How to Rollback Windows 10 1809 to version 1803

The latest update to Windows 10, version 1809 is now available as a general release. The first two weeks would only be seeker only mode, where the update would be offered if you press Check for updates, unlike Automatic update in Windows 10.

As a feature update is equivalent to installing a new OS, it is expected that some things in your PC get broken. The extent of broken things can vary-from Audio not working to logging into a temporary account. Depending on the issue, you might consider a rollback to the earlier release. This article explains the same on how to rollback Windows 10 1809 to an earlier release.

How to?

When you upgrade to a newer version of Windows, your older version gets stored in C:/ in a folder named Windows.old, so if you want to restore you can restore it. This folder is available for 10 days since the update. When you initiate a rollback, files from Windows.old are moved to Windows Directory i.e. the newer OS gets replaced by older OS. To initiate the rollback, see the steps below:

1. Open Settings app and go to Update and Security.
2. Open Recovery from the left.
3. Now if the Windows.old folder is present, you would see the option titled “Go back to the previous verison of Windows 10″
   
4. Click Get Started. If the PC is on battery, plug it in.
5. Select the reason why you want to Rollback.
6. After some time, the device would rollback to 1803.

Alternative

There is one more method to rollback Windows 10. This is beneficial if you cannot boot into Windows itself. For those, please see the steps below:

1. Boot to Windows Recovery environment. To boot to it, you have two options:
   1. At the lock Screen, press Shift and click Restart from the bottom right. You would be booted to Windows RE.
   2. Reboot the PC three times during boot.
2. Go to Troubleshoot.
3. Click Uninstall Updates
   
4. Select Uninstall Latest feature update.
   
5. The PC would reboot and ask you for login credentials.
6. Enter those and the rollback would be initiated.

So these two methods would allow you to rollback to the older feature update. You can keep looking for the fix you need on the update History page when the cumulative update for the version arrives.