Windows 8 Allows PC Refresh Without Deleting Files, Settings

The phrase "reinstall Windows" is not something the average PC user wants to hear, but with Windows 8, Microsoft is promising a more simple process for refreshing or resetting your PC.

The updated operating system will include the option to reset, which will restore factory settings, as well as refresh, which will clean up your PC without removing installed apps.

With existing versions of Windows, users have a variety of options when it comes to getting their PCs back to what Microsoft refers to as a "good state." That includes accessing your PC's hidden partition to reinstall the OS, using a third-party imaging product, Windows systems image backup, or doing a clean install with the Windows DVD.

"While these tools all provide similar functionalities, they don't provide a consistent experience from one PC or technique to another," Desmond Lee, a program manager on the Windows Fundamentals team, wrote in a Wednesday blog post.

If you're ever tried to help a relative restore their PC or talk someone through a refresh on the phone, you know the feeling.

As a result, the Windows 8 team wanted the refresh/reset process to be as easy as pressing a button. "Our goal was to make the process much more streamlined, less time-consuming, and more accessible to a broad set of customers," Lee wrote.

The updated OS will therefore include two features: Reset your PC, which removes all personal data, apps, and settings from the PC, and reinstalls Windows; and Refresh your PC, which keeps all personal data, Metro style apps, and important settings from the PC, and reinstalls Windows. Both options will be accessible via the Control Panel Metro app.

Reset is mainly for those who want everything wiped from their computer—perhaps you're donating an older machine and want to remove personal files before giving it away.

With this option, the computer will boot into the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), erase and format the hard drive partitions with personal data, install a fresh copy of Windows, and restart with the newly installed copy of Windows.

"For those of you who worry about data that may still be recoverable after a standard reset, especially on PCs with sensitive personal data, we also will be providing an option in Windows 8 Beta to erase your data more thoroughly, with additional steps that can significantly limit the effectiveness of even sophisticated data recovery attempts," Lee wrote.

If your computer is acting up and you want to start anew with your files intact, meanwhile, choose refresh.

With this option, the PC boots into Windows RE, scans the system for your files and puts them aside, installs a fresh copy of Windows, restores your data and settings, and reboots. You won't have to go through initial setup again.

"To accomplish this, we actually use the same imaging and migration technologies behind Windows Setup," Lee wrote.

Microsoft said things like wireless network and mobile broadband connections as well as desktop wallpaper will be preserved, but other settings will not "as they can occasionally cause problems if misconfigured." That includes file type associations, display settings, and Windows Firewall settings.

Along the same lines, Windows 8 will only preserve Metro style apps, not desktop apps that did not come pre-installed on the PC.

"We do this for two reasons. First, in many cases there is a single desktop app that is causing the problems that lead to a need to perform this sort of maintenance, but identifying this root cause is not usually possible," Lee wrote. "And second, we do not want to inadvertently reinstall 'bad' apps that were installed unintentionally or that hitched a ride on something good but left no trace of how they were installed."

The PC will create a list of apps that were not saved so you can refer back to it when re-installing.

However, there will be an option to create a customized refresh setting via a command-line tool that will preserve certain desktop apps. "After you've created the custom image, whenever you refresh your PC, not only will you be able to keep your personal data, settings, and Metro style apps, but you can restore all the desktop apps in your custom image as well," Lee said.

If your PC is dead and won't boot, meanwhile, "there will also be a tool that you can use to create a bootable USB flash drive, in case even the copy of Windows RE on the hard drive won't start," Lee said.

For more, see PCMag's and the slideshow above, as well as and .