How to return to the old version of windows. Restoring your computer to its previous settings. Restore old computer settings. How to restore your computer system

Good afternoon!. Not long ago we discussed a clean installation of Windows 10 1803 and an upgrade to it from previous versions. Unfortunately, innovations and updates may not always please the end user and do not always work without failures and complaints. In such situations, the average user may want to return the previous version of Windows 10 and stay on it until future times. Today we will look at the return procedure and methods so that nothing breaks for you.

What is reverting to a previous version?

We see another window with a mockery from Microsoft:

Thanks for testing this build. We will install the next preview build run when it is available. It sounds like a threat.

Let's begin the Windows 10 rollback procedure. Your system will reboot to return to the previous version.

You will see a black screen where you will see that the previous version of Windows is being restored. After several reboots you will get the same system. In my case, this is Windows 10 Pro 1709. Now I think you understand the fastest method of how to return the previous version after updating, but as I wrote above, it is not the only one, let’s move on to the second.

2 Method to downgrade Windows 10

In this method, Microsoft suggests using system recovery tools, which you can find either on the installation media or use the built-in ones. To get into them, do this.

Pinch and don't release the Shift button , right-click on the start button, from the context menu select "Shut down or log off - Reboot". But the trick here is that a reboot will be performed followed by downloading recovery and diagnostic utilities, which will help you easily return to the previous version of Windows 10.

The “Select Actions” window will open, in which you need to select the “Troubleshooting” item. We get to the “Diagnostics” window, it consists of two items:

Restore the computer to its original state. You will be able to keep or delete your files and then reinstall Windows.
Extra options

We are interested in the item "Advanced parameters"

Well, we are trying to return the previous version through the appropriate item.

The “Return to the previous version of Windows 10” window will open, select the user account, if you have forgotten the password, then this is unfortunate.

Specify the password and click continue.

You will be reminded again that all your files will be saved, let's say let's go and launch a return to the previous version of Windows 10.

Preparations for the rollback procedure will begin, upon completion of which the master will need to be rebooted. As you can see, returning the system to the previous version of Windows 10 is a very simple matter, if you just didn’t waste 10 days. As soon as

As you can see, the procedure itself is very simple, the main thing is never to rush to install new versions, it is better to always wait at least a couple of weeks, thanks to this you can avoid getting into a bad situation and avoid the loss of your data or the system itself..

Read about what data is stored in the Windows.old folder and how to recover it from there. How to delete the Windows.old folder to free up disk space. Have you upgraded from Windows 7 or 8 to the new Windows 10? Has a Windows.old folder appeared on your computer and is it taking up a lot of space? You can delete it, but not in the same way as you delete regular folders.

The Windows.old folder is not new to Windows 10. But before Windows 10, this folder could be seen if you purchased a new version of Windows and installed it by updating the previous version.

Content:

What is the Windows.old folder?

This folder appears when you upgrade from one version of Windows to a newer version, starting with Windows Vista. The Windows.old folder contains all the files and data from the previous version of Windows that was installed before the upgrade. It can be used to revert (roll back) to a previous version of Windows in case the new version does not work. To recover data after reinstalling Windows.

If you need to find a special file that was not copied correctly when updating Windows, you can also rummage through the Windows.old folder and find it.

Essentially, the Windows.old folder contains the old version of Windows. From Windows system files to installed programs, from user account settings to simple files, everything is here. The new version of Windows keeps this information in case you want to go back to the old version of Windows or if you need to find a file.

But, don't hesitate too long. Windows will automatically delete the Windows.old folder to free up disk space after a month.

How to return to a previous version of Windows?

From Windows 10, going back to Windows 7 or 8.1 is very easy. After installing Windows 10, you can simply open the Settings application, select Update & Security, and click Recovery. In this section we will see the option Return to Windows 7 or 8.1, depending on which version of Windows you upgraded from.

After we click the “Start” button, Windows will restore the previous version of the operating system using the Windows.old folder as a source.

Before Windows 10, this could also be done. Here, for example, are instructions from the official Microsoft website on how to restore Windows 7 to a previous version of Windows using the Windows.old folder. With Windows 10 everything is much simpler.

But again, as noted in Windows Settings, this feature is only available for a month after upgrading to Windows 10. After a month, Windows will automatically delete the Windows.old folder in order to free up disk space. So you have a month to decide whether you want to continue using the new version of the system or not and evaluate whether all the files you need were copied correctly.

How to recover individual files from the Windows.old folder

If you need to restore individual files from an old Windows installation, you can restore them from the Windows.old folder. To do this, you just need to open the Windows.old folder in File Explorer: C:\Windows.old. Your personal files will be located in the C:\Windows.old\Users\USERNAME folder.

But keep in mind that even on the official Microsoft website it is indicated that, if desired, you can restore all files or (Attention!) some of them from the Windows.old folder. To prevent data loss, Microsoft strongly recommends that you back up your files and settings to an external drive before restoring, reverting, updating, or reinstalling Windows.

That is, there is a risk of data loss when updating Windows and/or returning from Windows 10 to the previous version. Moreover, Microsoft does not provide for the recovery of data lost in this way using standard Windows tools.

In such a case, the only option for data recovery may be third-party software. If, when updating or restoring Windows, any data or files are lost, regardless of their type or extension, scan drive C: using Hetman Partition Recovery from Hetman Software, and restore them to a convenient location or storage medium.

How to delete the Windows.old folder to free up disk space

The Windows.old folder can take up quite a lot of disk space. At best it will be 12 GB. But its volume can reach 20 GB or even more. It all depends on the size of your previous version of Windows.

Try to delete the Windows.old folder in the same way as any other folder, and you will receive an error message. You can work around the error message by changing the permissions of the Windows.old folder. But this is the wrong way to delete this folder.

To remove the Windows.old folder, you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup tool or a third-party program. On Windows 10, open the Start menu, search for Disk Cleanup and launch the application. You can also open this application by right-clicking in the “This PC” folder on drive C, selecting “Properties” from the pop-up menu, then clicking the “Disk Cleanup” button.

Click the “Clean up system files” button. “Previous versions of Windows” will also appear in the list of files to delete, and Disk Cleanup will show how much space these files take up. Select this option and click Clean up disk, the old version of Windows will be removed. This function can also be used to clean the system disk from other unnecessary files.

By deleting the Windows.old folder you do not risk anything. If you are satisfied with the new version of Windows and have no desire to return to the old version of the operating system, and are also sure that all the files you need have been copied from the Windows.old folder, you can safely delete it.

Windows will still automatically delete the Windows.old folder a month after the update. All computers that have upgraded to Windows 10 will still be able to use the space occupied by the Windows.old folder, even if their users are unaware of the folder and are unaware of its existence or the ability to use Disk Cleanup.

In some cases, you may need to restore your Windows 7 computer to a previous installation of Windows. This article will walk you through the steps to manually revert your computer to a previous version of Windows.

Note. To do this, you need to use the Command Prompt to enter certain commands to rename and move folders between different versions of Windows.

To resolve this issue, follow the steps listed below to restore a previous version of Windows using the Windows.OLD folder on your computer.

Advice: It may be easier to follow the steps if you print the article first.

Step 1: Determine whether the Windows.old folder exists and whether there is sufficient free space on your Windows hard drive

Determine if the Windows.old folder is less than the free space available for local disk (C:) in step 1.2.

Note If the Windows.old folder is twice the amount of free space available for local disk (C:), you may not be able to restore the previous version of Windows.

Step 2: Launch Windows Recovery Environment

Insert the Windows 7 installation disc into the drive and restart your computer.
Press the key when prompted to restart the system from disk.
In the window " Windows installation» select language, time, currency, keyboard input method or other input method and press the button Further.
In the window " Windows installation» click the button Restore your computer.
In the window, select the version of the Windows 7 operating system that needs to be restored and click the button Further.
In the window System Recovery Options select Command line.

A Command Prompt window will open and display Command Prompt. The command line is where you enter the commands described in the following steps.

Step 3: Move Windows 7 Folders to New Win7 Folder

Note

When you receive this message, go to the next step in this section and enter the command in the next step.

Move Windows Win7\Windows

Move "Program Files" "Win7\Program Files"

Move Users Win7\Users

Attrib –h –s –r ProgramData

Move ProgramData Win7\ProgramData

Rd "Documents and Settings"

Step 4: Copy or move the contents of the Windows.old folder

Note If you follow the instructions below and enter one or more commands at the command prompt and press ENTER, you may receive the following message:

The system cannot find the specified file.

If this message appears, go to the next step in this section and enter the next step command.

Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command:

move /y c:\Windows.old\Windows c:\

move /y "c:\Windows.old\Program Files" c:\

move /y c:\Windows.old\ProgramData c:\

move /y c:\Windows.old\Users c:\

move /y "c:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings" c:\

Step 5: Restore the boot sector to the previous Windows installation

Type one of the following commands at the command prompt, depending on your specific situation.

Note In the following commands D: Represents DVDs. If DVD drives are represented by a different letter on your computer, such as E:, use that letter in the command.

If your previous Windows installation is Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000
D:\boot\bootsect/nt52 c:
If the previous Windows installation is Windows Vista
Type the following command and press Enter:
D:\boot\bootsect/nt60 c:

Step 6: Restore the Boot.ini file to a previous installation of Windows, Windows XP, or Windows 2000

Note Only if the previous installation was Windows XP or Windows 2000, follow these steps.

Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command.

Users who upgraded to Windows 10 have the option of returning to their previous operating system.

The so-called process Rollback is simple and can be done in just a few mouse clicks.

Windows 10 rollback conditions

Just as with the update, there is no need to perform a classic reinstallation - just follow a few steps to roll back Windows 10.

During the system update process, the Windows.old directory is created, into which the data of the current system is copied and which serves as a backup copy.

Thirty days after installation, this directory will be deleted by the system automatically. .

Deleting the Windows.old directory implies the impossibility of performing a rollback.

Note! The ability to roll back to Windows 7 or 8 is valid only for 30 calendar days after the update and provided that the user did not delete Windows.old.

Before you begin the return process, we recommend that you back up all important data to any available external drive or storage service.

How to downgrade Windows 10 to Windows 8.1/7

The sequence of actions when rolling back to Windows 7 is no different from the sequence of actions for the eighth version. The current system will automatically install the OS version that was installed previously.

So let's get started:

Step 1. Go to the Start menu, Settings submenu.

Step 2. In the “Settings” menu, go to the “Update and Security” submenu.

Step 3. In the “Recovery” submenu, select “Return to Windows X”, where X is the version of the operating system that was before the update. In our case, this is Windows 7. Click “Start”.

Step 4. We select the reason why the rollback is being performed, describe the essence of the situation in the “Tell me in more detail” field and click “Next”.

If you upgraded to Windows 10 and found that it wasn't working for you or encountered other problems, the most common of which at this point in time are related to graphics card drivers and other hardware, you can return to the previous version of the OS and downgrade from Windows 10. There are several ways to do this.

After the update, all the files of your old operating system are stored in the Windows.old folder, which previously sometimes had to be deleted manually, but this time it will be automatically deleted after a month (that is, if you updated more than a month ago, you will not be able to delete Windows 10) . The system also has a function for rolling back after an update, which is easy to use for any novice user.

Please note that if you deleted the above folder manually, the method described below to return to Windows 8.1 or 7 will not work. A possible course of action in this case, if you have a manufacturer's recovery image, is to reset the computer to its original state (other options are described in the last section of the instructions).

Rollback from Windows 10 to previous OS

To use the feature, click on the notification icon on the right side of the taskbar and click “All settings”.

In the settings window that opens, select “Update and Security”, and then “Recovery”.

The last step is to click the "Get Started" button under the "Back to Windows 8.1" or "Back to Windows 7" section. At the same time, you will be asked to indicate the reason for the rollback (choose any), after which Windows 10 will be removed, and you will return to your previous version of the OS, with all programs and user files (that is, this is not a reset to the manufacturer’s recovery image).

Some users who decided to remove Windows 10 and return Windows 7 or 8 encountered a situation where, despite the presence of the Windows.old folder, the rollback still does not occur - sometimes there is simply no required item in Settings, sometimes for some reason errors occur during the rollback.

In this case, you can try the Neosmart Windows 10 Rollback Utility, built on the basis of their Easy Recovery product. The utility is a bootable ISO image (200 MB), when you boot from it (having previously written it to a disk or flash drive), you will see a recovery menu in which:

You can burn the image to disk with any disk burning program, and to create a bootable flash drive, the developer offers its own utility, Easy USB Creator Lite, available on their website neosmart.net/UsbCreator/ however, in the VirusTotal utility it gives two warnings (which, in general, is not scary; usually in such quantities there are false positives). However, if you are afraid, you can burn the image to a flash drive or (in the latter case, select the field for Grub4DOS images).

Also, when using the utility, it creates a backup copy of the current Windows 10 system. So, if something goes wrong, you can use it to return “everything as it was.”

You can download Windows 10 Rollback Utility from the official page https://neosmart.net/Win10Rollback/ (when downloading, you are asked to enter your e-mail and name, but there is no verification).

Manually reinstalling Windows 10 on Windows 7 and 8 (or 8.1)

If none of the methods helped you, and less than 30 days have passed since upgrading to Windows 10, then you can do the following:

Perform a factory reset with automatic reinstallation of Windows 7 and Windows 8 if you have a hidden recovery image saved on your computer or laptop. More details: (also suitable for branded PCs and all-in-one PCs with a pre-installed OS).
Perform a clean installation of the system yourself if you know its key or it is in UEFI (for devices with 8 and higher). You can view the key “hardwired” into the UEFI (BIOS) using the ShowKeyPlus program in the OEM-key section (I wrote more in the article). At the same time, if to reinstall you need to download the original image of Windows in the desired edition (Home, Professional, For one language, etc.), then you can do it like this: .

In general, I would recommend staying on Windows 10 - of course, the system is not perfect, but it is clearly better than 8 on the day it was released. And to solve certain problems that may arise at this stage, you should search for options on the Internet, and at the same time go to the official websites of computer and equipment manufacturers to find drivers for Windows 10.

The release of a new operating system is always accompanied by a lot of problems. This could be a lack of compatibility with drivers for computer components or certain applications. Some users simply did not like the Windows 10 operating system due to its new design and the presence of a lot of changes in terms of functionality compared to previous versions of the software. If the new operating system from Microsoft does not suit the computer user in terms of functionality, there are several ways to switch from Windows 10 to Windows 7 or Windows 8. This can be done using standard system tools and using third-party applications.

How to restore Windows 7 or Windows 8 after installing Windows 10 using system tools

When installing a new version of the operating system, there is a precaution left on the computer that you can use if you need to return to a previous version of Windows. However, it is saved only in a situation where the operating system was updated without formatting the hard drive.

To use the Windows.Old folder to restore Windows 7 or 8 after upgrading to Windows 10, you must do the following:

Attention: If during the update process the Windows.Old folder was damaged and did not save backup information to restore the operating system, this menu item may not be available.

With the method described above for rolling back from Windows 10 to earlier versions of the operating system, the user has the opportunity to save all of his programs, as well as existing files, during recovery.

In a situation where it was not possible to recover in this way (due to the absence of an item in the menu or for another reason), we recommend trying system recovery using third-party software, which is described below in the instructions.

Rolling back a system from Windows 10 to Windows 7 or Windows 8 using third-party software

When the operating system settings do not include a restore option to a previous version of Windows, but the Windows.Old folder is saved, you can use specialized utilities that, in some cases, can solve the problem. The most famous program that allows you to restore Windows 7 or Windows 8 after installing Windows 10 is Neosmart Windows 10 Rollback Utility. It weighs just over 200 megabytes and is an image that must be burned to a CD/DVD or flash drive to create recovery media.

The easiest way to record the Neosmart Windows 10 Rollback Utility program is to use a special utility also developed by Neosmart, which is called USB Creator. All the programs mentioned above are available on the official website of the developers in free trial versions, which will be enough to return from Windows 10 to the version of the operating system saved in Windows.Old. Please note that you can also use other applications to record or flash drive, for example, the well-known UltraISO program.

Once the utility is recorded, you can begin the recovery procedure. To do this, go to the BIOS and set the boot process from the media on which the utility is recorded. After that, restart your computer and select Automated Repair on the first screen that opens. Next you will see all the systems that you can return to. To start the recovery procedure, click on Roll Back.

Attention: The Neosmart Windows 10 Rollback Utility application automatically saves the current version of Windows 10 during a system rollback in case there are problems with the installation.

How to get Windows 7 or Windows 8 back after installing Windows 10 with full formatting

If you completely removed the previous version of the operating system from your computer and installed Windows 10 on a clean hard drive, you can try to restore Windows 7 or Windows 8 using the remaining system tools or license keys.

On laptops there is almost always a separate partition on the hard drive, which is the system partition, and the system recovery image is stored on it. Depending on the model of laptop or computer, this tool may work differently, but it allows you to install the version of the operating system that was originally on the hard drive.

The second way to restore Windows 7 or Windows 8 is to download a system image from the Internet. You can download an image of any version of Windows on the Microsoft website. Next, you need to burn it to a flash drive or DVD and install it. A problem during the installation process will arise with the lack of a license key, but if you are using a laptop or computer on which Windows was originally installed, you can obtain the necessary ones in advance.

Please note that Microsoft gives users 30 days to downgrade from Windows 10 to an earlier version of the operating system using an OEM key. After 30 days it is no longer valid and is “attached” to Windows 10.

Previous versions These are either copies of files and folders that Windows Backup created, or copies of files and folders that Windows automatically saves as part of a restore point.

Previous versions can be used to recover accidentally changed, deleted, or damaged files and folders. Depending on the type of file or folder, you can open it, save it in a different location, or restore the previous version.

How previous versions are created

Previous versions are automatically saved as part of the restore point. When system protection is turned on, Windows automatically creates previous versions of files and folders that have changed since the last restore point was created. Typically, restore points are created once a day.

If the drive is partitioned or your computer has multiple hard drives, you should enable system protection for other partitions or drives. Previous versions are also created by Windows Backup when you back up files.

Note: If a file has changed several times within one day, only the latest version at the time the restore point or backup was created is saved as the previous version.

How to restore previous versions of a file and folder

Right-click the file or folder and select .

A list of available previous versions of the file or folder appears. The list will contain files saved during backup (if Windows Backup is used to back up files) and recovery points.

Note: To restore a previous version of a file or folder that you added to a library, right-click the file or folder in the location where you saved it, not in the library. For example, to restore a previous version of an image added to the image library, but in the folder My drawings, right click on the folder My drawings and select Restore previous versions.

What is the difference between a recovery point and a backup?

If you restore the previous version from a restore point, the file is downloaded on your computer, so you don't need to do anything else.

To restore a previous version of a file or folder from a backup, after selecting the previous version and clicking Restore, Windows opens the File Restore Wizard, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

The disk or media on which the backup is stored must be accessible so that items from the backup can be restored.

Why are there no previous versions of some files?

Possible reasons:

The file has not been modified. Previous versions are only available for files that have been modified.
A restore point or backup was not created after the file was modified.
The drive on which these files are stored may not have system protection enabled. If system protection is not turned on, Windows cannot create previous versions.

You can recover a deleted file or folder

If you accidentally deleted or renamed a file or folder, you can restore a previous version of a file or folder, but you need to know the location where they are stored.

To recover a deleted or renamed file or folder, follow these steps:

Clue: If you don't remember the file or folder name or location, enter part of the name in the search box in the Computer folder.

Previous file versionsand folders are a very useful tool and are created using shadow copies, provided that System Protection is enabled for the Local disk on which the files are located and restore points are created accordingly. There are also many more conditions that dictate the creation and storage of Previous versions of files on your computer, unfortunately many people do not know about them. To avoid losing your data on your computer one day, read our article.

Note: The previous versions of files tool also exists in the new Windows 8 operating system, but is called differently - " "

If you enable System Protection for a Local Disk, then Previous versions of files will automatically begin to be created; as soon as you disable System Protection for this disk, the creation of previous versions of files on it will immediately stop. That is, we can say that Previous versions of files are directly related to recovery points, one might say more, they are part of them. How to enable System Protection to create restore points for any Local disk Start->Control Panel->System and Security->System->System Protection or you can read here. You will also be interested in articles on this topic and

Previous file versions

System Protection is automatically enabled for the drive on which Windows 7 is installed; if you want to use the Previous Versions of Files tool on other drives, then System Protection must also be enabled for them.

Note: This tool is best used to recover accidentally deleted or unsuccessfully edited files. For fairly serious archiving of computer data, the Previous Versions of Files tool will most likely not be suitable; here it is better to use Archiving Computer Data or.

As I already noticed Previous file versions are closely related to recovery points. If, after creating a recovery point, you changed any files, for example, deleted a document from any folder, then it will naturally be available in previous versions of this folder, let’s, for example, delete the DVD Maker folder from the Program Files folder.

To return our deleted folder to us using the tool Previous file versions click on the folder Program Files right-click and select Restore previous version from the drop-down menu.

The Program Files Properties window appears, the Previous Files Versions tab, which contains yesterday's version of the Program Files folder,

we go into it by double-clicking the left mouse and see the Previous version of the deleted DVD Maker folder, copy it and paste it into place in the Program Files folder, that’s all, as if we had never deleted anything.

Previous versions of files can be opened and therefore viewed, copied, and also restored. Be careful with the button Restore it can be used to overwrite a file.

Why are previous versions of files not created?

Previous versions of files will not be created for files on any Local Disk if you have System Protection turned off for it
If your file has not been modified, then Previous versions of files will not be available for it.
Previous versions of files are not created on disks formatted in the FAT and FAT32 file systems. These file systems do not support the functionality of creating shadow copies containing information about system and user files.
If you use two operating systems on your computer, for example Windows XP and Windows 7, when you start the older Windows XP, all restore points created by Windows 7 will be deleted, which means you won’t find previous versions of files the next time you boot Windows 7.
Many programs for cleaning hard drives and the registry delete recovery points; you need to configure these utilities manually by entering the System Volume Information folder (containing recovery points) into the exceptions.
If you use a laptop, then the creation of recovery points will not be performed when the power is turned off.

Tags for the article: