See Reboot vs. Reset for a full explanation of their differences and why it matters so much. Mauro Huculak is technical writer for WindowsCentral.com. His primary focus is to write comprehensive how-tos to help users get the most out of Windows 10 and its many related technologies. He has an IT background with professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA, and he’s a recognized member of the Microsoft MVP community. If you need another file source, use the Media Creation Tool to download a fresh copy of Windows 10. Usually the most difficult thing to figure out is how to get to the right place (Advanced Startup Options) to get it started. The Reset This PC tools is available in Windows 11 and 10, and as Refresh Your PC and Reset Your PC in Windows 8.
This happens to all of us as we add more files, apps, and programs on our hard drives. Usually a restart (it’s a good idea to do this at least once a week) will get you back up to speed. But if you’re still having problems, we’re here to help.
During this process, your computer will restart a few times by itself and this “Installing Windows” screen may flicker or flash in and out…all normal behavior during the Windows installation process. During this first stage, all the data on your computer (technically, all the data on your primary drive) is being removed.
It also allows you to create a bootable media (USB drive, CD/DVD or hard disk) to restore (Windows 10) OS to previous healthy state. You can use SFC and DISM commands on Command Prompt to repair Windows 11. SFC scan fixes if there are any issues with the system files and DISM Scan fixes if there are any issues with the Windows image file. You can also run Bootrec commands if you are facing issues during boot.
Fix 6. Reinstall Windows 10 to Repair Windows 10 for Free
It may have something to do with a faulty Automatic Startup Repair tool so it’s for the best to disable it from starting automatically. It’s quite possible than one of the files on your computer simply malfunctioned and now it’s causing problems with your PC which the Automatic Repair can’t deal with.
At this point, Reset This PC is your lifesaver—a guaranteed fix for a really frustrating problem. Reset This PC is almost always a fix-it tool of last resort. Reset This PC is a really big hammer—great for really big nails but probably overkill for a thumbtack. In other words, Reset This PC tool is a fantastic choice when the blame looks to be Windows-related and all other troubleshooting has failed.
iPad Repair
(It may not be able to.) If you don’t actually have a startup problem, it will also say it can’t fix the problem.
Just because of video card malfunctions, sometimes motherboards can go to trash without even knowing. CPU, ram, even if you connect the hard disk to the computer, even if the computer freezes for a few minutes, we recommend that you remove the video card inserted into the PCI slot and try without a video card. If your problem is not solved, you can contact us to search for computer repair near my location. A clean boot will only use necessary startup apps, drivers, and services required to load the operating system.
Expect this part of the reset process to take 15 to 45 minutes on most computers, after which your computer will automatically restart and begin the next stage. For those of you curious, this cleaning of the drive is the same as a hard drive wipe, which is usually done manually before getting rid of a computer, outlined in our How to Wipe a Hard Drive tutorial. Choose Fully clean the drive to removing everything, then wipe the drive clean, and finally reinstall Windows from scratch. Since you’ve chosen to keep your personal files, continuing with this process is restricted to someone that already has access to this computer. Immediately after completing the previous step, your computer may or may not restart, depending on how you got to the ASO menu. Select Local reinstall to have your PC use the system files already on your computer to reinstall the OS. Select Cloud download to have your PC download fresh system files from Microsoft’s servers, and use those files to reinstall the OS.
