Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines

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The Windows 10 Roll Back Option is missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines. My primary laptop, Dell Precision M4600 Mobile Workstation, also runs with Windows 10 Technical Preview 2. A couple of times, the Windows 10 upgrade process failed on this Windows 8.1 laptop.

The Windows 10 upgrade has almost finished and failed just before the upgrade process was completed. However, I didn’t lose any data or applications, as the upgrade process was successfully restored to the FULLY working version of Windows 8.1. 

I love the Windows 10 upgrade process because of this restore feature. I upgraded the Windows 8.1 laptop to Windows 10 on the third attempt. The only difference between the second and third Windows 10 upgrade attempts was the removal of some unwanted applications.

After the Windows 10 upgrade, my Hyper-v lab with SCCM 2012 CAS and Primary servers is intact. Unlike Microsoft Office (irony), most applications are working. I don’t worry about Office, as I can download and use Office 2016, as blogged here.

Patch My PC
Index
Windows 10 RollBack Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines
FIX -The Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Table 1

Windows 10 RollBack Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines

I got an interesting reply for one of my tweets, and that tweet was related to the post “How to Uninstall Windows 10 TP and Restore the Previous Version of Windows“. The reply was from Surjeet, and his question was, “I upgraded from 8.1 to #windows10 but never saw the boot option to roll back when restarting the PC“.

Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines - Fig.1
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Fig.1

So, when you upgrade a Windows 8.1 machine to Windows 10, you won’t get the following screen whenever you reboot the machine: Is the Windows 10 RollBack Option missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines?

Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines - Fig.2
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Fig.2

So why is the option “Choose an Operating System” missing for “Windows 10 machines” upgraded from Windows 8.1? I was not sure why the behavior was different from the “Windows 7 to Windows 10” upgrade!

This triggered my third attempt to upgrade my Windows 8.1 Precision laptop. After the successful upgrade to Windows 10, I noticed that Surjeet was correct in stating there is no option to select Windows Rollback when restarting the PC.

FIX -The Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing

I was checking the same old trick that helped us in Dual-boot scenarios. We can find “this setting” when you navigate via system properties (sysdm.cpl) –> Advanced tab –> “Startup and Recovery –> Settings“.

I’ve noticed that the “On Startup and Recovery window” –> The Default Operating System option –> “Time to display a list of Operating Systems” option is NOT enabled, and this is the default setting when you upgrade Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.

Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines - Fig.3
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Fig.3

I’ve enabled “Time to display the list of Operating Systems“, as shown in the following picture. Once you enable this option, you’ll get the Windows Rollback option when you restart Windows 10.

Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines - Fig.4
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Fig.4

The Windows Rollback option is always present in all Windows 10 upgrades. Sometimes, Sometimeslayed (instead, hidden) while booting up a Windows 10 machine. Windows 8.1 machines will also get the Windows 10 Rollback option when you enable the “Time to Display List of Operating System” option from System Properties (SYSDM.CPL).

Default Operating System
Windows Rollback
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Table 2
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines - Fig.5
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Fig.5

Edit: This morning, I got a reply to my Tweet from Gabriel Aul!! He suggested another way to restore machines to the previous OS.

Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines - Fig.6
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Fig.6

@GabeAul:@anoopmannur You can also select rollback in Settings > Update & recovery > Recovery.

Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines - Fig.7
Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines – Fig.7

Resources

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Author

Anoop C Nair is Microsoft MVP! He is a Device Management Admin with more than 20 years of experience (calculation done in 2021) in IT. He is a Blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group HTMD Community leader. His primary focus is Device Management technologies like SCCM 2012, Current Branch, and Intune. He writes about ConfigMgr, Windows 11, Windows 10, Azure AD, Microsoft Intune, Windows 365, AVD, etc.

24 thoughts on “Windows 10 Roll Back Option is Missing from the Upgraded Windows 8.1 Machines”

  1. Awesome, but it’s too late for me to rollback as I’ve already deleted most of the stuff in Windows.OLD on my C:\ – taking too much disk space using the disk cleanup utility 🙂 Although I should’ve spent bit more time investigating but surely didn’t bother because everything was hunky-dory on #Windows10 TP.. Keep sharing..

    Reply

  3. Thanks for this forum. I ran into the same issue but as I run system properties there is no options other than Windows 10 in the default OS and the delay was selected. Funny thing is this morning I set the delay using bcdedit and there was a rollback option for a few reboots but it is no longer available. We made no other system changes.

    Reply

  5. I’m strucking in the login screen of windows 10 builds 10041 that too without any log in options. Just a blue screen is appearing. Tried all the troubleshooting options. Do you have any other options?? Thanks in advance. Please help me to rollback to windows 8.1, if you can.

    Reply

  6. Hello, I also use a m4600 as my primary laptop.
    I’m currently running Win7 Pro with 10bit IPS screen and quadro 2000m.
    Windows 10 tech preview looks pretty cool, I’m considering trying it out.

    Have you had any major issues with Win10 on your m4600?

    I’m mainly worried about hardware keys, volume controls, brightness controls etc.
    Does that stuff work?

    Any information is greatly appreciated. I’m glad I found your blog, lots of interesting posts.

    Thank you.

    Reply

  7. Hello,
    If the upgraded from windows 8.1 to windows 10 then the any data is lost from the drives or on the desktop??
    Please reply
    Thank you

    Reply

  9. i didn’t have any options like roll back in advanced settings how can i get reinstall windows 8.1 can u please tell me

    Reply

  10. Do not at all like the fact that Windows 10 enforces using the Windows cloud account. In the process of rolling back more than 50 machines which were updated and removing update capabilities for many more.

    Another garbage windows product.

    Reply

  11. I notice other people ASUS rolling back to windows 7 and a night mare boot sytem nightmare… Thank God for back ups rather than waste time fixing I did a fresh in stall if you have a computer over 3 year dont bother with win 10….

    That said I liked what I saw but there were problems for older sytems

    Reply

  13. i have a problem with my windows 10.

    just got it today it looked super cool and stuff but i cant play my games so when i wanted to rollback to my windows 7 the place where it should be wouldn’t show what can i do?
    help please

    Reply

  14. I’m use Precision M4600 Win 7 Pro. Should I upgrade to win 10? I read in Dell Suport is Dell not tested M4600. Answer me pls. Thanks

    Reply

  15. My just upgrade to win 10 today. But I can’t adjust brightness when turn on Optimus ( in BIOT ). How to turn on Optimus with adjust brightness normal. Help me, thanks! (Optimus support for windows 7 32/64 bit is true????). Help me Anoop.

    Reply

  17. I want to go back to windows 8 or windows 7 ,I have no options in windows 10 to roll back ,I`ve tried to install windows 7 from original disc but it wont boot even though I have set it to boot from disc in bios . How can I reformat or reinstall windows 7 from original disc can anyone help . I hate how windows 10 has changed internet options etc . wish I never downloaded windows 10 .if someone can please help id appreciate it thank you.

    Reply

  18. I have a HP ENVY PHOENIX upgraded to windows 10 from windows 8.1 , i have no rollback and ive tried installing windows 8 and even changed to dvd in bios it wont install i want to get rid of windows 10 i read i could roll back if not happy but i dont have this option and now even windows 10 wont work . just a blank screen with a cursor , i want to just go back to windows 8 can anyone help with this issue please ,i just want to install a clean windows 7 or 8 from disc thank you .

    Reply

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