Windows 10 recovery download microsoft

How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. Sumit Volunteer Moderator Volunteer Moderator. DaveM Independent Advisor. Hi Dorothy, you can reinstall Windows 10 at any time and it will not cost you anything! Since you previously had Windows 10 installed and activated on that PC during the installation process skip the steps which ask for a product key and select the option 'I am Reinstalling Windows 10 on this PC', and activation will not be an issue, your PC will have a digital entitlement stored on the Microsoft Activation Servers Make sure you install the same Edition of Windows 10 Home, Pro.

Disable Secure Boot 2. For more info, see Create a USB recovery drive. If you upgraded your PC to Windows 8. If your PC isn't performing as well as it once did, and you don't know why, you can refresh your PC without deleting any of your personal files or changing your settings.

Warning: Apps you installed from websites and DVDs will be removed. Apps that came with your PC and apps you installed from Microsoft Store will be reinstalled.

Windows puts a list of removed apps on your desktop after refreshing your PC. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings , and then tap Change PC settings. If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, select Settings , and then select Change PC settings. Tap or select Update and recovery , and then tap or select Recovery. Under Refresh your PC without affecting your files , tap or select Get started.

If you want to recycle your PC, give it away, or start over with it, you can reset it completely. This removes everything and reinstalls Windows. Warning: All of your personal files will be deleted and your settings will be reset. All apps that you installed will be removed. Only apps that came with your PC will be reinstalled.

Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows , tap or select Get started. Note: You'll be asked to choose whether you want to erase data quickly or thoroughly. If you choose to erase data quickly, some data might be recoverable using special software. If you choose to erase data thoroughly, this will take longer but it makes recovering data less likely. If you think an app or driver that you recently installed caused problems with your PC, you can restore Windows back to an earlier point in time, called a restore point.

Windows automatically creates a restore point when you install desktop apps and new Windows updates, if the last restore point is older than 7 days. You can also create a restore point manually at any time. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search. If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then select Search.

Enter Control Panel in the search box, and tap or select Control Panel. Enter Recovery in the Control Panel search box, and then tap or select Recovery. If you need additional help refreshing, resetting, or restoring your PC, check out the Repair and Recovery community pages in the Windows forum for solutions that other people have found for problems they've experienced. Windows 11 Windows 10 Windows 8. Problem See this section Your PC isn't working well and you recently installed an update.

Use installation media to reinstall Windows 11 Your PC won't start and you haven't created a recovery drive. Use a recovery drive to restore or recover your PC You want to reinstall your previous operating system. Go back to your previous version of Windows Your PC isn't working well and you recently installed an app.

Restore from a system restore point Click one of the recovery options below and follow the steps to try to get things working again. If you've recently installed a Windows update, uninstall the update to try to resolve the issue.

View update history On the list that appears, select update you want to remove, and then select Uninstall. Startup Repair helps you fix common problems that can prevent Windows from starting up.

Connect the installation media you created to your PC and reinstall Windows Windows updates to improve security and PC performance periodically, so we recommend you recreate the recovery drive annually. Personal files and any apps that did not come with your PC will not be backed up. You'll need a USB drive that's at least 16 gigabytes. Warning: Use an empty USB drive because this process will erase any data that's already stored on the drive. In the search box on the task bar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it.

You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice. When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive is selected and then select Next. Select Create. Many files need to be copied to the recovery drive, so this might take a while. If you ever need to use the recovery drive to reinstall Windows 11 on your PC, see Recovery options in Windows for further instructions.

Permissions info. Installation Get this app while signed in to your Microsoft account and install on up to ten Windows 10 devices. Language supported English United States.

You may install and run one instance of the software on up to each of ten of your Windows 10 devices that are linked to the Microsoft account associated with your Windows Store account.

The software may include third party applications that Microsoft, not the third party, licenses to you under this agreement. Any included notices for third party applications are for your information only. This agreement is effective on your acceptance and terminates on the earlier of i 30 days following first availability of a commercial release of the software or ii upon termination by Microsoft.

Microsoft may extend this agreement in its discretion. You may receive periodic reminder notices of this date through the software. You may not be able to access data used in the software when it stops running. The software is a pre-release version. It may not operate correctly. It may be different from the commercially released version. If you give feedback about the software to Microsoft, you give to Microsoft, without charge, the right to use, share and commercialize your feedback in any way and for any purpose.

You will not give feedback that is subject to a license that requires Microsoft to license its software or documentation to third parties because Microsoft includes your feedback in them. These rights survive this agreement.

The software may collect information about you and your use of the software and send that to Microsoft. Your opt-out rights, if any, are described in the product documentation. Some features in the software may enable collection of data from users of your applications that access or use the software.

If you use these features to enable data collection in your applications, you must comply with applicable law, including getting any required user consent, and maintain a prominent privacy policy that accurately informs users about how you use, collect, and share their data.

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Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you will not and have no right to : a work around any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways; b reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software; c remove, minimize, block, or modify any notices of Microsoft or its suppliers in the software; d use the software for commercial, non-profit, or revenue-generating activities; e use the software in any way that is against the law or to create or propagate malware; or f share, publish, distribute, or lend the software, provide the software as a stand-alone hosted solution for others to use, or transfer the software or this agreement to any third party.

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