Windows 10 reset is very convenient because everything is automatic. In addition, you can choose whether to keep your personal files or whether to delete everything and start from scratch and whether to restore the PC to its initial state (after purchase) or to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch.READ ALSO: How to format Windows 10.
Reset PC options and operation
The Windows 10 reset option can be found from the Start menu, in the Settings, to the section Update and Security. From the Start menu, you can search Settings or press on the gear. Under Update and Security, press on Restoration in the side column, to find the function on the right Reset PC.
Click on It begins to begin the Windows 10 reset and restore procedure. Before starting, Windows 10 will ask if you keep personal files or if you remove everything. For sure, the settings will be reset and all installed programs and apps will be deleted.
Below, starting with the Windows 10 2004 version (May 2020 update), you are asked whether to do the Cloud download or Local reinstallation.
The difference between the two options is as follows: Cloud download re-download the latest version of Windows 10 from Microsoft and servers removes any pre-installed application from the PC manufacturer… In this way, complete cleaning of the PC is carried out (however keeping the files if this option has been chosen or removing everything if a total reset is preferred)
The local reinstallation instead, it brings the computer back to the initial configuration, as it was bought at the store, thus keeping the apps and programs pre-installed from the manufacturer.
Furthermore, once you have made your choice, you can click on Change Settings to change some options. To make a summary and synthetic picture, let’s see what the various options mean.
– In the case of Cloud download, you are always asked whether to download Windows 10 or not.
– If you choose to Remove everything instead, changing the settings you can also activate the options: Clean the data, to delete everything so as to make the files no longer recoverable (this option allows you to reset the computer in case you want to sell it to someone) and if you want to delete the files from all the drives and, therefore, delete the files both from the disk where ‘Windows 10 is installed, both also from the other disks of the computer.
However, you will not need to use a Windows 10 installation disc. If the PC was pre-installed, the Reset PC function will revert to the initial configuration.
Then take into account that by logging in to the Windows 10 PC with the same Microsoft account used before, the personalized settings can still be automatically recovered and restored as before, if the synchronization of settings and data in Windows 10.
READ ALSO: Reset Windows 10 Settings to initial values.
Use Reset PC if Windows 10 doesn’t start
To use the Windows 10 reset and restore function when a serious error prevents the system from booting correctly, you must use the recovery console. In another article, the guide for open the Windows 10 recovery console.
From the recovery console, go to Troubleshooting and press on Reset PC to find all the options seen above.
The recovery console can also be accessed from the login screen by pressing the shutdown button at the bottom right and then pressing on Restart, holding down the button Shift.
Conclusions
Until the 1909 version of Windows 10, it was possible to reset Windows 10 with another slightly different function, that of the installation from scratch explained in the guide on how clean your Windows 10 PC from installed programs. In Windows 10 from version 2004, this functionality appears removed and therefore replaced by Reset PC> Cloud Download.
The reset of Windows 10 works radically and here, for some people, a problem has arisen regarding removing drivers to make peripherals work. In fact, if you had a PC, for example, an HP or an Asus, with Windows 7 or Windows 8 pre-installed on which you upgraded to Windows 10, being unable to use the recovery partition, the option Reset PC (using the Cloud option) will delete any program that does not belong to Windows 10, including drivers and programs. This, however, is actually a false problem.
Meanwhile, Windows 10 automatically installs the device drivers, so the PC will work fine. Regarding the programs pre-installed by the manufacturing companies, in the vast majority of cases, they are garbage and uselessness that do nothing but weigh down the system.
Not having their footprint anymore will, therefore, be a welcome incentive to reset which becomes an easy and automatic solution to have a new PC without junk and adware.
However, if there was any program that you wanted to keep because it made the special keys of the keyboard or the fingerprint detector work, for example, then you will have to look for it on the manufacturer’s website (depending on whether the computer is HP, Asus, Acer or other), download and install it.
Note also that after the reset you can no longer go back to the previous version of Windows.