what happens when you restore windows ?

[raverx3m]

when you install something like say photoshop or windows media player classic or any other program do they replace dll or exe or other system files with their own version?

if so then how do I manage windows repair?
if windows reinstalls the whole system with its own settings how are my programs gonna work right after that?

 

[carnageX]

when you install something like say photoshop or windows media player classic or any other program do they replace dll or exe or other system files with their own version?

Depends on what's being updated. Stuff like PhotoShop doesn't touch system files; stuff like Windows Media Player (the one built into Windows) could update system files since it's fairly embedded into the OS.

if so then how do I manage windows repair?
if windows reinstalls the whole system with its own settings how are my programs gonna work right after that?

If you're doing something like "Reset this PC" from Win10's reset menu, or even just installing over top of the OS, your programs aren't preserved. They get moved to C:\Windows.old\ if you chose the option to install over top without formatting, and then your documents also either get moved to there and you have to manually move them back, or they get moved back to their respective directories.

But for installed programs, you have to reinstall them.

 

[raverx3m]

so its essentially same as reinstalling windows right?

i dont have to make a new bootable drive with windows installation on it
i can just select the reset PC?
does it return windows to original state before updates or does it keep the current updates intact ?

ive tried everything to get the webcam working but so far no results...

 

[carnageX]

so its essentially same as reinstalling windows right?

i dont have to make a new bootable drive with windows installation on it
i can just select the reset PC?

Yes.

does it return windows to original state before updates or does it keep the current updates intact ?

Not sure - haven't really paid attention to updates when I've done it.

 

[raverx3m]

installed the creator update
didn't fix webcams

found a button called windows refresh

did that and webcams started working again

didn't seem to delete my programs or files from my documents etc
or maybe just deleted all installed programs and kept the documents etc