The 30-day downgrade window for Windows 10 users has now expired, meaning the first adopters that want to go back to either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 are no longer allowed to do so.

Directly, that is.

Microsoft unlashed their latest operating system on July 29, and clearly specified that users that wanted to downgrade to their previous OS (whether that be Windows 7 or 8.1) could do so directly from the OS, via an option included in the recovery section of the Settings menu.

However, this option was only to be available for 30 days after the upgrade was performed, meaning the downgrade capabilities are no longer there for those that installed Windows 10 as soon as it was available later July.

This is how Redmond put it in the official Windows 10 FAQ:

“Yes, while we think you will love all the features of Windows 10, you will have one month after upgrading to revert back to the previous version of Windows on your device.”

Apparently, not everyone has had this option removed from their Windows 10 installation, but there are plenty of reports from users that now longer have the ability to directly downgrade.

Now, obviously, clean install is always there.

It is easily possible to go back to the previous version of Windows via a fresh install, though this option will require a product key, and inputting the license in order to activate the operating system. Plus, files, documents and settings are not saved this way.

A small hassle, but if you want to go back, this is the route you will have to take now.