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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.

7 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. "Back to"? by HalAtWork · · Score: 2

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

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    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 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.

  2. 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.

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    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
  3. 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.

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  4. 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.)

  5. 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.