To extend the deadline, type the following string: DISM /Online /Set-OSUninstallWindow /Value:, replacing with the number of days you wish to apply. For example, to set the deadline for downgrading to 30 days, type DISM /Online /Set-OSUninstallWindow /Value:30. You can set the deadline to as little as two and as many as 60 days.
Then press the up arrow key to display the DISM /Online /Get-OSUninstallWindow command. Press Enter to run that command again and confirm that the number of days you set is now in effect. You can now return to Settings and run the Go back command anytime before the new number of days are up.
