Surface Laptop owners can now go back to Windows 10 S after upgrading to Windows 10 Pro

Microsoft started shipping the new Surface Laptop last Thursday. The laptop ships with Windows 10 S by default, which means users won’t be able to download and use any app or game that is not on the Windows Store. Microsoft thankfully is offering the option to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free until later this year, and Surface Laptop owners can use that offer to get the full-fledged version of Windows for free.

Microsoft says Windows 10 S is more power efficient than Windows 10 Pro, which effectively means that Windows 10 Pro will likely drain your battery faster than Windows 10 S — at least according to Microsoft. If you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 10 S but you aren’t too happy with the performance and the battery life, you may want to go back to Windows 10 S. And that’s possible now.

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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. Microsoft also has a small tutorial on the same page which will help you throughout the process — but if you aren’t too comfortable with this stuff, you’re probably better off contacting Microsoft Support.