How to open Restore and Refresh recovery options with one click

Refresh your PC is a feature of Windows 8.1 which attempts to solve system problems by replacing system files without affecting user files. You might be asked to insert discs or recovery media that came with your PC. Check the info that came with your PC to see if your PC manufacturer provided these discs or media. In some cases, you might have created them when you first set up your PC. Apps you installed from websites and DVDs will be removed. Apps that came with your PC and apps you installed from the Windows Store will be reinstalled. Windows puts a list of removed apps on your desktop after refreshing your PC.

Remove everything and reinstall Windows is another recovery option shipped with Windows 8.1. It will completely reinstall your OS. 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.

If you want to open Restore and Refresh recovery options with one click, here is the simple tutorial how to create the appropriate shortcut.

  1. Right click on the Desktop and choose New -> Shortcut from its context menu:
  2. Type or copy-paste the following as the shortcut target:
    %localappdata%\Packages\windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Indexed\Settings\en-US\AAA_SettingsPageRestoreRestore.settingcontent-ms

    Note: 'en-us' here represents the English language. Change it accordingly to ru-RU, de-DE and so on if your Windows language is different.

  3. Give the shortcut any name of your choice and set the desired icon for the shortcut you just created: 
  4. Now you can try this shortcut in action and pin it to the Taskbar or to the Start Screen itself (or inside your Start Menu, if you use some third-party Start Menu like Classic Shell). Note that Windows 8.1 does not allow you to pin this shortcut to anything, but there is a workaround.
    To pin this shortcut to the Taskbar, use the excellent freeware tool called Pin to 8.
    To pin this shortcut to the Start screen, you need to unlock the the “Pin to Start Screen” menu item for all files in Windows 8.1.

That's it! Now every time you need to quickly access this option, you can simply click the shortcut you just created!

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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