Perform a Refresh or Recycle
With earlier versions of Windows, you might have manually reinstalled Windows from removable media following a system failure. This could involve reinstalling all apps, settings, and user data and could take many hours to complete. In Windows 10, if other methods of recovering your system fail, you can return your computer to its original state when you purchased it or when Windows 10 was first installed.
You have the option to refresh or recycle your computer in Windows 10. This feature was first introduced in Windows 8, and Windows 10 has improved the speed and reliability of the process. When referring to recovering a system by using this new quick method, the terms refresh and recycle are often used interchangeably. These terms refer to the recovery process that you access in Recovery in the Settings app.
To start the recovery process, follow these steps.
- Open the Settings app, click Update & Security, and select Recovery.
- On the Reset This PC page, click Get Started.
The background screen is dimmed, and you are presented with three options:- Keep My Files: Removes all apps and settings but retains your personal files.
- Remove Everything: Removes all apps, settings, and your personal files and offers two levels of cleaning: Just Remove My Files and Fully Clean The Drive.
- Restore Factory Settings: This option is only available on systems purchased from an OEM. It removes personal files, apps, and settings and
reinstalls the version of Windows that came with the PC together with any pre-installed apps and settings.
Important:
If you choose to remove all settings, user accounts, apps, and personal files, Remove Everything restores the operating system to the initial state-that is, the state of the computer when you first installed or upgraded to Windows 10. With this option, you can clean the disk by fully erasing the hard disk prior to reinstallation of Windows 10. This option is useful if you are recycling your PC and need to make the recovery of any data on the computer, such as your personal files, nearly impossible. This is similar to performing a low-level full format of the disk, whereas the normal operation uses quick formatting.
- Select Keep My Files. Choose one of the following options.
- Just Remove My Files: Initiates a quick drive format
- Remove Files And Fully Clean The Drive: Performs a complete drive format
A warning appears, informing you that your apps will be removed; it lists any apps that will need to be reinstalled. After the process has completed, a new text file is created on the desktop that contains this list of apps.
- Click Next.
On the Ready To Reset This PC page, you are reminded that resetting the PC removes apps and resets all settings to defaults. - Click Reset to restart the PC and allow the reset process to begin.
- Your PC will be reset, and after a short time, you are presented with the logon screen.
Important:
Be careful when reviewing the reset feature because this deletes all personal information and data on the computer. Do not perform this action on your personal computer unless you understand the implications.
If you are using a PC in an enterprise environment, the Recovery options might be disabled. Often, enterprises use image deployment solutions such as Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) or System Center Configuration Manager to deploy a customized image directly to a networked computer. This method is often the quickest way to provide a fully configured computer to a user on the local network. As administrators become familiar with the Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) and DISM tools mentioned in an earlier tutorial, there might be more deployments of Windows 10 using these tools together with provisioning packages.
Tip:
The Refresh Your PC and Reset Your PC options that were available in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have been consolidated into Reset This PC.
At the end of the reset process, Windows 10 offers you the normal out-of-box experience (OOBE), and you must configure the device, add users, install any apps, and modify any settings that you need.
If the refresh or recycle process fails to complete for any reason, the system will not be modified, and after logon, a notification declares that the process could not complete and no changes were made to your computer.
Tip:
In earlier versions of Windows, you could use a Recimg.exe utility to capture an image of your computer. This was useful to create a custom recovery image. This utility has been deprecated and is not available in Windows 10.
Perform recovery operations using Windows Recovery
Windows 10 includes a comprehensive recovery environment that enables you to troubleshoot issues relating to the boot process and retains most of the functionality that was available in previous versions of Windows.
The Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) enables you to boot Windows 10 into safe mode or use other advanced troubleshooting tools. There are several ways to start Windows 10 in advanced troubleshooting mode, including:
- Boot from a Recovery Drive.
- Click Settings, select Update & Security, select Recovery, and then, under Advanced Startup, click Restart Now.
- Press the Shift key and select Restart on the Start menu.
- Restart the computer by running the Shutdown.exe /r /o command.
- Use installation media and select Repair.
After Windows 10 boots to the advanced troubleshooting mode, you can select Troubleshoot and then click Advanced Options. On the Advanced Options screen, the primary recovery tools are listed.
You can choose one of the following options.
- System Restore To restore Windows from a System Restore point.
- System Image Recovery To recover Windows by using a system image file.
- Startup Repair To attempt to fix startup issues automatically that prevent Windows from loading.
- Command Prompt To start advanced troubleshooting.
- Startup Settings To change Windows startup behavior. This is similar to the F8 menu options in earlier versions of the operating system.
- Go Back To The Previous Build To revert your system to a previous Windows build.
If your system has a UEFI motherboard, you are also offered an additional option:
- UEFI Firmware Settings Modify UEFI motherboard settings.
If you want to start Windows by using one of the earlier startup options, such as Enable Safe Mode or Enable Low-Resolution Video Mode, select Startup Settings on the Advanced Options screen. This instructs you to click Restart, and Windows 10 loads into a special troubleshooting mode that you might be familiar with if you have used previous versions of Windows.
After clicking Startup Settings and restarting, the troubleshooting mode presents you with a choice of startup options:
Startup Settings Description
Enable Debugging Restarts Windows 10 to monitor and debug the behavior
Mode of device drivers to help troubleshoot device driver
issues.
Enable Boot Logging Restarts Windows 10 and creates a file named
Mode Ntbtlog.txt, which records all device drivers installed
and loaded during the startup process.
Enable Low-Resolution Starts Windows 10 in a low-resolution graphics mode.
Video Mode
Enable Safe Mode Restarts Windows wit a minimal set of drivers,
services, andapplications, enabling you to troubleshoot
the system by using the GUI but without third-party
drivers and services running.
Enable Safe Mode Restarts Windows with a minimal set of drivers,
with Networking services, and applications and enables network
connectivity.
Enable Safe Mode with Restarts Windows with a minimal set of drivers,
Command Prompt services, and by using command prompt windows rather
than the GUI.
Disable Driver Enables you to bypass the requirements to load
Signature Enforcement device drivers with a digital signature.
Disable Early-Launch Restarts Windows and disables the Early Launch
Anti-Malware Protection Anti-malware (ELAM) driver, useful if you suspect
issues with Secure Boot or if your are modifying
Windows boot configuration or anti-malware settings.
Disable Automatic Prevents Windows 10 from automatically restarting
Restart on System after a system failure occur. This allows the
Failure information screen to be reviewed.
Note:
Windows 10 no longer supports the Last Known Good Configuration startup option that was present in Windows 7 and other versions of Windows.
While on the Startup Settings screen, you can press Enter if you want to exit and restart your system normally. To choose a Startup Settings boot option from the list, press the number key or F1-F9 function key that corresponds to the item in the list.
If you press F10, a screen appears with a single option, Launch Recovery Environment, which returns you to a menu screen that offers you these three options:
- Continue Exit And Continue To Windows 10
- Troubleshoot Reset Your PC Or See Advanced Options
- Turn Off Your PC
Note:
F8 no Longer Launches Advanced Boot Options Menu
In previous versions of Windows, during the boot phase, you could press the F8 key to launch the advanced boot options menu. This is no longer available by default in Windows 10. To make the boot process quicker, the boot process no longer waits for you to press F8. You can reinstate this functionality, which will slow the booting of Windows 10, by opening an elevated command prompt and typing bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy.