How to refresh, reset, or restore your PC

Note: For information about this topic in Windows 10, see Recovery options in Windows 10.

If you’re having problems with your PC, you can:

Refresh your PC to reinstall Windows and keep your personal files and settings. Refresh also keeps the apps that came with your PC and the apps you installed from the Microsoft Store.

Reset your PC to reinstall Windows but delete your files, settings, and apps—except for the apps that came with your PC.

Restore your PC to undo recent system changes you’ve made.

If you’re having trouble starting (booting) your PC, see Windows Startup Settings (including safe mode), and go to the “Get to Windows Startup Settings in the Windows Recovery Environment” section. You can refresh, reset, or restore your PC from the Windows Recovery Environment.

If you want to back up and restore your personal files using File History, see Set up a drive for File History.

Before you start to refresh or reset your PC

In most cases, once you start to refresh or reset your PC, it’ll finish on its own. However, if Windows needs missing files, you’ll be asked to insert recovery media, which is typically on a DVD disc or thumb drive. If that happens, what you’ll need depends on your PC.

If your PC came with Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, you’ll need the discs or thumb drive that came with your PC. Check the info that came with your PC to see if your PC manufacturer provided these discs or media. In some cases, you might have created them when you first set up your PC.

If you don’t have either of those, you can make them if you have a USB thumb drive of 16 GB or larger. Having a recovery drive can help you troubleshoot and fix problems with your PC, even if it won’t start. For more info, see Create a USB recovery drive.

If you upgraded your PC to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 with a DVD, use that disc. If you don’t have Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 media, contact Microsoft Support.

Refresh, reset, or restore

Select any of the following for more detailed info.

If your PC isn’t performing as well as it once did, and you don’t know why, you can refresh your PC without deleting any of your personal files or changing your settings.

Note: If you upgraded your PC from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and your PC has a Windows 8 recovery partition, refreshing your PC will restore Windows 8. You’ll need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 after the refresh has finished.

Warning: Apps you installed from websites and DVDs will be removed. Apps that came with your PC and apps you installed from Microsoft Store will be reinstalled. Windows puts a list of removed apps on your desktop after refreshing your PC.

To refresh your PC

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)

Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.

Under Refresh your PC without affecting your files, tap or click Get started.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

If you want to recycle your PC, give it away, or start over with it, you can reset it completely. This removes everything and reinstalls Windows.

Note: If you upgraded your PC from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and your PC has a Windows 8 recovery partition, resetting your PC will restore Windows 8. You’ll need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 after the reset has finished.

Warning: All of your personal files will be deleted and your settings will be reset. All apps that you installed will be removed. Only apps that came with your PC will be reinstalled.

To reset your PC

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)

Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.

Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, tap or click Get started.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

Note: You’ll be asked to choose whether you want to erase data quickly or thoroughly. If you choose to erase data quickly, some data might be recoverable using special software. If you choose to erase data thoroughly, this will take longer but it makes recovering data less likely.

If you think an app or driver that you recently installed caused problems with your PC, you can restore Windows back to an earlier point in time, called a restore point. System Restore doesn’t change your personal files, but it might remove recently installed apps and drivers.

System Restore isn’t available for Windows RT 8.1.

Windows automatically creates a restore point when you install desktop apps and new Windows updates, if the last restore point is older than 7 days. You can also create a restore point manually at any time.

To restore your PC to an earlier point in time

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search.)

Enter Control Panel in the search box, and tap or click Control Panel.

Enter Recovery in the Control Panel search box, and then tap or click Recovery.

Tap or click Open System Restore, and then follow the instructions.

If you need additional help refreshing, resetting, or restoring your PC, check out the Repair and Recovery community pages in the Windows forum for solutions that other people have found for problems they’ve experienced.

How to Run System Restore via Command Prompt in Windows 10?

This article will introduce how to launch System Restore via command prompt and run system restore in Windows 10 from command prompt to repair your computer.

By AOMEI / Last Updated March 9, 2021

Content of this article:

How do I run System Restore from command prompt in Windows 10?

System Restore in Windows 10 command prompt is a useful tool to restore system to previous state if anything bad happens to system. Sometimes, a problem is so bad that your computer cannot start properly, that is to say, you cannot run system restore from inside Windows 10. Luckily, you still can start your computer in safe mode or using installation disc.

But sometimes it’s difficult for you to perform system restore in safe mode, because modern fake antivirus program and ransomware is able to block the safe mode or safe mode with networking. At this time, you can only use command promptВ in safe mode to make it. Also, installation disc is another way to access command prompt. And I’ll introduce both ways in details below.

Method 1: Run Windows 10 system restore in safe mode using command prompt

As above mentioned, if you are unable to access your Windows session normally, due to some error (driver installation, Windows update) or virus infection. You can try to restore your system settings to an earlier date.

Please note that the restore operation cannot be undone if you perfom system restore in safe mode. If you want to undo changes made by this oeperation, you could choose to use installation disc that comes along with your computer.
If you don’t have any kind of this disc, it’s a wise choice to create Windows 10 recovery driveВ or installation disc on another working computer with the same hardware of this computer.

Next, you will learn how to launch the System Restore tool from Safe Mode using the Command Prompt and run system restore in Windows 10. Also, it still works in previous version of Windows, such as, Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1.В

1. Press and hold theВ ShiftВ key while you selectВ PowerВ >В RestartВ from theВ Start menu.

2. After your PC restarts to theВ Choose an optionВ screen, selectВ TroubleshootВ >В Advanced optionsВ >В Startup SettingsВ >В Restart.

Note: If your computer can boot normally, press Win + R and type cmd in the Run box.

3. Select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt via number key 6 or function key F6.

3. Sign in using an administrator account if needed. Once the command prompt is showing, type the command: rstrui.exe, then press Enter.

Note: The rstrui.exe is located in C:\Windows\System32 folder by default. Thus, if you findВ your computer has more than one rstrui.exe file or the file name is not exactly the same, for example, rstrul.exe, restrui.exe or rstri.exe, please treat it with caution. These willВ happen if the computer has a virus.

4. Here you will come to System Restore wizard. You can either use recommended restore point or choose a restore point. Then click Next. Follow the instruction to complete system restore.

Method 2: Run system restore in Windows 10 using installation disc

1. Create an installation disc with media creation tool for Windows 10В if you don’t have. Also, if you don’t have any CD/DVD,В you can choose to create a recovery disk in Windows 10 with built-in tool Recovery Drive.

2. Insert the installation disc into your computer, start your computer and press the specific key to access BIOS, such as, ESC, F2, etc. Then, go to Boot menu and move the CD-ROM Drive to first option via “+”, then press F10 or Enter to exit this window.

3. Click Next > Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt, then type rstrui.exe and hit Enter to start the System Restore Wizard. After that, you just need to follow the on-screen instructions to restore your computer to previous date.

However, this method can be tricky sometimes. You may get error message, such as, System Restore did not complete successfully, Windows cannot find a system image on this computer, etc. Besides, you may find that there is no system restore point when you open this wizard. So, you’d better run a guaranteed software to restore your system.

Run system restore in Windows 10 using command prompt with AOMEI.exe

IfВ system restore not working in safe mode or using installation disc, there is still another way to start system restore from command prompt in Windows 10: use a third party software.

AOMEI Backupper ProfessionalВ is one of the best backup and restore software. With it, you can restore system, partition, hard drive to previous date. With its Universal Restore feature, you can even restore system to a dissimilar hardware.

Before running system restore using command prompt in Windows 10, you need to do some preparations.
в‘ First of all, you should have aВ system backupВ created by AOMEI Backupper. Because the restore operationВ is only based on backup image created by AOMEI Backupper. If you don’t haveВ a system backup with AOMEI Backupper, you can create one now based on another system working properly.
в‘Ў Next, If you cannot boot computer,В create a bootable mediaВ with AOMEI Backupper. Boot machine from bootable media and it will bring you to the main interface of AOMEI Backupper. Open command line under Tools tab.
в‘ў At last, to make sure the restore process is smooth, you can use Check Image utilities to check if system image backup is intact and without error.

Now, let’s see how to run Windows 10 system restore using command prompt with AOMEI Backupper. Please download AOMEI Backupper Professional at first and prepare the aforementioned system image and bootable media.

1.В Insert the drive containing image into your computer and make sure it can be recoginzed.В

2. Type the following command and go to AOMEI Backupper installation directory. For example: cd C:\Program Files (x86)\AOMEI Backupper.

Notes:
вќ¤ The pathВ cd C:\Program Files (x86)\AOMEI Backupper is just an example, please check the installation directory of this software and replace it with your own.
вќ¤ If you run this command under Windows PE environment, the drive letters might change.

3. Run the following command toВ restore image on the current computer: AMBackup /r /t [backup type] /s «[backup location path]» /d [destination location]

For example: To restore the system backup saved in J:\systembackup1 to disk 1. You should type the command:

AMBackup /r /t system /s “J:\system backup\systembackup1.adi” /d 1

If you need to restore to another computer, AOMEI Backupper Universal Restore feature can make this very easy. For example: Run system restore in the image named «systembackup1.adi» to the partition 0 on disk 0 and perform a universal restore.

AMBackup /r /t system /s «D:\system backup\systembackup1.adi» /d 0:0 /x

Note: there are some required parameters in AOMEI Backupper.
: restore the backup of system, disk, partition or dynamic volume.
: specify restore type.
: specify the path of the image file.
[/x]: specify universal restore to restore system to dissimilar hardware. It has to be used with «/t system» and «/t disk».

Easier way to restore system with AOMEI Backupper

If you are not fond of using Windows 10 system restore command line, you can also choose to restore easily from AOMEI GUI in the main interface of AOMEI Backupper. It only takes you 4 steps.

1. Connect the device containing system image backup to your computer and start it via bootable media.

2. In the main interface of AOMEI Backupper, click Restore and Select Image File to choose a system image backup from the connected device.

3. Tick Restore this system backup and click Next.

4. Choose a destination disk if you tick Restore system to other locationВ and click Next. Then, confirm the operation summary and click Start Restore if there is no problem.

Note: If the computer you restore has different hardware, please remember to tick «Universal Restore». This feature can ensure secure boot after restoration.

Besides backup and restore, AOMEI Backupper is also an excellent disk clone software. With it, you canВ make an exact copy of hard drive. If you need to keep OS on SSD, you can use this software to clone OS to SSD. Besides Windows 10, this tool can be used in Windows 7/8/8.1/XP/Visa.

Conclusion

To make a conclusion, system restore Windows 10 with command prompt may be helpful to revert your system to a good state, but System Restore is not as almighty as you think. For example: system restore does not restore your personal files and remove virus.

If you have a system backup created by AOMEI Backupper, you can run system restore in Windows 10 using command prompt. Also, you can choose to restore from AOMEI GUI.

If you want to protect unlimited computers within your company, you can pickВ AOMEI Backupper Technician. With the inbuilt AOMEI Image Deploy tool, you are also allowed to deploy/restore system image file on server-side computer to multiple client-side computers over network.