How to downgrade Windows 11 back to Windows 10
The method of downgrading a computer that has been upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 back to Windows 10 is possible from “Restore” in “Recovery” in “Settings”. However, the function to restore to Windows 10 is a requirement within 10 days after the upgrade or “Restore” is activated. This page introduces how to return to Windows 10 after upgrading Windows 10 to Windows 11.
After upgrading Windows 10 to Windows 11, please see the separate page below for what to do when it does not start.
Preparing to downgrade to Windows 10
To downgrade to Windows 10, use the Restore feature in System Settings Recovery. Click the Start button, then click Settings in the Start menu.
When “Settings” is displayed, the system screen is displayed, so click “Recovery”.
Next, perform the setting operation to restore Windows 10.
When BitLocker is enabled
If you are asked to enter a recovery key when downgrading, the BitLocker recovery key created in Windows 10 before the upgrade may not be usable. If BitLocker (disk encryption) is enabled, the recovery key may be updated when upgrading to Windows 11, so check the current recovery key before returning to Windows 10. You can check BitLocker recovery key at BitLocker recovery key on Microsoft official website https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey . You can check if BitLocker is enabled by going to Settings -> Update & Security -> Device Encryption and turning Device Encryption on or off. Also, if there is no “Device encryption” item, it is not encrypted. If you don’t know the recovery key, you can also turn off “device encryption” to unlock BitLocker and downgrade.
Restore Windows 11 to Windows 10 with restore function
If “Restore” is inactive and unclickable, you cannot go back to Windows 10 from the recovery function.
You need to set up Windows 10 anew. Please refer to the clean installation by booting the installation media on the following page .
1. When you click “Restore” on the “Recovery” screen, wait for a while as the preparation is displayed.
2. When the preparation is finished, the “Restore to Windows 10” screen will appear.
“Tell us why you want to revert to the previous version” is displayed. Select items (required) and enter a message and click “Next”
3. When asked “Would you like to check for updates?”, click ” No “.
4. Check the contents when “Things to know” is displayed, and click ” Next “.
5. “Please be careful not to be locked out” is displayed, so click ” Next “.
an account is temporarily disabled by entering an incorrect password too many times. The meaning explained here is that if the password has been changed after the update, it is necessary to sign in with the password that was used before the update.
6. When you see “Thank you for trying Windows 11″, click ” Restore to Windows 10 “.
When you click Restore to Windows 10, you cannot cancel restore to Windows 10. If you want to cancel, click “Cancel” here.
7. After rebooting, you will see “Restoring previous version of Windows…”. This process will take some time, but be patient.
8. When the restoration work is completed, the computer automatically restarts and the Windows 10 startup screen is displayed.
If you sign in and the previous Windows 10 home screen is displayed normally, the Windows 10 restore downgrade is complete.