Windows 10: Refresh Windows 10

*Ditto

 

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering, I want to refresh my laptop so that I can give my aunt a "new" laptop.
The thing is, when I want to refresh my laptop, the will-be-deleted apps shown include even the drivers, both Intel and Dell.
I'm afraid that I might not know how to reinstall some drivers and that might cause some problems for the laptop.
So, my question is, if I refresh my laptop and remove these 3rd party apps, will Windows 10 automatically reinstall the drivers?

Please and thanks!

 

Hello Yinqin, and welcome to Ten Forums.

Drivers will not be affected by a refresh. If you did a reset, then they would be wiped. *Smile

 

It's not at all clear to me what the difference is between refresh, reset and recover. I have users who have used one or other of the options available and lost all their Windows Live Mail data, despite having been told that your files will be preserved. You say that third-party desktop apps will be removed, but Windows Live Mail is a Microsoft (not third-party) program. You say that Your files ... won't change, but experience says that Windows Live Mail files are not just changed, they're deleted! How the heck am I to advise users who end up in this situation?

 

Hello Noel, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

"Your files" = The "C:\Users\(user-name)" folders.

3rd party apps = Basically any desktop program installed. This doesn't include Store apps.

I would tell them to backup and create images to be able to restore as needed.

 

Thanks!

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 ...

It's usually too late for that.

 

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

 

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.

 

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. *Smile

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

 

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

 

Hello Tan, *Smile

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

 

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?

 

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.

 

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!