Using the REFRESH WIN8 option. Quick Tutorial.

johnpombrio

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Win8 REFRESH Tutorial

After having trashed my Metro interface, I needed to reload WIN 8 CP. Rather than start from bare metal, I used the REFRESH option. Here is how I did it, how it ran, what it changed, and how it worked.

To run REFRESH there are two ways to find the button. In Metro, win+q brings up search and refresh is found under SETTINGS. On the desktop, go into control panel and search for RECOVERY. Refresh will be one of the options.

WARNING! Refresh starts without a lot of button pushing or dire threats. 3 button pushes and you are on your way.

WARNING! You WILL need to have a bootable ISO of WIN8 Consumer Preview DVD as it will need it to get info off of the disk. Leave it in the drive until everything is done.

WARNING: I was able to get through this without losing any data or backups and REFRESH creates a backup of stuff that it replaces. SETTINGS of stuff may not be so lucky. Try to have a backup of settings like Outlook and Firefox profile backed up. Never hurts to be safe
.
WARNING: REFRESH creates a backup of three primary folders on your boot drive, Programs, Programs (x86), and Windows. If these folders take up most of the room on your drive, you MAY NOT be able to have room for them to be backed up. For me, no big deal but other may need some data in these folders (game saves for instance).

Refresh acts like a Metro type of program, lots of blue and only one button to press at a time. Really dumbed down.
Put your Win8 disk into a DVD drive, push the three buttons

AND… we’re off. Once started, it will take a half hour or so with NO input needed.

WARNING! THERE WILL BE TIMES like it looks like it is crapped out as the screen will be blank for a good 10 minutes, the counter stops counting, and it hangs forever in the welcome loading screen (but you can hear the disk drive chugging like hell). Keep your itchy fingers away and let it do its job! I did try to log in on the login screen but the computer pretty much ignored me and kept loading… and loading… and loading.
FINALLY, the computer reboots for the last time and you can log in. Here is what you get:


  1. The computer will look pretty much like a new install of Win8 CP. All of your programs will NOT BE INSTALLED. Only the programs that come with Win8 will be in the two Programs folder.
  2. The Windows folder will also be reset to pristine condition (along with the registry).
  3. Win 8 will remember your Windows live ID information and the settings that you first installed with (e-mail, password, computer name, network settings, etc.)
  4. ALL of the information starting from your user name out is kept intact! So your documents, music, pictures, etc. will be right where they were before.
  5. There will be a folder called WINDOWS.OLD that will have a complete backup of the three folders that were changed during the REFRESH. So your old Programs, Program(X86), and Windows will be there.
  6. The Metro interface is a mixed bag. SOME of the changes you made will be there but some will not. The stuff I accidentally uninstalled were still not pinned to the interface BUT are now recoverable by searching the apps and pinning them back into place.
  7. Now it’s time to start ONCE AGAIN to load all those utilities and games all over again. Heh. At least it was faster the second time around. Windows Office was gone so I had to reload that again.

Bottom line? REFRESH WORKS! It is only one step above a bare metal install but it does seem to preserve most if not all your data. I did not lose a thing.

PS. I had a VERY STRANGE experience moving folders around. My Steam folder was completely write protected and damn if I could change the permissions. All the usual ways failed and even some exotic ones did too. I finally had to resort to the reg hack “TakeOwnership.zip”, run it on the Steam folder THEN was able to allow my user to change permissions to read/write. Be warned!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Be careful not to chose the other option.

I checked the info it offered and discovered that it was planning to obliterate EVERY partition on my PC (~4.5 TB of personal files). :eek:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64 bit), Linux Mint 18.3 MATE (64 bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    n/a
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x6 1055T, 2.8 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASRock 880GMH-LE/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333 G-Skill Ares F3-1333C9D-8GAO (4GB x 2)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD6450
    Sound Card
    Realtek?
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung S23B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 1.5 TB (SATA), Western Digital 2 TB (SATA), Western Digital 3 TB (SATA)
    Case
    Tower
    Mouse
    Wired Optical
    Other Info
    Linux Mint 16 MATE (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 17 MATE (64 bit) - 2014-05-17
    Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 16 MATE (64 bit) - 2013-11-13
    Ubuntu 10.04 (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) - 2013-01-14
    RAM & Graphics Card Upgraded - 2013-01-13
    Monitor Upgraded - 2012-04-20
    System Upgraded - 2011-05-21, 2010-07-14
    HDD Upgraded - 2010-08-11, 2011-08-24,
I think the best way to do a refresh is creating a "Custom System Image" with:http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/3610-refresh-windows-8-using-custom-system-image.html

This sounds more promising but has anyone TRIED this with the new Win8 consumer preview? What were the results? Are all your program folders still intact? Is Windows and the registry reset? Is your user data still safe? The tutorial gives some vague assurances about everything being intact but to me that is NOT THE PURPOSE OF A REFRESH.
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    My own abomination, I call it the Money Pit
    CPU
    Intel i7 2600K @ 3.40 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS Sabertooth P67
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL8 Dual Channel Kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 ULTRA GAMING 10GB GDDR6X
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek or Nvidia High Definition Audio (HDMI)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung JS7000 50" SUHD TV or Samsung 27" FHD 60Hz 8ms GTG VA LED Smart Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 x Samsung 870 EVO 250 GB SSD (Windows 10 Pro), 1 x Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB SSD (Windows 10 Pro)
    PSU
    Corsair AX860 - 860W Modular Power Supply
    Case
    Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black
    Cooling
    CORSAIR Hydro Series H150i PRO RGB 360mm Liquid CPU Cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech K830 Illuminated Living-Room Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Anywhere 2S Wireless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    10/100/1000 Mbps capable
    Browser
    (Primary) Latest Firefox version & Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    ESET Internet Security
    Other Info
    LG Super Multi Blue Internal Blu-ray Disk Rewriter - BH10LS30
    6x2 HDMI Switcher (6 inputs, 2 outputs) so I can send the output of my Cable Box, Roku, or any my 4 computers to either my TV or Monitor separately or simultaneously.
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