Windows 8 refresh

Zach1928

New Member
Messages
23
Hey all, I've got a question regarding the refresh feature. I'm thinking about doing it because my XPS is full of a bunch of programs and I'm not sure about what's even used anymore, especially of the 9000 Visual C++ redistributables in programs and features. My question is this- does there need to be a windows 8 recovery partition? This machine shipped with W7 Home Premium and I installed W8 Pro followed by the 8.1 update so I'm not really sure if that recovery partition was updated, and whether or not I even need to worry about that to begin with..

Thanks in advance!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS L502x
    CPU
    i7 2720QM
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    2GB GT540M
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB
Hey Zach,
You'll need a recovery of some sort, be it a built in partition or media you created.
Click on the 'Get Started' button, it will tell you what to do next; you can cancel if you wish.
(I think maybe the 'Remove everything...' option is what you're looking for.)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion
  • PC2
    Tablet - Windows 10 Home
Thanks Edwin, would the the installation media work? I've got the windows 8 disc. And I'm looking at the one that just removes all the software and leaves the other data alone. Does this seem to work well though? I'm having issues installing XCOM enemy unknown and this seems like a way to tackle that issue along with general performance slow-downs over the past 3 years
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS L502x
    CPU
    i7 2720QM
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    2GB GT540M
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB
Well do you know if it burns through an activation key? I can get an 8.1 pro ISO through Dreamspark no problem but I don't want to burn up the key attached to it
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS L502x
    CPU
    i7 2720QM
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    2GB GT540M
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB
Well do you know if it burns through an activation key? I can get an 8.1 pro ISO through Dreamspark no problem but I don't want to burn up the key attached to it

Your key won't be listed as 'used' until you activate an installed copy.
Just remember, according to the link, you obtain the iso by submitting your retail key, install using the appropriate generic key then activate using your retail key.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion
  • PC2
    Tablet - Windows 10 Home
Did it and it worked well. Also, it didn't require a key from me. Thanks for the help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS L502x
    CPU
    i7 2720QM
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1333
    Graphics Card(s)
    2GB GT540M
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB
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