Windows 10

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Protecting and Repairing Windows

Although it is simple and straightforward to keep your copy of Windows 10 running smoothly and in a healthy state, it can also be simple and straightforward to rescue the OS in the event something goes wrong. In this section, we will show you what the various options are and how they work.

Creating a Recovery Drive

A recovery drive is a USB flash drive containing the tools required to repair Windows and get to options such as Startup Repair, Refresh, Reset, and System Restore, if your copy of Windows 10 won't start. Just how important it is that you do create a recovery drive for your PC, laptop, or tablet. The worst thing that can happen to anyone's PC is that it fails to boot into Windows.

What do you do when this happens? You can't get into Windows 10 to recover things. You won't have been given installation media for the operating system with your PC. A laptop is unlikely to have a DVD drive anyway. A tablet certainly won't; it most likely only has a micro-USB port. And your USB flash drives (onto which you copied the ISO image file of Windows when you got your upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1) are all standard USB. (You did download this and kept a safe copy of the product key, right!?) And you don't know anybody with the tools to help you fix things.

So creating a USB recovery drive is pretty essential to help get you working again if it all goes horribly wrong. If applicable, you should invest in a USB flash drive for the job. One that has a micro-USB or USB Type-C plug for your Ultrabook or tablet. Or buy a USB converter cable, called a USB On the Go (USB OTG) cable, to use a standard flash drive.

Having said all that... You can create a recovery drive from the Control Panel. Click Recovery (in the large or small icons view; it doesn't appear in the Category view). Next, click the Create a recovery drive option. The Recovery Drive wizard will appear.

Tip: Checking the Backup system files to the recovery drive option also saves the current Reset Image for your PC, making it easier and simpler to recover to a working copy of Windows in the event of a disaster.

Once the recovery drive is created, you can start your computer from it to access the recovery options. Note, however, that booting from a USB needs to be turned on in the BIOS or UEFI firmware on your motherboard.

Backing Up and Recovering Your Windows 10 Installation

In the IT industry, when a PC malfunctions, it is common practice that the operating system be wiped and reinstalled from a backup image that was created after all the apps were installed and the settings were configured. Windows 10 changes all of this for the first time with a new take on the backup image functionality.

The System Image Backup feature still exists, and you can use it if you like, but for many people, especially those who are less technically-minded, Refresh offers a compelling way forward for the future.

Resetting Windows 10

So let's have a look at the Windows 10 Reset feature, which is implemented so simply that users of any technical ability can use it. This feature reinstalls Windows, so that any corrupt files within the operating system are replaced with fully working and up-to-date versions while also keeping all of your files, settings, Store apps, and user accounts. This means that when the Reset operation is complete, you basically have nothing to configure or install, and you get back to working straightaway.

So how does it work? When Windows is installed, it automatically creates a backup image copy of itself that it can use to reinstall Windows. In Windows 8, which was the first version of Microsoft's OS to include the Reset feature, it essentially reinstalled Windows to the way it was when it was first installed. This meant you'd then have to spend time, and probably quite a lot of time, reinstalling a large number of Windows Updates. Improvements to this feature in Windows 10 means that it now uses the most recently downloaded Windows Updates when resetting the OS, so that the version you end up with is up-to-date, secure, and patched.

Note: The Reset operation restores Windows system files from 30 days ago, so as to ensure that any recent Windows Update files that may have caused a problem are not automatically reinstalled.

One crucial consideration, however, is that Reset doesn't restore any of your installed win32 apps-that is, those desktop programs like Office 2016 or Adobe Creative Cloud that you haven't installed from the Windows Store. These apps need to be reinstalled after the Reset operation is complete. For this reason, heavy users of win32 apps might still find the System Image Backup option a more suitable alternative.

Tip: If you are selling or giving away your PC, you can use the Reset feature to completely wipe the PC of all of your accounts, files, and apps. To do this, choose the Remove everything option when running Reset. Bear in mind, however, that all this does is delete the files; it is not a secure delete, so your files will still be recoverable using undelete software. For the average Joe selling his PC, this should not be a problem, but a business PC containing customer data should have its files securely deleted first; free software such as CCleaner (available from piriform.com) can do this for you.

There is one critical difference between Reset and the older System Image Backup that affects power users, IT pros, and system administrators. Although you can create a custom Reset image that restores all of your installed desktop software, it doesn't back up any of your settings for those programs. This means that software such as Microsoft Outlook is returned to its installation settings and you need to reconfigure email accounts in it, and the settings and preferences in all your other desktop software.

Many users won't be bothered by this, however, and indeed Windows 10 syncs a great many of its settings, including those for the desktop. App suites such as Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud can also synchronize many of their settings between different PCs.

Reset is also an excellent utility for anyone who supports friends or family and gets calls in the middle of the afternoon about a problem "that will only take a minute." You can access the Reset from the Settings app by selecting Update & recovery, and then clicking the Recovery option in the left navigation pane.

Reset is the first option at the top of your screen; there is an explanation of what it does. When you are ready to reset your computer, click the Get Started button. The process is completely automated from that point. Your PC restarts several times during the reset operation.

When you want to reset your copy of Windows, Windows 10 explains what the Reset process does and asks you if you want to keep your files or to remove everything. If you want to get your copy of Windows to work again, click the Keep your files option. (The Remove everything option is useful when you are selling or giving away your PC.) If you have any win32 apps installed, you are presented with a list of them, and you are told that you need to reinstall them after the Reset has completed. A list of the software will be saved to your desktop for you to refer to at the time. You can click Next when you are ready to reset your PC.

You can also reset your PC from Windows 10 startup; the details on how this works can be found in the "Understanding Windows 10 Startup Menus" section a little later in this tutorial. There are several ways to get to this:

• If your PC doesn't start after three attempts, Startup Repair runs. If it doesn't repair your computer, it offers you advanced repair options, which includes Reset. (For more on this, see "Using Startup Repair" later in this tutorial.)
• You can start your PC using a recovery drive; note that you may need to access the boot device options on your PC (usually F12 or Del) to tell the PC to boot from a USB flash drive. Check the documentation that came with your PC to see which key (or which combination of buttons on a tablet) you press to "select the boot device."
• You can start your PC from a Windows 10 installation DVD. At the Install screen, click the Repair your PC link to take you to the repair options.

Creating a System Image Backup of Windows 10

Windows has included a system image backup facility for years; it's a great way-especially for tech enthusiasts, power users, and IT pros-to create a solid and robust backup of your installed copy of Windows 10, with all its win32 and store apps, accounts, and settings intact.

Caution: You should not create a system image backup of any hard disk or partition on which you also store your files and documents, as restoring the image backup overwrites your current files with the older versions. You should move your files to a different hard disk or partition; we show you how to do this later in this tutorial in the "Safeguarding Your Personal Files" section. If you use Microsoft OneDrive to access your files online, and they are not stored locally, you can safely create a system image without affecting those files.

Always recommend that the backup image be from a relatively clean installation, in which only essential changes were made and all temporary files were deleted. It's a good idea to run Windows utilities, such as the Disk Cleanup Wizard, which you can find by searching clean at the Start menu, and clicking Disk Clean-up in the search results. The image backup doesn't store temporary files, so you don't need to worry so much about those, but the cleaner the image of your PC, the less risk there is of any inherent problems also being backed up.

Note: If you do not have a second partition or hard disk in your PC on which you can store a system image, it is straightforward to create one. You need enough free disk space, so it's a good idea to clear out any temporary files and defragment your disk first. On PCs with very small amounts of storage, such as low-end tablets with only a 32GB disk, performing a reset can clear many temporary and other files.
Press the Windows key+X to open the Administration menu, and then click the Disk Management option. In the Disk Management console, right-click your Windows drive (or the drive on which you want to make space) and select Shrink volume from the options that appear.
You need to reduce the partition in an amount roughly equal to your currently installed copy of Windows 10 with all its apps and settings. You can work this out by looking at the data in the top of the console, which tells you the capacity of the drive and the amount of free space that is left. Subtract the latter from the drive size to get your Windows installation size (e.g., 35GB).
When asked how much you want to shrink the drive by, enter this number (it only needs to be approximate) multiplied by 1000 (so 35GB would approximate to 35000MB, which, of course, it isn't; but like I said, you don't need to be exact).
In the "unallocated" space that's created, right-click and Create [a] new simple volume of the maximum size available. Give this a drive letter-any will do. You now have a partition on which you can save a system image.

Access the Windows Image Backup creation utility by clicking File History in the Control Panel, where you have the option to create a System Image Backup in the bottom-left corner of the window.

Click System Image Backup to start the wizard, which guides you through creating a backup image of Windows 10. The backup image is a complete snapshot of your PC at that time, including all of your installed software, their configuration settings, and customized Windows settings, and all of your user accounts.

You are asked where you want to store the image backup. You can choose another hard disk or partition in your computer, one or more DVDs (although bear in mind these can degrade over time), or a network location.

Note: You cannot use removable media such as SD and MicroSD cards for a system image. These are common on Windows tablets, on which you probably won't have other backup options except Reset. In these cases, you need to rely on the Reset feature or any backup image provided by the tablet manufacturer.

If your computer always connects to your network via Wi-Fi, you should not choose a network location. This is because the image is restored from the Windows boot menu, where no Wi-Fi drivers are loaded. When restoring from a network location, the computer needs to be connected to the network via a physical cable.

Note: If you have several hard disks or partitions in your computer, you are asked if you want to add any of them to the image backup.

Before creating the backup, Windows 10 shows you what you're backing up and where the backup will be stored. Click the Start backup button when you are ready to begin.

You cannot restore a system image backup from within Windows 10 in the way you can with a reset image. You need to start your computer from the Advanced startup menu (available in the Settings app under Update & recovery → Recovery), a USB recovery drive, or the Windows 10 installation DVD. When you do this, the System Image Recovery option can be found in the Advanced Options menu in Startup Repair.

Tip: Whereas you can create a system image backup in File History, you can also create one from the command line using the Windows PowerShell Utility. Open a PowerShell (Admin) window and use the command wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:D: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet, where -backupTarget is the hard disk (or network location) in which the image is to be stored, and -include is the drive letter of the disk on which Windows 10 is installed.
For network locations, you might need to insert the commands -user:username -password:userPassword just before the -allCritical switch. You can also specify more than one hard disk to be stored in the backup with the switch -include:C:,D:,E:.
This image backup can then be restored using a recovery drive or installation disc for Windows 10. You can find the System Image Recovery option in the Troubleshoot → Advanced page.

Safe Mode and Diagnostic Startup Mode

With Safe Mode removed from the new boot menu, how do you get to it? You can see the older boot menu by pressing Shift+F8 when starting Windows. Here you have the same familiar options, including Safe Mode and Safe Mode with Networking. You can access these settings from the boot options by selecting Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings. You are prompted to restart your PC, after which the Safe Mode option will be available.

Not all computers allow you to press F8 or Shift+F8, however, especially ones that start up really quickly. If you need to get into Safe Mode in this case, you can do so from the Windows System Configuration page, in which Safe Mode comes with a whole variety of additional and useful options.

You access the System Configuration dialog by searching for msconfig at the Start screen. Under the Boot tab, there is an option to turn invoke a Safe boot the next time it starts.

The most interesting option is under the General tab. Although Safe Mode is very useful, it is also extremely limiting and doesn't allow you to perform many actions.

Under the General tab, there is the option to turn on a diagnostic startup. It is equivalent to Safe Mode+ in that, in addition to loading the bare operating system, it also loads some system drivers, such as for your graphics, and it allows you to perform the full range of Windows 10 configuration operations.

Note: When you switch on these options in the System Configuration dialog, they remain on until you run msconfig again and switch them off.

Using Startup Repair

If Windows 10 fails to start three times, and the System Reserved partition isn't damaged, Windows launches Startup Repair. This is an automated system that resets Windows components to their default settings in an attempt to get things working again.

If Startup Repair can't repair Windows, it offers you advanced repair options. A refresh might be the best option to get Windows 10 working again.

Understanding the Windows 10 Startup Menus

The startup menus in Windows 10 have changed considerably to accommodate the mouse and graphical systems that were not supported on older computer systems.

This isn't to say that you can't access the previous DOS-type startup menu (it is still available with the Shift+F8 key press at startup), but the standard F8 key now takes you to the new graphical system if your hardware supports it.

At the first screen, you have three options: continue to start Windows 10, turn off your computer, or troubleshoot the machine. Note that on some devices, you might also see a Use device option here that permits restoring from a system image stored on the drive.

The Troubleshooting options are straightforward and easy to understand, offering only the new option to reset your computer. You might expect to find the Startup Repair option here, for example, but it has been moved into the Advanced Options.

All the remaining options are found in the Advanced Options. Here you have access to the Command Prompt, in which you can perform actions such as manually repairing the boot options, performing a CHKDSK (check disk), and more. You can also change the Windows Startup Settings, which allows you to turn off the new graphical menu and have Windows 10 use the traditional DOS menu instead.

Restoring Windows 10 to Factory Settings

If you are selling your computer or giving it away, you can use the Reset option with the optional switch to delete all of your files and accounts to restore Windows 10 to its factory settings. Doing this cleans the PC and returns it to a "factory state."

Reset this PC is in the Settings app under Update & recovery → Recovery. You are asked if you want to keep your files or Remove everything. If you have any files on the PC that you wish to save, you should make sure that you have backed them all up before performing a reset because they will be deleted from the PC.

Tip: Reset does not securely erase your files; they can be recovered later by using a file recovery program. If you want to securely erase deleted files and data on your hard disk, there are many third-party utilities that can do this, but the excellent-and free-CCleaner (piriform.com/ccleaner) does this job along, with providing other useful cleanup and maintenance tools for Windows.