Leaving Windows 11 Dev Channel


Jack

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Please tell me someone knows a way to leave the Dev channel without wiping all the data off their hard drive. These updates have been repeatedly wrecking my PC's functionality and I've had enough, but unfortunately I seem to be stuck here until I'm willing to throw all my data away. I have 3tb of storage and there's no way I can back it all up without a serious financial investment.
 
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rfsmith7

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You need to do a clean install of Windows 11 to revert to the standard channel. There is no other way. Ideally you need to set up your system so that the Windows C drive contains just the OS, and all your data is on a separate drive or partition. Then the re-install just replaces the OS.
 

Jack

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Okay so what if I get a new drive specifically for the OS, download the production version of Windows 11 onto that, and make it my boot drive. Will my apps and files on my previous C drive still be usable?
 

Grizzly

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No, they will not be usable as they are on a different Windows version.
 

Jack

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Sorry to bring back the dead but I have returned to the idea of leaving the dev channel. So will data that is not on my boot drive also be unrecoverable? Or can I save all my data to a secondary drive and reinstall, and have it be as I left it?
 

Bighorn

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I hadn't noticed this thread [not following as I had left Win10 IP just as Win11 came out] but saw on the News widget a couple days ago that the IP is changing and apparently will require some reinstalling.

But as to user data, it was warned when I got into the Win10 IP not to use it on the only computer or a production computer so it was stressed for users to make backup copies of anything they didn't want to lose.
 
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Jack

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Okay, that's really interesting and all, but it doesn't answer my question. Can I copy my data to my non-boot drive, do a clean install of Windows to leave the dev channel, and come back to all that data still being there?
 
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Bighorn

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You do have to copy any data you want to save, that exists nowhere else, onto other media then do a clean install of the RTM/Released version of Windows. The boot drive will be wiped out, lose everything on it, at least it was for me when I left Win10 Pro. That's an implied part of the warning not to use the IP on a production or only computer.
 

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