fresh install windows 10 without losing data

The approach is to pretend you’re upgrading your machine from a prior version of Windows. Perform a refresh installĪ refresh install reinstalls Windows “on top of” your existing Windows installation. You can read more about DISM, if you like, at Microsoft’s documentation page: DISM – Deployment Image Servicing and Management. (Click for larger image.)ĭISM checks a number of things above and beyond the file integrity SFC checked for us. Once again, in that administrative Command Prompt or PowerShell, enter:ĭISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealthįollowed by the Enter key. The Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) command is one I’ve not spent much time with, but particularly if SFC doesn’t resolve your issue, it’s the next tool in our arsenal. There’s more on SFC in What Is the System File Checker, and How Do I Run It? 4. The System File Checker checks for damaged or missing system files and repairs the problems it finds if it can. Run an administrative Command Prompt or PowerShell (right-click on the Start menu and click on the version that includes “(Admin)”). How Do I Fix Windows Update? has the instructions. The next step in that case is to attempt to fix it. Of course, sometimes rather than being the solution, Windows Update is the problem, if it’s not working for some reason. Visit the Settings app, click on Updates & Security, and click on Check for Updates to let Windows Update do its thing. Many problems can be resolved by making sure that Windows is, itself, completely up to date. Using Windows Disk Cleanup will show you how. Some of the steps we’ll perform next may require, or at least work more efficiently, with the extra disk space a good cleaning can provide. There’s an additional motive for doing this, however: disk space. Browser caches, temporary folders full of old files, and more can all impact your system.

It may seem a little odd to start with disk cleanup, since on the surface it doesn’t attempt to repair anything - it just gets rid of unnecessary junk and files no longer needed.ĭepending on what you’re experiencing, it’s not uncommon for all that junk to contribute to the problem.

No matter what breaks in any of the following steps, you can always restore to this backup image and be no worse off than you were to begin with.īackups are your safety net.

You can recover your data from this, should you elect to proceed beyond Step Five and reformat and reinstall anyway.

Take a complete image backup of your system before beginning. It’s Step Zero of any process, particularly when we’re about to run some tools with the potential to make major changes to your system. When all else fails, a complete wipe and reinstall might be your only option.

Fresh install windows 10 without losing data