As we mentioned in earlier posts, the Windows 10 update 20H1 will have the "Cloud Download" feature. The new feature will download the latest Windows files from Microsoft and use them to reinstall Windows.
Microsoft's Aaron Lower explains exactly how Cloud Download will work.
In one Publication on Microsoft's Windows Insider blog, Lower reports on the history of the built-in Windows 10 recovery options, and explains how Windows 10's built-in Cloud Download will work:
The next major improvement to Windows 10 is in "imageless" recovery. This is done by making a new copy of Windows from the existing installation. Because this approach does not use a recovery ISO, it saves disk space and maintains the latest security updates. Older approaches lasted longer than 45 minutes and may not always fix Windows if the installation is in a very bad condition or is too corrupted.
This is where Cloud Download comes.
In addition to requiring extra time and a Windows installation, the ability to recover without an ISO is another problem: If you haven't installed the latest Windows updates, you'll need to reinstall them after the system has been reinstalled.
The new Cloud Download feature avoids these disadvantages. Instead of using all the files that your hard drive needs, Windows can download the latest Windows installation files from Microsoft servers.
This will get you the latest files, so no major updates will be required after reinstalling Windows. It's just like creating a USB drive with the latest version of Windows 10 and reinstalling it, but you don't have to worry about creating media.
To use this feature in the Windows 10 20H1 - which is under development, go to Settings> Update & Security> Recovery and click "Getting Started" in the Settings - Update & Security - Recovery section of this computer. and click on “Get Started” under Reset This PC).
After you choose to keep your files or remove everything from your computer, you can choose “Cloud Download” to download the installation files from Microsoft servers or “Local Reinstall” to use the local files on your system. .
What happens during the restore process:
Windows will download the files it needs and then restart in Windows RE (Windows Recovery Environment), the Windows recovery environment. The installation process will bring together all the drivers from your current Windows system, ensuring that your hardware will continue to work.
It will also "Apply OEM customizations, along with add pre-installed Windows applications", so you will probably see all the bloatware programs that your manufacturer has installed on your computer. You may need the Fresh Start feature for this (Settings - Update & Security - Recovery and click on "Learn how to start fresh with a clean installation of Windows").
Cloud Download will also be available in the recovery environment that appears if you cannot start your computer. You will be able to use the "Restore this computer" feature to download new files from Microsoft and reinstalling Windows, even if Windows is corrupted and cannot start.
Lower says wireless connectivity in the recovery environment can be a problem, and it depends on whether the computer maker loads the drivers that can turn it on or not.
