can i reinstall win 8 without losing my installed programs

JamesUK · 22 Feb 2013 at 18:34

i see the option to refresh my laptop, but it says it will only keep documents, pics etc, it says you will lose installed programs, does anyone know a way you can do a reinstall without losing the apps?

thanks

james

paradigm · 22 Feb 2013 at 18:40

Insert DVD, install from within Windows. It gives the option to retain apps, settings and data.

JamesUK · 22 Feb 2013 at 18:42

ah brilliant, i didn't have it on disk, i had it as a downloaded file from ms, can i just use that same file and copy it back to my laptop, i did save the file on a usb stick.

paradigm · 22 Feb 2013 at 18:44

If you have the .iso then you can create a DVD from it no problem. I assume that you can also install from a USB stick, although I've only ever done that when booting from USB rather than from within Windows, don't see any reason why it wouldn't work though.

JamesUK · 22 Feb 2013 at 20:28

thank you very much, it worked perfect