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 use System Restore on Windows 10

Source: Windows Central

On Windows 10, System Restore is a feature designed to create a snapshot of the device’s current working state as a «restore point» when system changes are detected. If a critical problem occurs after installing a system update, device driver, application, or after modifying system settings incorrectly using the Registry or another tool, you can use one of the available restore points to revert the computer to an earlier point in time to resolve the problem without losing your files.

Although this is a handy recovery tool, for some odd reason, System Restore comes disabled by default, which means that you must enable it before Windows 10 can create restore points automatically or you manually.

In this Windows 10 guide, we walk you through the steps to set up System Restore as well as the steps to recover from problems that may be affecting the normal operation of your computer.

How to enable System Restore on Windows 10

On Windows 10, the System Restore feature is not turned on by default, and you must enable it manually using Control Panel.

To enable System Restore, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Create a restore point and click the top result to open the System Properties page.
3. Under the «Protection Settings» section, select the main «System» drive

Click the Configure button.

Source: Windows Central

Select the Turn on system protection option.

Source: Windows Central

Quick tip: Windows 10 can automatically manage the space, but under the «Disk Space Usage» section, you can also use the slider to specify the storage amount to reserve for the recovery feature. You will also find a Delete button, which you can use to remove all restore points, which can come in handy to free up space or when you want to start over with the feature.

Click the Apply button.

Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, Windows 10 will automatically create a restore point when applying a new update or when specific system changes are made.

System Restore is not a feature you can enable globally. If you have additional drives you want to protect with System Restore, you must repeat the steps on every storage device. However, remember that this feature is available to undo settings changes. It is not a backup solution replacement.

How to create a System Restore point on Windows 10

If enabled, System Restore will create a checkpoint when it detects system changes automatically. However, if you modify the system configuration, you always want to create a restore point manually.

To create a restore point on Windows 10 manually, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Create a restore point, and click the top result to open the System Properties page.

Under the «Protection Settings» section, click the Create button.

Source: Windows Central

Type a descriptive name for the restore point — for example, before modifying the Registry settings.

Source: Windows Central

Click the Create button.

Click the Close button.

Click the OK button.

Click the Close button.

After you complete the steps, you’ll have a way to undo changes in the event that something goes wrong while installing a new device driver, app, or after modifying the Registry.

How to recover using System Restore on Windows 10

When something happens after modifying system settings on Windows 10, you can undo the changes by applying a previous restore point. You can complete this task from the desktop or the advanced startup settings if the system does not boot.

Undo system changes from desktop

If you still have access to the desktop, you can revert changes with System Restore using these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Create a restore point, and click the top result to open the System Properties page.

Click the System Restore button.

Source: Windows Central

Quick note: If the option is grayed out, then it means that the system does not have any restore point available.

Click the Next button.

Source: Windows Central

Click the Finish button.

Source: Windows Central

Once you complete the steps, System Restore will return the device to the previous good working state.

Undo system changes from Advanced startup

If the computer does not boot to access the desktop, you can use Advanced startup settings to use the System Restore feature to undo system changes.

Access Advanced startup

To access the Advanced startup environment to use System Restore, use these steps:

Power on the device.

As soon as the Windows logo appears on your screen, press the power button to interrupt the boot sequence.

Source: Windows Central

Repeat steps No. 1 and 2 two more times. (Or until the device boots into the recovery experience.)

After you complete the steps, you can use the steps outlined below to revert system changes with System Restore.

Alternatively, if you cannot access the recovery environment with the above steps, you can start your device with a Windows 10 installation media, and while in the «Windows Setup» experience, click the Next button, click the Repair your computer button from the bottom-left corner, and then use the steps below.

Undo changes with System Restore

To use System Restore from the Advanced startup environment, use these steps:

Click the Advanced options button.

Source: Windows Central

Click on Troubleshoot.

Source: Windows Central

Click on Advanced options.

Source: Windows Central

Click on System Restore.

Source: Windows Central

Confirm the account passowrd.

Source: Windows Central

Click the Next button.

Source: Windows Central

Click the Finish button.

Source: Windows Central

Once you complete the steps, the changes causing the problem will be removed with the previous snapshot bringing the device back to a good-known working state.

We are focusing this guide on Windows 10, but since this is a legacy feature, you can also refer to these instructions if you are using Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.

Although System Restore is a convenient feature to quickly recover from configuration problems, it is not a feature meant to replace a backup solution or an option to reset the computer to the factory default settings.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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