- #Downgrade windows 10 pro to home how to#
- #Downgrade windows 10 pro to home install#
- #Downgrade windows 10 pro to home windows 10#
#Downgrade windows 10 pro to home install#
To do this legitimately, you’ll need to purchase a Windows 7 or 8.1 license and install it from scratch, entering the product key you purchased during the install process.
#Downgrade windows 10 pro to home windows 10#
If you bought a new PC that came with Windows 10 and you want to go back to a previous version of Windows, that’s tougher. If so, Windows 8.1 will automatically detect it and allow you to reinstall Windows 8.1 without even asking you to enter a key. On a Windows 8 PC, you may not have to do this at all-the key may be embedded in your computer’s firmware. The sticker may be on the back of your desktop case, on the bottom (or inside the battery compartment) of your laptop, or it may have come on a separate card with your PC. On a Windows 7 PC, examine your PC for a “certificate of authenticity” sticker with a key on it. You’ll have to find your PC’s product key if you do this.
#Downgrade windows 10 pro to home how to#
RELATED: How to Find Your PC's Windows Product Key So You Can Reinstall Windows Be sure you have backup copies of all your important files from your Windows 10 PC first. You can then boot from it and reinstall Windows 7 or 8.1 fresh, telling it to overwrite the Windows 10 system already on your hard drive. Download the Windows installation media and burn the ISO file to a disc or copy it to a USB drive using Microsoft’s Windows USB/DVD download tool. Thankfully, Microsoft now offers easy downloads for Windows 7 and 8.1 ISO files. RELATED: Where to Download Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 ISOs Legally
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If you can’t downgrade to your old version (maybe it’s been to long, or maybe something went wrong with your downgrade attempt), you’ll have to perform a clean install of Windows-something PC geeks often do on new computers, anyway. That means that computer came with a product key that allows you to use Windows 7 or 8.1 on it. How to Downgrade if Windows 10 Doesn’t Give You The OptionĪssuming you have an old computer you upgraded to Windows 10, that computer previously had Windows 7 or 8.1 on it. If you’re sure you don’t want to go back to your previous version of Windows, use Disk Cleanup tool to remove those files and immediately free up space. In the list of files Disk Cleanup can remove, find the “Previous Windows installation(s)” entry, and can see just how much space it’s consuming on your hard drive. In the Disk Cleanup window, click the “Clean up system files” button. Hit Start, type “Disk cleanup” into the search box, and then click the result to run it. If you open the Disk Cleanup application, you’ll see just how much space it uses. Obviously, storing every single file from your old Windows installation takes a lot of space. RELATED: 7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows
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You can also browse the Windows.old folder and restore files from it. RELATED: How to Restore Your Files From the Windows.old Folder After Upgradingĭowngrading is possible because Windows 10 stores your old Windows installation in a folder named “C:\Windows.old” on your PC. You can see this folder in File Explorer, though you shouldn’t attempt to delete it from here. Windows will then restore your previous version, restarting your PC a couple of times along the way. When you get to the final screen, click the “Go back to Windows 7 (or 8.1)” button to make it happen. Next, it will run you through a couple of screens where it asks if you want to try updating Windows 10 instead (to see if it makes anything better), and then reminds you that if you have a password, you’ll need to remember it or disable it while you can.