How to Reset your PC using Recovery in Windows 10

Windows 10 is really good at recovering from issues that may prevent it from working correctly. But sometimes, it may need manual intervention to recover from unexpected behavior. You can Reset your PC using Recovery option in Windows 10 in such situations.

Incompatible drivers and software may cause system crashes and unexpected behavior. System crash may lead to an inoperable state of your PC. And in such situations, you can use System Restore utility if you have restore points already available. But if you don’t have any restore points, then only option you can use is to reset your PC using Recovery options in Windows 10.

How to Reset your Windows 10 PC using Recovery options?

This tutorial shows how to use ‘Reset this PC’ option in Recovery in Windows 10. And this process also works with Windows 8/8.1. So, let’s start:

Step 1

Open Settings app by clicking on Start button and select Settings. 

Click on Update & Security to open Windows update and Security settings.

Step 2

In Update & Security window, click on Recovery in the left-pane. You will see Reset this PC and Advanced Startup options on the right-pane. You may also see another third option Go Back to Windows 8.1/Windows 7 if you have upgraded to Windows 10 within 30 days. Click on Get Started button under Reset this PC on the right side.

Step 3

Now, you will have two options, Keep my files and Remove everything. If you want to keep your personal files. Also if you have not taken the backup of your files, you can select first option. And if you want to clean everything on C drive and reinstall Windows 10, select the second option.

Step 4

Depending upon the option you select, you will see choices for keeping or removing your data.

• Keep my files:
  If you select this option, Windows will not delete your personal files but it will remove installed programs. Additionally, Windows will be reinstalled and all settings will be reset to default. You will also have option to view the apps that will be removed.

• Remove everything:
  If you select second option to remove everything, all your programs and files from C (Windows drive) will be deleted. However, you will have option to Change settings. Click Next to continue to next step.

Finally, you will see summary of the actions. So, just click on Reset button to reset your PC using Recovery options in Windows 10.

Step 5

Now, you are ready to reset your PC using Recovery options. After verifying the things that you want to keep or remove, click on Reset button to start. Windows 10 will start preparing to reset your PC.

After that, you PC will restart. And Recovery process will continue after the reboot. Your PC will reset and reinstall the Windows 10.

Step 6

After successful recovery and reinstallation of Windows 10, depending upon your selection in STEP 4, you will either be taken to login screen or initial Windows 10 setup.

• If you have selected Keep my files in STEP 4, all your personal files will remain intact. But all your Apps and Programs will be removed and Windows 10 will be reinstalled. So, you will have to reinstall them.
• And if you have selected Remove everything in STEP 4, all your personal files, apps and programs will be removed. And Windows 10 will be reinstalled from scratch. You will have to setup your user account again and install all your apps and programs again.

Recover Windows 10 using Recovery Options

Above tutorial explained, how you can reset your PC using Recovery options in Windows 10. If your PC was recovered successfully, your PC will run like a new one. So, go ahead and reinstall your apps and programs. If the recovery was not successful then you can always install a clean copy of Windows 10 from scratch.

Hope you liked this tutorial. Feel free to share your queries and suggestions in the comment section down below.

SEE ALSO:
1. How to clean install Windows 10 on new PC?
2. Download Windows 10 ISO using Media Creation Tool?
3. How to restore your PC using System Restore?