Revert to Windows 7

Upgrade to Windows 10 2 weeks ago, fine except 2 progs I use won't work in WIndows 10, plus one is no longer supported.

Since I still have the Windows.old folder, and within the 4 week option I should be able to restore Windows 7. However within Settings/Recovery where I should be given the go back option I am not given the option to go back to win 7.

My only option now is to rebuild win 7 from scratch which is a pain.

I would just like to understand why in this instance why, as I am within the 4 week option and windows.old folder is still there, why I don't have the go back option?


As an aside I am hearing lots about incompatible software in win 10 which MS don't want you to know about. So everyone should take a system image before upgrading, lesson learnt.

What method did you use to upgrade and what build version are you on? Type winver in the search bar to find out.

philc43 said:

What method did you use to upgrade and what build version are you on? Type winver in the search bar to find out.

Thank you


You raise a good point which I hadn't thought of - however on checking the update history the PC is on the original version installed, the latest version (10586.3) has not been installed - so we are on 10240.

I can't remember the exact process, but it was the win10 download and upgrade, we opted for the option to retain personal files, apps etc.

I am not aware of anything that should have pre-empted the option to go back.

Ok, sounds like you used the media creation tool and did not go through the windows update process.

There is another way to try and go back and this involves a restart into advanced options. Hold down the shift key when clicking on restart and this should get you to the troubleshooting menu where you can select Advanced options and see if the Go back to previous build is there.

philc43 said:

Ok, sounds like you used the media creation tool and did not go through the windows update process.

There is another way to try and go back and this involves a restart into advanced options. Hold down the shift key when clicking on restart and this should get you to the troubleshooting menu where you can select Advanced options and see if the Go back to previous build is there.

No didn't use the media creation tool, straight download and install.

Also tried what you suggested, and am not given the go back option, thats why I raised the issue as that is exactly what I expected to see,. I'd just like to understand why one wouldn't be given this option, if you are on the same version, within the 4 weeks, and ran the upgrade direct from the download?

Puzzles the hell out of me..............................

I'm also at a loss to explain this. I hope someone else can step in with an explanation and fix.

robmar0se said:

Since I still have the Windows.old folder, and within the 4 week option I should be able to restore Windows 7. However within Settings/Recovery where I should be given the go back option I am not given the option to go back to win 7.

This may not help, but how large is your windows .old folder?

Depending on how much stuff you had installed before doing the upgrade, it ought to be more than 10GB.

I speculate that something has happened to windows.old that is preventing you from going back.

either way ,a go back from windows 10 will result in the loss of the win7 programs ,it did for me once anyway ,when going back to win8.1 from 10prieview

The restore does not often work smoothly, I would suggest backing up all data to a separate disk and do a clean install. Then you can reinstall all the programs and restore data by copying it to the new installation.