Windows 10 ‘Cloud Recovery’ could be a huge life saver come 2020

Microsoft is working on a cloud recovery and reinstall feature for Windows 10, this is according to details stemming from the latest Windows 10 Insiders Build.

(Yes, that leaked Insiders build that included the new Start Menu).

First spotted by ZDNet, the cloud recovery option will allow users to reinstall Windows from an image downloaded from the cloud, meaning that you comb through drawers to find that one disc of Windows 10 you saved for this exact reason.

More advantageous still is that the cloud image will likely be a lot newer, and feature the latest patches and features, when compared to your older physical recovery media.

As some on Twitter have noted, the feature will ask Windows 10 users how they wish to reinstall the OS on their boot screen: through a local backup, or “cloud download”.

WalkingCat, a Windows watchdog (cat?) first noted the details last month.

18950 bootux :
How would you like to reinstall Windows?
> Cloud download : Download Windows
> Reset locally : Reinstall my existing Windows operating system

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) July 29, 2019

It’s however not clear what users will be able to download from the cloud.

It could just be a stock image of Windows 10 pushed by Microsoft, or a version of the OS supported by your device maker.

Windows 10 Cloud Recovery could save you hours looking for that recovery disc

It’s also not clear if this feature will be available to all running the OS, that is PC builders or those only running OEM devices.

Better still, if Microsoft is really nice to its users, cloud recovery images could also conveniently include driver backups for your device’s hardware. And this is a pretty big time saver if you’re travelling and nowhere near your backup drive.

Of course, the above few paragraphs are just speculation. Microsoft didn’t mean to leak this particular version of the OS, but it has brought attention to it in its latest blog post.

“This feature isn’t available and working quite yet. We’ll let you know once it is, so you can try it out!” noted Windows 10 Insiders head Dona Sarkar.

And if it’s to be a part of the OS in the future, expect to see it around the southern hemisphere’s autumn in 2020.

Feature image: Andy Walker/Memeburn