How To Get Back On To Windows 10

[doddsredoubt]

I have been on Windows 10 for nearly 2 years,but a game that my wife played she thought had changed,playtopia.com and asked me could I do something to help her.I thought I could system restore and go back 2 days,we have now gone back to Windows 7,I thought I would be back on Windows 10.
My question is how do I get back to Windows 10 for free without paying for it now.

Thank you for any help

[CrapAtCryptics]

Windows is not supposed to restore to Win 7 after such a long time. Are you absolutely sure it has done that.

[doddsredoubt]

Yes I was suprised as well,because I didn't like Windows 7 crapAtCryptics,also we have lost all our photographs so my wife is not happy.

Thank you for your help much appreciated.

[CrapAtCryptics]

You can get a cheap copy on Ebay - if you do go for the professional version - and be prepared for hours of updates until its fully up to scratch. Dont pay more than £8.

[Buenchico]

I'm confused!

Since the files to get back to Windows 7 should have been automatically deleted from your computer ages ago, it seems hard to work out what's really happened. (I suspect that you've actually still got Windows 10 but that it's managed to pick upon some redundant files for the Windows 7 desktop. Further, I doubt that your photos have actually disappeared; it's far more likely that there's just an error with the Windows indexing system).

The obvious thing to try is reversing the System Restore operation. However, given the nature of your problem, I'm not sure whether you'll need the instructions for Windows 10 or for Windows 7! So I'll offer you both,in the hope that you can work out how to do it:

Windows 10:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/94694-undo-system-restore-windows-10-a.html

Windows 7:
https://lockergnome.com/2009/08/17/undo-a-system-restore-operation-in-windows-7/

[doddsredoubt]

Thank you CrapAtCryptics & Buenchico will try the instructions tomorrow,and I have got all my fingers crossed.

Thank you both for your help much appreciated.

[Guilbert53]

My guess is you have got a "restore" partition on your hard disk that contains Windows 7 (some computers shipped with a Windows 7 "image" on a spare partition so you can reinstall it easily if you wanted to). My Dell PCs all have a "hidden" image of Windows 7 on the hard disk.

And even if you upgrade to Windows 10 that restore partition will still exist on your hard disk with the Windows 7 "image" on it.

My guess is you have reinstalled that Windows 7 code from the Windows 7 image in the restore partition and overwritten Windows 10.

However ignore the suggestion from CrapatCryptics about buying a new Windows 10 from ebay.

The thing about Windows 10 is that once you have installed it (or upgraded to it) then Microsoft keep details of your computer on their servers. They upload details of your PC to their servers during the install process.

So your PC will ALREADY be registered as a valid user of Windows 10, so no need to buy it again.

This means that if you reinstall Windows 10 you DONT need to enter a code of any sort as Microsoft already know you are entitled to use Windows 10.

For this reason they allow you to download the Windows 10 code FOR FREE and reinstall it, no need to purchase it. This is from an OFFICIAL Microsoft web site

You can download the code HERE

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

You could try the first option on that web page, to upgrade the PC to Windows 10 (as you have already done this it will not cost you anything). See if it works.

Or you could try the second option to create installation media. This can be a DVD or on a USB memory stick.

Note that I don't think the Windows 10 code will fit on a "normal" DVD (it is too big) I think you need a dual layer DVD.

Creating a bootable USB memory stick is quite easy so try that, as long as your PC can boot from a USB memory stick.

Once you have the installation media you can then do a straight install of Windows 10.

[doddsredoubt]

Thank you CrapAtCryptics,Buenchico & Guilbert53 a very big Thank you to you all,I tried Guilbert53 it worked but no photos saved,my wife was not happy with that,but now I am back on Windows 10.

Thank you all for your help much appreciated.

[Buenchico]

Try the free version of Recuva. There's a decent chance that it can find the missing photos:
https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

[doddsredoubt]

Thank you Buenchico I have never heard of it,do I just download it and then what do I do or put down ??????

Thank you for your help much appreciated.

[Buenchico]

Download and install the program. Then run it and select the 'Quick-Start Wizard' option. That will hopefully find the missing files and you can then follow the instructions to recover them.

If the files aren't found, try the 'Deep Scan' option instead.

Note: When you download and install the program there's a very small risk that the program might actually over-write the files that you're trying to recover. Given the large size of modern hard drives, I'd rate that risk as almost insignificant. However, if you don't want to chance it, you can download the portable version of Recuva onto a USB memory stick and use that instead:
https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/features/portable-version

[doddsredoubt]

Thank you Buenchico once again,I will do that in the morning.

Thank you for help much appreciated.

[doddsredoubt]

Buenchico,I didn't get any photos back.

Thank you for your help much appreciated