Installation and Upgrade Go Back to Previous Version of Windows in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to go back to the previous Windows from Windows 11 without losing your documents, photos, and other personal files.

Windows 11 gives you the ability to uninstall and go back (roll back) to a previous version of Windows.

When you upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10, repair install Windows 11, reset Windows 11 with "Keep my files", or update to a new version of Windows 11 (ex: Windows Update), a copy of the previous installation is saved to the Windows.old folder in the root directory of the Windows 11 drive as a backup. This backup will allow you to be able to go back to the previous Windows for up to a 10 days after upgrading to Windows 11 if you should want to.

Going back to the previous Windows will keep your personal files, but it'll remove apps and drivers installed after the upgrade, as well as any changes you made to settings.

To go back, you'll need to:

• Keep everything in the windows.old and $windows.~bt folders after the upgrade.
• Remove any user accounts you added after the upgrade.
• Have the USB drive you used to upgrade to Windows 11 (if you used one).

Reference:







1 Boot to advanced startup.

2 Click/tap on Troubleshoot. (see screenshot below)


3 Click/tap on Advanced options. (see screenshot below)


4 Click/tap on Uninstall Updates. (see screenshot below)


5 Click/tap on Uninstall latest feature update. (see screenshot below)


6 Click/tap on Uninstall feature update to begin. (see screenshot below)


7 The previous version of Windows will now start restoring.

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Recovery on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Click/tap on Go back on the right side under Recovery options. (see screenshot below)


4 Check why you are going back to provide feedback to Microsoft, type more details under Tell us more, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)


5 Click/tap on No, thanks. (see screenshot below)


6 Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)


7 Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)


8 Click/tap on Go back to earlier build or Go back to Windows 10 to begin. (see screenshots below)


9 The previous version of Windows will now start restoring.

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin), and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Copy and paste the command below into Windows Terminal (Admin), and press Enter.

DISM /Online /Initiate-OSUninstall /Quiet

This command will restart the computer immediately to start going back to the previous Windows.

For more command usage details, see: DISM operating system uninstall command-line options | Microsoft Docs

That's it,
Shawn Brink