Windows Help & Advice – May 2019

70 |^ |^ May 2019

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Repair a Windows install

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ot all reinstalls require a

complete wipe of your

hard drive. A repair or

refresh installation

leaves your programs,

settings and files in

place, and restricts itself to installing a

fresh copy of your Windows files over

the top of your existing copy. If your

problem is linked to a corrupt file or

Windows setting, the repair installation

can usually fix it.

All repair installs share one common

characteristic: you must launch them

from Windows itself. You can’t boot

from your install media and repair

Windows through that; you need to

boot into Windows, then start the repair

process from there. If you’re unable to

boot into Windows, therefore, you’ll

need to skip to page 72 and perform a

full destructive recovery instead.

Start the repair

Starting a repair install varies depending

on your PC model and what version of

Windows you’re running. Windows 8.1

and 10 users should (at least initially)

avoid the Refresh/Reset options

provided under Settings > ‘Update &

recovery’. These options will preserve

your files and any apps you’ve installed

through the Microsoft Store, but any

desktop programs you’ve installed will

be wiped along with Windows itself.

Instead, you should ‘upgrade’ your

copy of Windows, which performs a

similar non-destructive reinstall to

Refresh/Reset with the added bonus

that your apps – including those you’ve

installed outside of the Microsoft Store

• will be preserved. To do so, you’ll need
  your Windows installation media – see
  the step-by-step guide on the facing
  page if you don’t have the latest version.
  Why do you need the latest install
  media? It’s because upgrade installs
  only work if the version of Windows on
  your PC matches that on your install
  media, so if you’ve installed Service Pack
  1 in Windows 7, for example, you need
  up-to-date installation media to avoid

the laborious task of first attempting

to uninstall Service Pack 1 through

Windows Update (assuming that you’re

able to), then reinstalling Windows and

Post-repair steps

Start by stress-testing your

desktop to verify that

everything works as it should

• sometimes the repair can
  introduce more problems than
  it solves, in which case if you’re
  running Windows 8.1 or 10 you
  can undo the changes. Go to
  Start > Settings > ‘Update &
  recovery’ > Recovery and look
  for an option to go back to
  your previous version – click
  ‘Get started’ and then follow
  the prompts.
  If the repair doesn’t appear
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  Windows 8.1 and 10 users can
  take one more intermediate
  step – the reset or repair. It will

see you waving goodbye to all

those desktop programs you’ve

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and your third-party security

software), but it will preserve

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and Windows settings. Leave

your install media inserted,

then head over to the ‘Update

& recovery’ > Recovery section

under Settings. This time, click

the ‘Get started’ button under

the Refresh (Windows 8.1) or

Reset (Windows 10) option

and follow the prompts.

If this more drastic approach

doesn’t work, or you’re running

Windows 7, then to page 72 for

destructive reinstall options.

Windows 10 users can launch a repair install directly from the Media Creation Tool.

Both Windows

8. 1 and 10
   offer asimilar
   waytorepair
   your Windows
   installation.

Windows 8.1 and 10 users can perform a more drastic repair install via

the Reset or Refresh option – be warned, you’ll lose your desktop apps.