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Microsoft Now Lets Surface Laptop Owners Revert Back To Windows 10 S (mspoweruser.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the one-step-forward-two-steps-back dept.

Microsoft is kind enough to offer Surface Laptop users the option to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free until later this year if they don't like Windows 10 S, which is installed by default and is only able to run apps or games that are in the Windows Store. The company is taking that generosity one step further by letting users revert back to Windows 10 S if they installed Windows 10 Pro and aren't happy with the performance and battery life. The option to revert back to the default OS wasn't available until now. MSPoweruser reports: Microsoft recently released the official recovery image for the Surface Laptop which will technically let you go back to Windows 10 S on your device but you'll be required to remove all of your files which is a bit frustrating. The recovery image wasn't available a few days after the Surface Laptop started shipping, but it is now available and you can download it to effectively reset your Surface Laptop. The recovery image is 9GB, so make sure you have a good internet connection before downloading the file. It is quite interesting how Microsoft isn't letting users go back to Windows 10 S from Windows 10 Pro without having to completely reset their devices, as the company would want more users to use its new version of Windows 10 for many reasons. Maybe this is something Microsoft will be adding in the future, but for now, we'll just have to do with the recovery image. If you own a Surface Laptop, you can find the recovery image here.

34 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Waiting for the MS hate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You fools will bash Microsoft for giving users a choice in this matter. Even though Microsoft is clearly doing a good thing, I'm just waiting for the rabid and totally irrational hate of Microsoft to show up. Mostly it comes from Democrats, who are obsessed with destroying business and creating more useless regulations. You Democrats should be ashamed of yourself for this predictable response, just like your desperate desire to generate scandals wherever you can create them for our President. Shame on you Democrats, who hate American businesses, American jobs, and the United States.

    1. Re: Waiting for the MS hate by chipschap · · Score: 2

      people who have real work to do and real money to make are laughing at you pathetic freetards.

      I have real work to do, and have been doing real work for many years --- with Linux. It doesn't get in the way, doesn't spy on me, and gives me the tools I need to work efficiently. Windows doesn't even come close to competing with Linux when there is real work to do. (Please note, first person shooters are cool but don't count as real work.)

    2. Re: Waiting for the MS hate by chipschap · · Score: 2

      Full disclosure: I work at Microsoft (but of course these views are my own). I'd love to take my surface laptop into work running some BSD or Linux.

      You, sir, are 100% awesome.

    3. Re: Waiting for the MS hate by mea2214 · · Score: 1

      (Please note, first person shooters are cool but don't count as real work.)

      That's what the boss said.

    4. Re: Waiting for the MS hate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He spelled centre a non-English way

      centre

      If you had gone to school you might not be illiterate.

    5. Re:Waiting for the MS hate by schleimkeim · · Score: 1

      I'm not bashing Microsoft for giving the user choice. It's the damn worthless Windows 10 S that is bothered by. This castrated piece of 'OS as a Service' bullshit has no reason to even exist.

    6. Re: Waiting for the MS hate by Dantoo · · Score: 1

      As do Australia and New Zealand, Barbados, Fiji, Namibia, Nauru and Singapore, Solomon Islands and Zimbabwe.

      It is doubtful that any of those places appear on US Maps though:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    7. Re:Waiting for the MS hate by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      I have real work to do and have no choice but to use Windows. But I can choose my version.
      It needs to be one I can rely on to stay stable, stay the same, and stay out of my face.
      Guess which version that isn't.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    8. Re: Waiting for the MS hate by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Hey, now... I have defended Microsoft, multiple times. Not very often, no... But, I have. I don't use their OS but I have defended some of their choices. They don't pay me a damned thing.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    9. Re: Waiting for the MS hate by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Windows ME?

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  2. Not news... by JediJorgie · · Score: 1

    This is not news.. If your computer came with a license for a given version of Windows, you have always been able to reinstall that versions of Windows.

    1. Re:Not news... by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      Misleading article title. "revert" != "reinstall"

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  3. "Back to"? by HalAtWork · · Score: 2

    Why does MS ship one of their own products with the lowest/most limited tier of their OS?

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
    1. Re:"Back to"? by gravewax · · Score: 4, Informative

      because it is meant to be a locked down device AKA apple style for the more clueless users. Their is actually a rather large section of users who would actually benefit far more from having far less choice and more restrictions, yes it isn't something most on this site or other technical users would ever want, but it certainly has a potential market.

    2. Re:"Back to"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      the people that benefit from a device like this don't care about any of your warnings and nor should they. what they care about is that they can browse the web, access email and have the machine kept up-to-date with no need of them having to know anything or worry about did they just install a virus. these trump any of the bullshit you just mentioned. Their is a market for wall gardens, obviously it isn't for overly paranoid people like yourself, that doesn't mean the market doesn't exist.

    3. Re:"Back to"? by iampiti · · Score: 2

      Because they're jealous of iOS and their control over users and 30% cut of every app store sale. They want the same from Windows.
      If you've been following Windows 10 it's pretty obvious they want it to be a mixture of iOS and Android: It's full of publicity (lots of preinstalled crap apps in a Microsoft downloaded ISO, publicity in Windows explorer, lots of bullying to use Microsoft products and services), it spies on the user and they're turning the UI into a touch first mess.
      So they released a version of Windows which can run "legacy" Win32 apps and let the user run programs from wherever they want but they want most people to use the limited, smartphone-OS-like, "S" version.

    4. Re:"Back to"? by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      not everyone is a tinfoil hat wearing retard that gives a shit about any of that.

      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    5. Re:"Back to"? by DrXym · · Score: 1
      If that's the fear then you release a single version of the operating system with a switch marked "Advanced mode" which you're asked to enable during setting if you want all the scary stuff.

      Even so, Windows S is just the thin end of a very large wedge ultimately intended to separate users from the freedom to choose where they get their software from.

    6. Re:"Back to"? by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      More to the point: Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    7. Re:"Back to"? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      There at least used to be classes of apps not available on iOS, but there were and are a tremendous variety of apps available for pretty much any sort of thing not proscribed. The App Store came along about a year after the iPhone, and has always been how apps get on an iPhone.

      I'd be surprised to find that the Windows Store had anywhere near the variety and quality of apps that the App Store has, and Windows users are used to being able to install software from anywhere.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  4. Surface vs. NFL by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    scoreboard

  5. Shouldn't "Pro" be better than "S" by mykepredko · · Score: 2

    Unless "S" stands for "Supreme", but from what I've seen written about it before, I thought "S" was Microsoft's answer to ChromeOS.

    I can understand battery life being poorer for "Pro" if it gives better performance, but there's an issue of performance AND battery life. After re-RFTA, I'm guessing "performance" isn't just speed but again, whatever the measure, I would expect it to be better in "Pro" than "S".

    There is a serious amount of complacency within Microsoft if they think that product rollouts like this are acceptable and won't a) confuse and b) anger their customers.

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
    1. Re:Shouldn't "Pro" be better than "S" by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      There is a serious amount of complacency within Microsoft if they think that product rollouts like this are acceptable and won't a) confuse and b) anger their customers.

      I don't see anything wrong with confusing/angering Windows shee... err, sorry, customers. After all, they created this monster. I can only conclude that they enjoy getting it continuously up the back door. Sort of like right to suicide... no problem if you don't hurt anyone else while you're doing it.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    2. Re:Shouldn't "Pro" be better than "S" by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      > Unless "S" stands for "Supreme",

      "S" stands for sub-par stripped-down shit because (almost) no one wants Microsoft's crappy, small OS.

      > I can understand battery life being poorer for "Pro" if it gives better performance,

      Allegedly

      There are far fewer programs running in the background. According to Microsoft, a laptop running Windows 10 S loads a user profile (including apps and preferences) 15 seconds faster than an identical laptop running Windows 10 Pro.

  6. Quite interesting... or, really expected? by MonkeyBob · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "It is quite interesting how Microsoft isn't letting users go back to Windows 10 S from Windows 10 Pro without having to completely reset their devices".

    Makes perfect sense to me. 10S is locked to the windows store, so who knows what sort of crap you might have installed on there before reverting to Win10. A full reinstall is really the only way to ensure that you dont have any lingering shit.

    --
    // TODO: Add comments
    1. Re:Quite interesting... or, really expected? by janoc · · Score: 1

      You mean someone actually buys a *laptop* that is locked to only Windows Store?

      What would be the point of doing that? If I buy a Windows laptop, I want to be able to run my own applications, not only what is in the Store (which isn't a lot).

      This is not a laptop but a locked down disposable tablet with a keyboard (even the battery isn't replaceable - talk about planned obsolescence!)

  7. Is like having a GOOGLE Chromebook by williamyf · · Score: 1

    And, in the chromebook, having the option to go to a GNU/Linux full distro for full flexibility and Application Support...

    And go back to GOOGLE ChromeOS if you do not like the complexity of the command line, and the multitude of choices for UI/WindowManager/InitSystem/Systemd/PulseAudio/ALSA...

    And the security implications of downloading applications from anywhere not vetted in the store...

    Think Grandma, or a technicaly inclined father that gets bored playing with the "Linux on chromebook" and decides to give it as a hand me down to its infant child.

    As per data colection: What part of GOOGLE ChromeOS was not clear?

    Pretty much the same stuff

    --
    *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
  8. This is a laptop not a tablet by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    So no. And even then this is the high end Microsoft offering meant for real work, not third parties scrapping it out for attention at the lowest price.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
    1. Re:This is a laptop not a tablet by gravewax · · Score: 1

      no it isn't a high end offering at all, it is the lower cost offering meant as a home or student machine. the high end offerings are the pro's and the surface books which do come with pro version.

    2. Re:This is a laptop not a tablet by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

      $900-$1000 for the lower cost offering? What? That's going to flop if they're going after the Chromebook market.

      --
      Twinstiq, game news
  9. Windows 10 "Shit" edition... by gweihir · · Score: 1

    Well, MS seems to have learned some honesty finally.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:Windows 10 "Shit" edition... by gweihir · · Score: 1

      The other ones only implicitly....

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  10. Re:"Revert Back" is a tautology by Dave+Whiteside · · Score: 1

    +1 it grates !

    --
    who where what when now?
  11. Generosity by StormReaver · · Score: 1

    The company is taking that generosity one step further....

    Or put another way: the Mob enforcer generously allowed your broken leg to partially heal before he broke the other one.

    Microsoft and generosity do not mix.