How to uninstall an update

After installing an update on Windows, did your computer start getting slow and / or showing some strange error messages? Unfortunately it happens. Although the update of an operating system – as well as that of any other software – is highly recommended to avoid security problems (in the updates, in fact, developers include fixes for security flaws found in their products) and in certain cases having more advanced features at your disposal, it can happen that things go wrong and that an update ends up creating problems in the daily functioning of the PC.

What to do in these cases? The simplest solution is to uninstall the update causing the PC problems, wait a few days and see if a new error-free version is released. When an update gives problems, in fact, the latter is generally withdrawn and then, within a few days, a corrected version is proposed. When this does not happen, it means that the update does not have too many known problems and that, therefore, the cause of errors and slowdowns is potentially to be found in the configuration of your computer.

Having made this necessary premise, I would say that we can take action: if you too, after installing an update, have encountered malfunctions on your PC, take a few minutes of free time, find out how to uninstall an update thanks to the instructions I am about to give you and try to put them into practice. In just a few clicks, you should be able to get the situation back to normal. Happy reading and good luck for everything!

Index

• Uninstall an update from Windows
  • Uninstalling an update
  • Restore Windows to a previous state
  • Uninstalling the latest major release of Windows
  • System recovery
  • Disabling automatic updates
• Uninstall an update from macOS
• Uninstall an update from Android
• Uninstall an update from iPhone

Uninstall an update from Windows

Are you using a computer equipped with the Windows operating system and are you wondering how to uninstall an update ? Perfect: below you can find the main procedures that you can follow to do this and get rid of a problematic update made through Windows Update .

Uninstalling an update

The easiest way to uninstall a Windows update is to simply go through the operating system settings .

Starting with Windows 11 , once you have opened the Settings using the appropriate gear icon in the Start menu (accessible by pressing the Windows flag button), move, if necessary, to the System tab and click on the Windows Update box , located at the top right.

At this point, click on the Update history box , scroll down the page and press the Uninstall updates option . By doing so, a window will appear on the screen showing you the updates that you can uninstall . To proceed, just select the update involved and click first on the Uninstall button and then on the Yes button .

Perfect, now you know how to uninstall an update on Windows 11 . If, on the other hand, you are using an older version of the Microsoft operating system, don’t worry: I’ll explain how to do it right away.

If you are wondering, for example, how to uninstall a Windows 10 update , all you have to do is click on the Start button (the flag located in the lower left corner of the screen) and access the Settings menu , selecting the gear icon from the menu that appears.

In the window that appears on the screen, then press the Update and security icon , select the Windows Update item from the left sidebar and click first on the link View history of installed updates and then on Uninstall updates .

At this point, locate the update to uninstall from the list of all the updates installed on your computer, select it and press the Uninstall button , located at the top, to start the removal. After that, click the Yes button , wait a few seconds and you will see that the update will be removed from your computer. At the end of the procedure you will be asked to restart your PC : accept.

If you use an older version of Windows to 10 or would act as a Windows 11 or Windows 10 using the classic control panel , do this: press the button Start (the Windows flag), seeks the control panel via the search bar present in the menu that appears on the screen and select the first result .

Now, click on the Uninstall a program link located under Programs , select the View installed updates option from the left sidebar and locate the update to remove. Then select the latter and click on the Uninstall button , then completing the operation by pressing the Yes button (as I explained previously for the procedure linked to the Settings menu).

Note: Not all Windows updates offer the option to be removed from the control panel or operating system’s Settings menu. If the update that caused problems on your PC is not uninstallable, you may want to consider trying one of the alternative solutions that you can find below.

Restore Windows to a previous state

If you have not been able to uninstall the “problematic” update through Windows Settings , you should know that Windows creates automatic restore points (often just before installing updates, programs or drivers) through which you may be able to report the operating system as it was before installing the update .

To access the system restore utility, press the Start button (the Windows flag icon), search for the terms restore point in the menu that appears on the screen and select the first search result (which should be Create a restore point ).

At this point, click on the System Restore button , then press the Next button and you will see all the restore points at your disposal appear on the screen : if you can find a solution that precedes the update that created problems for your PC , you just have to continue by pressing the Next and Finish buttons in succession , then waiting for the restart and system recovery . The procedure will delete updates, software and drivers installed after the date of the selected restore point, but not documents and files (which will then remain in place).

For more details you can refer to my tutorial on how to restore Windows 10 , in which I went into more detail also as regards the procedure for creating restore points .

Uninstalling the latest major release of Windows

If PC problems occurred when you upgraded Windows to a new major release , then to a major version of the Microsoft operating system (for example, you went from Windows 10 to Windows 11 or even from a major Windows 11 update to another) ), you can try to see if the system allows uninstalling the update using a specific option.

In fact, you need to know that Microsoft’s OS can potentially allow users to go back to the previous major release , so that those who encounter problems in the first few days can fix everything with ease. The option is only available if several days have not yet passed since you installed the new version of Windows (30 days for Windows 10 and 10 days for Windows 11).

In any case, to see if you can take advantage of this possibility, just go to the Settings (the gear icon located in the Start menu ) and go to the path Windows Update> Advanced options> Recovery on Windows 11 or Update and security on Windows 10. Here, if the option is still available, you will eventually find the possibility to press the Back / Restore button (or similar) and continue to return to the previous version of the OS , following the instructions that appear on the screen.

System recovery

If none of the previously mentioned solutions worked, I’m sorry, but you probably just have to do a full Windows restore or even a full disk format .

On Windows 11 everything is extremely simple: in fact, you just need to go to Settings> System> Restore and press the Restore PC button , present next to the Restore PC factory settings option , then following the instructions that appear on the screen to complete the procedure (starting from the choice of whether to keep the files or not).

If, on the other hand, you are using Windows 10 , you can restore the operating system to its factory state without deleting your personal files by using the Reset your PC function . If you don’t know where to find it, just press the Start button (the flag icon located in the lower left corner of the screen), go to Settings (via the gear icon located on the left of the Start menu) and select the Update and security item from the window that appears on the screen.

To conclude, all you have to do is press the button To start , which is located under the item Reset the PC , as well as follow the instructions that appear on the screen. You can choose whether to restore the system while keeping your files or to delete everything . For more details, you might be interested in my guide on how to reset Windows .

If you don’t have Windows 11 or 10 or, in any case, you want to perform a clean installation of the operating system by deleting all the data and all the programs on the PC, I invite you to take a look at my tutorials on how to do a clean installation of Windows 11 , how to format Windows 10 , how to format Windows 8.1 and how to format Windows 7 .

Disabling automatic updates

How do you say? After uninstalling a problematic Windows update, would you like to prevent it from recurring on Windows Update ? I’ll explain immediately what you can do.

Well, to disable the update return through Windows Update, on Windows 11 you might think about suspending updates . Doing this is very simple: you just need to go to Settings> Windows Update and use the appropriate option Suspend updates . The latter allows, in fact, to select, through a special drop-down menu, the options relating to the suspension for 1 week , 2 weeks , 3 weeks , 4 weeks and 5 weeks .

Once you have chosen the right amount of time , which may possibly allow you to wait for the problem to be resolved , you will see that your PC will no longer receive automatic updates . Clearly then everything will return to normal automatically after the weeks involved, but alternatively you can always go back to downloading updates by simply pressing the Resume updates button . In short, everything is very convenient on Windows 11.

As for Windows 10 , however, I suggest you consult my tutorial on how to disable automatic updates . However, if you need information about how to prevent automatic Windows update in a complete way , you can consult my guide on how to block automatic updates . For the rest, you might also be interested in taking a look at my tutorial on how to uninstall Windows 10 updates .

Uninstall an update from macOS

Are you using a Mac and looking for a way to uninstall macOS updates? I’m sorry, but that’s not possible .

In fact, unlike Windows , macOS does not allow you to remove individual updates : the only thing you can do is restore the operating system by reinstalling it, for example, via Recovery .

To carry out this operation using a Mac with Apple Silicon chips (e.g. those of the M1 family), just turn on the Mac and hold down the power button until the start options appear on the screen , then first clicking on the Options icon and then on Continue . Alternatively, if you have a Mac with an Intel processor , restart the Mac and while the system is booting, hold down the combination of keys cmd + r until the Apple logo appears on the screen .

Then, choose the Reinstall macOS option from the Recovery menu, select your computer disk as the drive on which to install the operating system and follow the on-screen instructions . The version of macOS that came with your computer or the closest one still available will be downloaded and installed on your Mac.

The procedure only works on macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later . If you are using an older version of macOS, use the combination cmd + r at boot time and repeat the steps described above: this will install on your computer the latest version of macOS compared to the major release that was present on the Mac. case, for any doubts you can refer to Apple’s official guidelines .

For the rest, there are clearly other methods to reset macOS as well, as I indicated in my guide on how to reset a Mac . Also, you might be interested in taking a look at my tutorial on how to turn off automatic updates on macOS .

Uninstall an update from Android

Have you just installed an update on your Android smartphone or tablet and the performance of the device has dropped? Is the battery runtime not what it used to be? Unfortunately it happens and there’s actually not much you can do if you’re wondering how to uninstall an Android update (or, for example, how to uninstall a MIUI update , Xiaomi’s software customization).

Android, in fact, does not provide a function to return to its previous versions. The only potential solution that you can turn to in cases like these is to manually flash an older version of Android : a rather long, difficult and risky operation, since downloading the wrong version of Android (therefore a version of the operating system not specifically designed for your device), you risk making it completely unusable. Almost needless to say, then, that the operation leads to the cancellation of all the data on the device memory, as well as that it is a question that only the most experienced users can take into consideration.

How do you say? Are you willing to accept all the risks involved and proceed? Then carry out a search on specialized portals (for example, the XDA forum , which is one of the main reference points for geeks in the Android world) to find the most suitable ROM for your device and perform the flash via Custom Recovery or via software like Odin . Then check out my guide on how to revert to an older version of android .

If all the names and terms I just mentioned are not familiar to you, you can deepen their knowledge by reading my tutorial on how to root Android , in which you will find all the information you need to become familiar with Recovery, ROM and other peculiar components of the Android world. In my tutorials on how to unlock Samsung and how to unlock HUAWEI , however, you can find tools to be used specifically with Samsung and HUAWEI devices.

If, on the other hand, you are simply wondering how to uninstall an update of an app on Android, then in that case generally (then obviously each model is a story unto itself) just follow the path Settings> Apps> App Management , select the app of interest and press the Uninstall updates button , confirming your choice. However, this option is usually only available for apps pre-installed on the device .

For the others, however, you might think about uninstalling them , downloading an APK file related to a previous version of the app and installing the latter. For more information, I recommend that you check out my tutorial on how to uninstall an Android app updates .

Uninstall an update from iPhone

Uninstalling an update from iPhone is a technically very simple operation, but practically on the verge of impossibility.

If, in fact, to restore an old version of iOS on an iPhone (or iPadOS on an iPad) it would be enough to connect the latter to the PC and install the desired operating system with iTunes (on Windows) or Finder (on macOS), Apple makes the operation is almost always impossible as it closes the signatures necessary for the validation and therefore for the installation of the older versions of iOS.

So if you are wondering how to uninstall an update on iPhone , you need to find out which versions of iOS are still signed by Apple and are therefore still installable on your iPhone. To do this, connected to the IPSW.me website , click on the iPhone icon and select the smartphone model in your possession: the iOS versions that can still be installed on the selected device are those marked in green and with the check mark next to them . As you can see there will be few or no, excluding the most recent iOS release.

In any case, if you want to learn more, I refer you to my tutorial on how to cancel an update on iPhone , in which you find everything you need to know explained. If, on the other hand, you are interested in the issue of app updates , you can refer to my guide on how to cancel an app update on iOS.