Refresh Windows 10

Brink · 06 Aug 2015

Noel Burgess said:

Is there an MS web page giving details of this? I find it very unlikely that, say, Office would be removed but some tatty little game from the store would be retained ...

The link below, and the screenshots in the tutorial can show this. Not to mention the number of times I have done it to confirm.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...(v=vs.85).aspx

Noel Burgess · 11 Aug 2015

Brink said:

The link below, and the screenshots in the tutorial can show this.

Thanks again. The MSDN page gives a pretty clear description of the difference:

•Refresh your PC Fixes software problems by reinstalling the OS while preserving the user data, user accounts, and important settings. All other preinstalled customizations are restored to their factory state. In Windows 10, this feature no longer preserves user-acquired Windows apps.
•Reset your PC Prepares the PC for recycling or for transfer of ownership by reinstalling the OS, removing all user accounts and contents (e.g. data, Classic Windows applications, and Universal Windows apps), and restoring preinstalled customizations to their factory state.
•Bare metal recovery Restores the default or preconfigured partition layout on the system disk, and reinstalls the OS and preinstalled customizations from external media.

Brink · 11 Aug 2015

Well, another change.

ron007 · 21 Sep 2015

Good article. One thing you don't mention is the Win 8 tool RecImg.exe . It is (was) used to generate new image files used by Refresh. I was just reading a review of the July RTM said that the tool was not included. Has it been added in a subsequent "update" of Win 10? Can the Win 8 version be copied over to Win 10 and used?

Brink · 21 Sep 2015

ron007 said:

Good article. One thing you don't mention is the Win 8 tool RecImg.exe . It is (was) used to generate new image files used by Refresh. I was just reading a review of the July RTM said that the tool was not included. Has it been added in a subsequent "update" of Win 10? Can the Win 8 version be copied over to Win 10 and used?

Hello Ron, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

Unfortunately, the recimg.exe command has been deprecated in Windows 10.

chun96 · 04 Oct 2015

Are apps from the Windows Store still preserved by refreshing Windows 10?

Brink · 04 Oct 2015

Hello Tan, :)

A reset will remove all apps and programs that didn't come preinstalled with the PC.

However, reinstalling apps from your library in the Store afterwards is made pretty easy for the ones that don't get synced back if using a Microsoft account.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

chun96 · 04 Oct 2015

Means that if I use an original Windows 10 installation media to reset (keep files), I will be left only with my files, accounts and settings it it?

Brink · 04 Oct 2015

Correct, but if you're using a Microsoft account, your apps should sync back. If not, then you can easily reinstall them using the method above.

A reset is basically like doing a clean install.

tezad · 21 Oct 2015

Hi!
If I choose the first option, which says reinstalling Windows 10 but keeps my personal files, does this really keep my personal and installed programs? Currently, I'm in overseas and I will be staying here for 3 months and I didn't bring any program installers but I want to refresh windows because I constantly get a .dll error and it's a bit slow. So I want to refresh the system while keeping my programs and files. I just want to confirm this before doing anything.

Thank you!