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I recently refreshed my Windows 8.1 PC (without affecting my files). All my programs and applications were removed and are in Windows.old folder.

I don't want to download and install each single program once again. So is there a way to reinstall them from the Windows.old folder itself, given that it has all the Program Files and other things?

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Reset to default
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You most likely will need to re-install the applications.

You may try out Microsoft's Windows Recover Personal Files tool which can recover some of your personal files. You will find a review of the process in the article How to recover your personal files from the Windows.old folder in Windows 8. But this tool will not reinstall your applications.

If reinstalling the applications is too much trouble, you could use Windows.old to roll back to your previous installation, and try to fix there the problem that caused you to refresh Windows, but with some less-drastic solution. Be minded that after 28 days, Windows will reduce Windows.old to a minimal stub, so that a rollback will become impossible.

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  • There is no need for me to recover personal files because I chose the option to keep all the files intact during reset.
    – batchcoding____s
    Oct 15, 2020 at 10:55

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