
- #How to uninstall sound driver windows 8.1 install#
- #How to uninstall sound driver windows 8.1 update#
And that in turn usually requires beseeching or paying your PC's vendor for a Windows disc, because most computers don't ship with a separate system DVD.
#How to uninstall sound driver windows 8.1 install#
If, however, you upgraded from Windows 7 or an older version to Windows 8 and then added 8.1 using Microsoft's free Windows Store download, the above process is out of the question.Īs Microsoft's FAQ spells out, post-8.1 "you won't be able to use the recovery partition on your PC to go back to your previous version of Windows." If you hadn't earlier thought to create a recovery USB flash drive from that partition, you're most likely stuck doing a clean install of Windows. The computer will use the hard drive's system-recovery partition to put things back as they were when you took the computer out of the box, plus your own data. In that screen, click or tap "Update and recovery," choose the Recovery option and proceed with a refresh from there. To use this option, tap or click the bottom-right corner of the desktop (or swipe in from the right edge of the Start screen), select the gear-shaped Settings icon, and then select "Change PC settings." Win 8's underrated "refresh" option will put a clean copy of the operating system in place, leaving your data intact but only reinstalling apps that came bundled on the computer or were obtained through the Windows Store. Should that work, it will allow the most orderly retreat possible. And it's more difficult to roll back through the other usual mechanism in Windows, a system-recovery process.Ī Microsoft frequently-asked-questions page about Win 8.1 explains this in conditional language that should give a reader pause: "If your PC came with Windows 8 you might be able to restore it back to Windows 8 by refreshing your PC."
#How to uninstall sound driver windows 8.1 update#
Contrary to what its "point release" number might suggest, 8.1 is not some minor update you can roll back through the Windows Update control panel. Unfortunately, Win 8.1 is also much harder to undo than other operating-system updates.

But it's also an operating-system update - meaning that it can get tripped up by hidden software conflicts that don't arise when upgrading individual apps.

Q: How do I uninstall Windows 8.1 from my laptop?Ī: I think Windows 8.1 is a pretty good operating-system update.
