Reinstall Windows 10 Without Deleting Your Software, Files or Settings

We recently experienced an installation of Windows 10 with system files that were corrupt to the signal that certain sections of the Settings app would automatically close when being opened, among other bugs around the platform.

After attempting typical repair options, we used a Windows 10 ISO to perform an in-identify upgrade, reinstalling Windows 10 while keeping our applications and all.

If this sounds familiar, we accept covered a similar process using Windows 10'southward built-in "Reset this PC" option, but that removes your programs and only retains your files and settings on the newly installed operating system, whereas again, the in-place upgrade even preserves the software you accept installed.

Running an in-place upgrade worked to gear up our case of Windows 10 that couldn't otherwise be repaired with Control Prompt commands such as SFC /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth – neither of which would cease their operation on our installation.

The reinstallation can be initiated from inside Windows using the setup.exe file on a Windows 10 ISO/USB drive or from the Media Cosmos tool, and the process took around half an 60 minutes to finish on our desktop PC.

Since fifty-fifty your applications are retained on the resulting installation, if all goes equally planned you won't have to do much afterward and it's certainly a path of less resistance compared to fully reinstalling Windows.

Getting started with an in-place upgrade

For starters, the in-place upgrade isn't an pick if you can't boot into your installation. You must be logged in to a Windows account and that business relationship must accept ambassador admission. If you're non an admin, you will be prompted for credentials when launching the installer.

To check if you lot have an admin account, search First for "modify account type" or go to Command Console\User Accounts\User Accounts\Manage Accounts\Alter an Account\Alter Account Type where all of the accounts on your Windows installation should be listed and those with admin-level access will say "Administrator."

Double-click your account and then click "Modify the account type" for the pick to get from a Standard user to an Administrator.

You can likewise find this data by searching Commencement for Netplwiz.exe. With that awarding open up, select your account and go to Properties and so the Group Membership tab for the Standard user/Administrator toggle.

If you're unable to make your account an administrator, note that the Windows administrator account is disabled past default and tin can be enabled from an elevated Command Prompt:

net user ambassador /agile:yes | enables administrator business relationship (relog)

net user | lists all Windows accounts including the ambassador account

Every bit another requirement for the in-place upgrade, your Windows ISO/USB bulldoze/Creation Tool must contain the same edition of your operating system (or newer), too every bit the same language and compages (32/64-bit).

Y'all'll besides need some spare storage on the Windows drive -- effectually 8GB when we tested.

Conveniently, this step in the installation will help you with storage information, displaying chapters usage for unlike areas of your operating system, and you can also cull a secondary/external storage device from a drop-down carte du jour of every drive attached to your PC.

Although you'll continue all of your files and software, the reinstallation volition delete sure items such equally custom fonts, system icons and Wi-Fi credentials. However, as part of the process, the setup will likewise create a Windows.old folder which should accept everything from your previous installation.

If you take a UEFI system with Secure Boot enabled, it'southward suggested that you disable Secure Boot before starting the in-place upgrade and and then re-enable the feature afterward.

Actually starting the in-place upgrade

Start the Windows setup (setup.exe) by mounting the ISO or opening the Windows USB installation drive from the File Explorer.

Windows 10 has native support for mounting ISOs by correct-clicking and choosing Mount or by using the post-obit PowerShell command (our installation was so broken that the right-click pick wasn't available to us):

Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath "C:\FileName.ISO"

Afterwards launching setup.exe or the Media Creation tool, you'll have the choice to upgrade now or to create an installation ISO/USB drive -- you lot want to Upgrade this PC now. You might be prompted to download updates prior to this option existence available.

The installer will perform some initial setup/scans and somewhen ask what you desire to go along on the new copy of Windows.

If you intend to keep your currently installed software on the repaired operating system, brand sure that "apps" are listed and not merely "files" (Keep personal files and apps).

The rest of the in-place upgrade amounts to waiting near a half an hour for Windows to reinstall, which rebooted our system several times and didn't crave any further intervention from us.

When completed, you'll load back into the aforementioned Windows environment where you originally started the "upgrade," except with newly installed operating system files which should be bug-complimentary.

Afterward completing the in-place upgrade

Equally mentioned before, although this reinstallation retains your software and settings, the process creates a Windows.old folder with data from your previous copy of Windows. This folder occupies a large amount of storage and isn't easily deleted straight from File Explorer, though you tin can browse the contents at C:\Windows.former.

Disk Cleanup can delete the Windows.old folder as well as other temporary installation files used in the setup: Search the Start card for Disk Cleanup and so click "Make clean upward system files" to run a secondary scan that will locate Windows junk files.

When we scanned after the in-place upgrade, Deejay Cleanup found 3.61GB of "Previous Windows installation(s)" and 225MB of "Windows upgrade log files."

If you're really depression on storage space, we've found that third-party software such every bit Wise Deejay Cleaner will remove more data than Disk Cleanup, and that particular tool even removed more than than CCleaner.

Other than deleting excess Windows data, you'll probably have to relog into your Wi-Fi network and you may take to install some Windows updates if you lot didn't use the most recent Windows ISO. However, that ought to be about the extent of your chores later the in-place upgrade/repair installation.