Windows 10 Anniversary Update Allows Only 10 Days To Revert Back To Older Windows Versions
Another word of warning before you proceed with installing the Anniversary Update for Windows 10—you only have 10 days to decide if things are working out or whether you want to roll back to a previous build. After 10 days, Windows 10 locks you into the Anniversary Update for good, whereas previously Microsoft allowed 30 days to evaluate things.
For most people this will be no big deal. In our limited testing, the Anniversary Update has been running fine on multiple PCs and configurations. But that's not going to be the case across the board. Limiting the ability to roll things back to a previous build to only 10 days will inevitably put some users in a tough spot. What if someone applies the update to a desktop PC a few days before heading out of town on business or vacation? The rollback period will have ended by the time they return, giving them no real time to test the machine and make sure things are working correctly.
You only have 10 days after applying the Anniversary Update to roll back to a previous build of Windows 10
Be that as it may, Microsoft claims it had your best interest in mind when it made the decision to shorten the rollback period.
"Based on our user research, we noticed most users who choose to go back to a previous version of Windows do it within the first several days. As such, we changed the setting to 10 days to free storage space used by previous copies," Microsoft told WinSuperSite.
If you believe Microsoft's reasoning, then this is one of the benefits of its data collection in Windows 10. Taking Microsoft at its word, the company learned that most downgrades happen in just a few days, and by shortening the period before the new build becomes permanent it can recover around 3-5GB of storage space on your system.
The same thing would happen if Microsoft kept the setting at 30 days, but for users eager to reclaim their storage, the 10-day evaluation period gets it back to them quicker. That could be a big deal for some users, especially those with small primary drives, such as a 128GB SSD.
Sounds reasonable, but how many users who ultimately decided to roll back did so after 10 days? Note that in Microsoft's statement it says "most users," not "all users," meaning this decision is going to negatively affect some people.
For most people this will be no big deal. In our limited testing, the Anniversary Update has been running fine on multiple PCs and configurations. But that's not going to be the case across the board. Limiting the ability to roll things back to a previous build to only 10 days will inevitably put some users in a tough spot. What if someone applies the update to a desktop PC a few days before heading out of town on business or vacation? The rollback period will have ended by the time they return, giving them no real time to test the machine and make sure things are working correctly.
You only have 10 days after applying the Anniversary Update to roll back to a previous build of Windows 10
Be that as it may, Microsoft claims it had your best interest in mind when it made the decision to shorten the rollback period.
"Based on our user research, we noticed most users who choose to go back to a previous version of Windows do it within the first several days. As such, we changed the setting to 10 days to free storage space used by previous copies," Microsoft told WinSuperSite.
If you believe Microsoft's reasoning, then this is one of the benefits of its data collection in Windows 10. Taking Microsoft at its word, the company learned that most downgrades happen in just a few days, and by shortening the period before the new build becomes permanent it can recover around 3-5GB of storage space on your system.
The same thing would happen if Microsoft kept the setting at 30 days, but for users eager to reclaim their storage, the 10-day evaluation period gets it back to them quicker. That could be a big deal for some users, especially those with small primary drives, such as a 128GB SSD.
Sounds reasonable, but how many users who ultimately decided to roll back did so after 10 days? Note that in Microsoft's statement it says "most users," not "all users," meaning this decision is going to negatively affect some people.
