Today, a standalone tool to Refresh Windows became available for Windows 10. Microsoft has released this tool to provide a simple and easy way to start fresh with a clean installation of Windows 10.
Advertisеment
The new Refresh Windows tool will allow the user to reinstall Windows 10 using the latest available release. The application is able to download an up-to-date Windows 10 image from Microsoft and keep your personal files. There is an option in the app to allow you to not keep any of your data during the refresh process so you get a clean environment in the end.
Here is how it looks:
The application requires the latest Insider Preview builds and won't work on stable branch releases like Windows 10 build 10586 and Windows 10 build 10240. As of this writing, the latest Insider Preview is the recently released Windows 10 build 14366.
Currently released Windows 10 versions come with similar funtionality. Under Settings -> Update & security -> Recovery there are a number of options which allow you do to the same. The difference is that this tool can use an updated setup image before reinstalling.
It is not clear why exactly Microsoft created yet another tool for this purpose. It is possible to use the Media Creation Tool to re-install Windows 10 using updated installation media and keep (or discard) your personal files. Currently, the Refresh Windows tool offers nothing new against the built-in recovery options and Media Creation Tool. It is possible that Microsoft will improve the Refresh Windows tool and add some unique functions.
If you want to try this tool in action, here is a link for you:
Update: the tool is officially released, can be downloaded using this link.
Again, as mentioned above, you need to run it in the latest Insider Preview, which as of this writing is build 14366.
Support us
Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:
If you like this article, please share it using the buttons below. It won't take a lot from you, but it will help us grow. Thanks for your support!
Advertisеment
