startup, you’ll see a Restart now button, as in Figure 11-21. Click that to enter the Windows Recovery Environment.
If you have a PC configured for dual-boot (that is, you can choose between two or more operating systems at boot time), you can access WinRE from the boot menu that’s already in place. From the main menu, titled Choose an operating system screen, click Change defaults or choose other options. Then, in the Options screen, click Choose other options, and then Troubleshoot.
Figure 11-21: A new way to boot into the recovery environment
Using the Windows Recovery Environment
However you access these tools, you will eventually reach a Choose your option screen that has a Troubleshoot option. From the Troubleshoot screen—the heart of WinRE—you will find the following tools, many of which are accessible via the Advanced options:
• Refresh your PC and Reset your PC: These tools collectively make up a new Windows 8 capability called Push Button Reset. It’s so important, that it’s examined in the next section.
• System Restore: This is a legacy recovery capability from previous Windows versions that lets you reset the PC configuration to an earlier time, usually because you’ve installed a bad hardware driver that has made the system less stable. This feature is discussed later in the chapter.
• System Image Recovery: Another legacy feature and part of Windows Backup, this option lets you recover Windows using an image-based backup. Generally speaking, most users will not use Windows Backup with Windows 8, but you can use this option to recover a Windows 7- or Windows 8-based install if needed.
This tool is analogous to Startup Repair from the Windows 7 version of WinRE, though it fixes other errors as well.
• Automatic Repair: This useful option should be your first stop if you are having issues booting into Windows. Simply click Automatic Repair and WinRE will diagnose your PC, check for disk errors, and attempt a repair. More often than not, this will simply work and you’ll be up and running in no time.
If you sign in with a local account, you may be prompted to sign in here as well.
• Command Prompt: Designed for advanced users that know their way around a DOS- style command prompt, this interface provides access to a full slate of useful command-line tools, including diskpart.exe, recover.exe, and more.
• Startup Settings: This will apply many common troubleshooting configurations to Windows—a low-resolution video mode, Safe Mode, and so on—to ensure you can boot into a balky install and fix problems from the OS itself.
Push Button Reset
When you encounter a problem with your PC, be it performance related or otherwise, you can now undergo a surprisingly fast process in which Windows 8 is quickly wiped out and reinstalled in a factory-fresh condition. This doesn’t require mucking around with a Setup DVD or USB media, and it won’t take half the day as it did with Windows 7. Instead, Windows 8 includes a new feature called Push Button Reset, and it very well may be the single greatest new feature in this operating system.
Push Button Reset is exposed as two separate tools called Reset your PC and Refresh your PC, respectively. Both are available from the Windows Recovery Environment, as discussed previously. But you can also access both from the Metro-style PC Settings interface and from the desktop-based Recovery control panel. Microsoft clearly wants to make these capabilities readily available to everyone.
• Reset Your PC deletes all of your personal data, apps, and settings from the PC, and then reinstalls Windows to its factory-fresh, day-one condition. During the process, everything on the PC hard drive will be erased, so you may need to back up crucial documents and other data first.
To be clear, desktop-based applications like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop will need to be reinstalled after using Refresh your PC.
• Refresh Your PC performs similarly, but this amazing utility retains all of your personal data, settings, and Metro-style apps (but not legacy desktop applications), reapplying them to Windows after it has been reinstalled.
In either configuration, Push Button Reset is amazingly fast. According to Microsoft’s own performance analysis, most PC Reset operations will finish in roughly 6 minutes, and a PC Refresh will take a bit over 8 minutes. These figures have been borne out in our own usage. In fact, they’re conservative.
The impact of this tool cannot be overstated. With Windows 7, you could perform a clean install of the operating system in about 20 minutes, a major improvement over previous versions. But that didn’t include the time and effort required to first back up your data, install updates, install applications, copy the data back, and then reapply all of your personal settings. With Windows 7, you typically spent the better part of day restoring a PC in this fashion. And it’s a time-consuming and boring process with lots of downtime.
But it gets better. Push Button Reset is also vastly superior to the old ways of wiping out a PC because you can do it at any time. If something goes wrong, just Refresh the PC and all will be well. With the Windows 7 tools, you really had to be prepared, and then had to go through great time and effort to do it properly.
Critics and conspiracy theorists will point out, correctly, that Push Button Reset isn’t a complete PC recovery solution because it doesn’t help at all with traditional, Explorer-based applications like Microsoft Office and Photoshop. And that’s a fair enough statement, though if Windows 8 is truly successful, these types of applications will soon only be used by power users and business users for the most part. So Push Button Reset, combined with other data backup features in Windows 8, does present a fairly complete solution for most average users, especially as they replace their old applications with new Metro-style apps over time.
Regardless, even those who do need to install and update a handful of traditional Windows applications after the fact will still experience an amazing reduction in the time it takes to complete the entire process. This one feature has revolutionized the way users restore Windows and get back to work. You’re going to love it.
The following two sections discuss how you can use PC Reset and PC Refresh, respectively. As you may recall, these tools are available from the Windows Recovery Environment, but also from PC Settings (in the Metro environment) and the Recovery control panel. Because these interfaces are simpler and easier to reach, you will often proactively use Push Button Reset, and not as the result of a calamity that renders your PC non-bootable. But you can always use these tools from WinRE if you prefer.
To access the Metro-style interface for Reset your PC, visit PC Settings and navigate to General. Near the bottom of the list of General PC settings, you will see the options Refresh your PC without affecting your files and Remove everything and reinstall Windows. These represent Refresh your PC and Reset your PC, respectively.
Now, follow the instructions in one of the following two sections, depending on which you’d like to accomplish.
