Downgrade rights have been a long-standing feature of Microsoft's operating system licensing. They allow users to buy a license for the latest version of the operating system, and then use that license with an earlier incarnation. Volume license users have long had a broadly unrestricted right to downgrade; though unsupported, they could choose to run Windows 95 if it suited their needs. OEM licenses, sold with preinstalled copies of the software, also have downgrade rights, but unlike the volume license kind, they tend to be restricted to specific versions.

Windows 7's OEM downgrade rights, available for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate, were originally due to expire this October. Microsoft has now announced that these end-user downgrade rights are being extended further.