Recently, another forum member mentioned that he'd lost some settings after refresh. I haven't tested the feature since RP, so I decided to look at it more closely.
Technically,
Refresh is very similar to
upgrade install (here's the upgrade
process description, and you can do that 7 to 7, 8 to 8, etc), but
the major difference is what gets transferred after the installation.
What you get to keep
Turns out, Refresh basically keeps only user files in your profile (Libraries, Desktop, Downloads, etc) and custom folders in the root of the system drive. If you made a custom image with recimg, it'll also keep the Windows folder and your programs in Program Files. That's it.
What you lose
In particular, Refresh:
• wipes out everything from AppData folders (and there go all your program settings, such as browser profiles)
• resets pretty much all user settings, like the taskbar (including pinned shortcuts along with pinned lists), custom folder and library views
• per user control panel settings
• etc, etc
Sad, but true. Here is the
list of settings I tested (it wasn't meant for public use, so it's a little messy, including comments in Russian
. It gets a bit better if you use Microsoft account, because some of your settings are automatically synced (e.g. File Explorer).
It's by design
Refresh does keep your old system in the windows.old folder, but when it transfers the files and settings back after refresh, the migration mechanism doesn't restore the items listed above.
I also verified that this behavior is not a flaw in the migration mechanism, but rather is by design. If you perform upgrade install, you get to keep program settings and most of user settings.
The bottom line
If want to reinstall the OS
and you
can boot into Windows,
perform repair install. If you can't boot and can't resolve the problem otherwise, then Refresh is the way to go.