Windows 10: Windows System Repair Restores data from another pc.

My Intel NUC HTPC wouldn't boot this morning and went into automatic repair mode. When I returned a few hours later my pc was running fine but with the data from another PC in my home. I assume this was because this other pc was setup to keep back ups in the cloud while my NUC was not. I'm not sure why it did this on it's own and assume my previous data is lost for ever but am not sure. Any chance it backed up my 100gb ssd from the NUC somewhere before overwriting everything? Thanks.

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:)

 

Clearing (and restoring) Private data


Hi I have some Questions about „cleaning“ up or removing personal/private data & configuration from a Windows 10 PC.

It is about a PC that should be sent to the Vendor to get repaired.
It is not my PC but from a friend.
Usually in such a case I would create an image from the System and reset the OS to factory settings to wipe the data/settings.
But this time I don’t have enough space (and will not have time for it) (Don’t need suggestions for Imaging).

The normal Data (documents, pictures …) are regularly saved / backup so not needed to be saved additionally.
The goal would be removing / backing up the personal Data (in a fast and space saving way) to have them removed and make it possible to put them back, but not deleting /removing the installed Programs, applications and Games (Win32).

From my experience with Windows 7 or Older PCs I would also:

• Browser: backup Profile and clean it (Easy to restore)
• Mail Program: backup Profile and clean it (Easy to restore)
• Change User password (easy to restore)

But as for Windows 10 there are some new … implications about the

• connected Microsoft account
• and the Apps

How to deal with them?
How to remove / disconnect them in a way I can restore afterwards again?

 

Windows 10 System Repair Disc from Another PC

There are different types of backups that may be made from the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) dialog in Windows 10. (Yes, it does seem an odd title for v. 10 - it's a hint, perhaps, that this is deprecated?)

• Backup or restore your files: This saves your personal data, but not operating system (OS) files. These files can be restored to another machine, assuming they're not encrypted.
  
• Create a system repair disc: This makes an image of OS files, but not data. These images are probably not portable. During the original installation, drivers specific to that PC were downloaded and installed. It is possible that identical make and model machines with identical OS would have the same drivers, but manufacturers change hardware during production runs of a model, so that is not certain.
  

Another issue is that Microsoft identifies a PC by its hardware (including things such as HDD and CPU serial numbers), as well as license key. Restoring on different hardware might later require authentication, if license information was lost.





So it might be worth a try, if you don't have a recent disk image, e.g. that made by third-party tools such as Macrium Reflect and alternatives. If it fails, there are other options.

• Download Create Windows 10 installation media, put it on USB or DVD, and then Perform a Repair Upgrade Using the Windows 10 ISO file. This may save your current data and programs.
  
• If that fails, use the installation media above for a full installation.
  
• If none of these meet your needs, try a free alternative OS such as Ubuntu Linux.
  

 

System Restore failure on Windows 10 PC

System Restore is a wonderful tool - if it works. Unfortunately it fails far too often. I suggest you do this:

• Run the command SystemPropertiesProtection.exe to open the System Restore configuration panel.
• Turn off System Restore on all partitions. This will delete all existing restore points.
• Turn on System Restore on the system partition. This should fix the restore problem.
• Plug in your USB backup disk.
• Open the Control Panel / File History.
• Click Create a system image.
• Plug in a small flash disk (1 GByte will do)
• Click Create a System Repair Disk. Do NOT copy the system files.

If you ever need to re-install Windows then you can do it quickly like so:

• Make sure you have a recent backup of your data files.
• Boot the machine with the small flash disk.
• Restore the image from the USB backup disk.
• Restore your data from your backup.