Need help to revert back to Win 10 from Win 11

rlee123 said:

Hello,

My HP Envy laptop updated itself to Win 11 in January, which has caused constant disruption with my Brother printer (despite re-installing the printer and driver 2x and troubleshooting with Brother tech support 4x), so I'm trying to revert to Win 10. While I'm confident moving my files from an old laptop to a new laptop, a Clean Install is totally new to me. I have diligently read guidance on a Clean Install such as this very detailed write-up (https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...3e587?page=119), but I am not uncomfortable performing the Clean Install without some tech support.

Please let me know if you're willing to give me some phone/Skype/Zoom tech support if/when my Clean Install hits some speed bumps, and please let me know what your rates are. I'm in Los Angeles, so Pacific Time, but I'm more than happy to work on your schedule whatever it may be.

Thank you.

Just read the tutorials in the tutorial section - it is dead easy.

Clean Install Windows 10

Do not take the risk of a stranger logging on to your pc. I know risk of a dishonest person is low but it is not zero.

If you really need to have a person do it, go to a local pc store.

Hi, 3 things to note:

a. activation of the clean win 10 installation should be automatic.
b. whilst upgrading to Win 11 is supposed to be opt-in only, there have been reports of PCs being upgraded to Win 11 without the user choosing to do so.

I note you have Win 10 Pro - there's a helpful group policy you can set widely posted on the internet which will prevent that happening again.

See the tenforums Tutorial - from the huge searchable Tutorials section- 'target feature update'.

c. Back up before you clean install- think what you will lose or find hard to recover.
Note that EVERYTHING on your PC now which is on your present Windows partition will be lost in the clean install.
Things that you should prepare backups for before you start the clean install include in particular
- browser-related data (favourites, maybe passwords)
- email-related data if you use an email client (program).

These can be hard to retrieve from an offline copy of your Win 10- if you keep one aside, that is.

Consider too any installed programs you've bought- are the license keys secure?

You will probably lose the rights to any giveaway programs you have installed.

A very wise idea, before you start a clean install, is to create a disk image of what you have now.
After you've completed installing Win 10 you can simply mount the image file of your Win 11 installation, and copy what you need from that.

(The routine and regular use of 3rd party disk imaging to provide a way back to a previous good state when things go wrong is endlessly recommended here- e.g. Macrium Reflect (free or paid)).

You could of course simply remove the disk with Win 11 on it and put it aside, and clean install Win 10 to a new disk.
That way you can recover what you need from it later.

rlee123 said:

I have diligently read guidance on a Clean Install such as this very detailed write-up (https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...3e587?page=119)

Your hyperlink is corrupt.
I think you mean http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-windows_install/clean-install-windows-10/1c426bdf-79b1-4d42-be93-17378d93e587

But I agree with Cereberus, TenForumsTutorials provide better guidance and I think you will find that this one is sufficient to guide you through the procedure.
This is the same procedure Cereberus posted - Clean Install - TenForumsTutorials
I urge you to make a new system image beforehand.
I urge you to backup your drivers beforehand [it's actually the same procedure in both OSes] -
Backup and Restore Device Drivers - ElevenForumTutorials
Backup and Restore Device Drivers - TenForumsTutorials

You can ask any questions you want about the procedure but I really do not think you will need to.

Best of luck,
Denis

---

Welcome to TenForums.

It's really worth making time to browse through the Tutorial index - there's a shortcut to it at the top of every page.

- At the foot of the Tutorial index is a shortcut to download it as a spreadsheet.
- I download a new copy each month.
- By downloading it as a spreadsheet I can benefit from Excel's excellent filtering capabilities when I search for topics of interest.

- Tutorials are also listed by category at Tutorials - there's also a shortcut to that at the top of every page.
- Both tutorial lists are searchable.
- You can also search for TenForumsTutorials in many general search engines, such as Google, by adding site:tenforums.com/tutorials after your search term. For example,
taskbar toolbars site:tenforums.com/tutorials

You can search TenForums using the search box in the top-right corner of all TenForums webpages or using Advanced Search - TenForums
- You can also search TenForums threads in many general search engines, such as Google, by adding site:tenforums.com after your search term. For example,
Search for drivers by HardwareID site:tenforums.com
- [This is what the search box in the top-right corner of TenForums webpages does automatically]

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives.

During POST, press F9(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name) if you want to install as UEFI-GPT or select USB (name) if you want to install as Legacy-MBR.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.

rlee123 said:

I haven't had time to read through all the new links yet

Regina,

When you do you will find that Clean Install - TenForumsTutorials will be a sufficient guide for the job.
The preparations are important - system image, driver backup
[You won't need to do anything with your Bios].

Best of luck,
Denis