Microsoft details Windows 8 Refresh and Reset features in the latest post of the official Windows 8 blog. Reset will remove all data, apps and settings from a PC, and then reinstall a fresh copy of Windows. Refresh, on the other hand, will simply reinstall Windows, but keep all data, apps and "important" settings.
App restore will only work with Metro style apps (Microsoft's new Windows 8 app platform), and desktop apps will need to be manually reinstalled. Microsoft claims refresh will take around eight minutes and reset around six regardless of data size, based on performance stats from the Samsung Developer Preview hardware that was handed out to attendees of BUILD.
Resetting your Windows 8 PC goes like this:
- The PC boots into the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE).
- Windows RE erases and formats the hard drive partitions on which Windows and personal data reside.
- Windows RE installs a fresh copy of Windows.
- The PC restarts into the newly installed copy of Windows.
Refreshing your PC goes like this:
- The PC boots into Windows RE.
- Windows RE scans the hard drive for your data, settings, and apps, and puts them aside (on the same drive).
- Windows RE installs a fresh copy of Windows.
- Windows RE restores the data, settings, and apps it has set aside into the newly installed copy of Windows.
- The PC restarts into the newly installed copy of Windows.
