Recovery components

Push-button reset features by default restore only drivers (installed through INF packages) and preinstalled Windows apps. To configure the features to restore other customizations such as settings and Windows desktop applications, you will need to prepare one or more customization packages which contain the customizations. These customizations packages are in the form of provisioning packages (.ppkg).

• Push-button reset looks for, and automatically restores provisioning packages which are located in the folder C:\Recovery\Customizations.
• Windows will also look for and restore certain customizations in the C:\Recovery\AutoApply folder. If customizations are in this folder and extensibility points aren't configured, the customizations in this folder will be restored.

To ensure the Recovery folder has to correct permissions, and to protect the packages from tampering or accidental deletion, use the following commands to create the C:\Recovery folder:

mkdir C:\Recovery
icacls C:\Recovery /inheritance:r
icacls C:\Recovery /grant:r SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)(F)
icacls C:\Recovery /grant:r *S-1-5-32-544:(OI)(CI)(F)
takeown /f C:\Recovery /a
attrib +H C:\Recovery

Some settings and customizations cannot be included in provisioning packages. Instead, you can restore them using an unattend file applied using the Push-button reset extensibility points. For settings which are supported by both provisioning packages and unattend, it is recommended that you specify them using only one of the mechanisms, not both. To learn more, see How push-button reset features work.

Auto-Apply folders

Auto-apply folders make Push-button reset customizations easier to configure for the reset experience. This method copies and applies the most common Windows customization files after the device is reset. This can help simplify the configuration process and eliminate commonly-made mistakes that result in a misconfigured device.

Auto-apply folders can't be used in conjunction with extensibility points.

Important

If both extensibility points are configured and Auto-apply folders are present in C:\Recovery, the Auto-apply folders will be ignored.

Auto-apply customizations

The following customizations are supported by Auto-apply folders:

• TaskbarLayoutModification.xml
• LayoutModification.json
• OOBE
• Unattend.xml
• Any required asset files

Configure Auto-apply

To use Auto-apply folders, you have to copy configuration files and any related asset files C:\Recovery\AutoApply. Related asset files are files that the configuration files rely on, like an graphic that unattend will set as a wallpaper or .lnk files that are used by TaskbarLayoutModification.xml.

During a recovery, files in this AutoApply folder will get copied to the correct folders in the restored image. For example, when you place unattend.xml in the AutoApply folder, it will be copied to the C:\Windows\Panther folder during the recovery process.

The following table shows the available customizations and where to copy the configuration and related asset files so that PBR can restore them to the restored OS:

Customization	Copy configuration to:	Copy related assets to:
TaskbarLayoutModification.xml	C:\Recovery\AutoApply\	C:\Recovery\AutoApply\Customizationfiles
LayoutModification.json and LayoutModification.xml	C:\Recovery\AutoApply\	C:\Recovery\AutoApply\Customizationfiles
OOBE.xml	Copy %windir%\System32\OOBE\info and all it's contents to C:\Recovery\AutoApply\OOBE	N/A - The copied OOBE\Info folder should include all the files to support OOBE
Unattend.xml	C:\Recovery\AutoApply\	C:\Recovery\AutoApply\CustomizationFiles

Capturing Windows desktop applications using Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT)'s ScanState tool

The Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) ScanState.exe captures Windows desktop applications when you specify USMT's /apps option.

When /apps is specified, ScanState uses a set of application discovery rules to determine what should be captured, and stores the output as a reference device data image inside a provisioning package. In general, the reference device data includes the following:

• Windows desktop applications installed using either Microsoft Windows Installer or other installers
• All files and folders outside of the Windows namespace (in other words, outside of \Windows, \Program Files, \Program Files (x86), \ProgramData, and \Users). This applies only to the volume on which Windows is installed.
• Not captured: Windows apps.
• Not captured: User state/data.

You can also specify additional rules to include or exclude specific files, folders, and registry settings. For example, if you are using ScanState during factory deployment, you might need to exclude manufacturing-specific tools so that they will not be restored when end users use Push-button reset features. To specify additional rules, you will need to author a migration XML and specify the /i option when using ScanState.exe.

ScanState’s /apps option also supports the following optional parameters:

Parameter	Use
+/-sysdrive	Specifies whether applications, files, and folders outside of the Windows namespace should be captured. If +sysdrive is specified, all contents on the system drive are examined and eligible to be captured according to the discovery rules. If -sysdrive is specified, only contents within the Windows namespace are examined and eligible to be captured according to the discovery rules. +sysdrive is the default.
+/-oeminfo	Specifies whether the OEM-specific help and support info should be captured. If +oeminfo is specified, OEM and support info are captured. If -oeminfo is specified, OEM and support info are not captured. +oeminfo is the default.

Important

• Although push-button reset features can restore multiple provisioning packages, only one of the packages can contain reference device data image captured using ScanState.
• ScanState should be used only after all customizations have been applied to the PC. It does not support appending additional changes to an existing reference device data image.
• When you prepare ScanState for capturing customizations, you should exclude Microsoft Defender settings to prevent possible failures during recovery that can be caused by file conflicts. For more information, see Step 1 in Deploy push-button reset features.
• If you're booting the reference device into Audit Mode using an unattend.xml, do not specify the AutoLogon unattend setting. Doing so would result in the autologon state being captured into the customization package. Using such a package during push-button reset operations causes problems in the Out-Of-Box Experience (OOBE). By default, Audit Mode signs in automatically using the built-in Administrator account.

Restoring settings using unattend.xml and extensibility points

Tip

You can use Auto-apply folders to automatically restore unattend.xml, layoutmodification.json, and oobe.xml. If using Auto-apply folders, you don't have to configure extensibilty scripts as outlined below.

Most settings which are configured using unattend.xml and other configuration files (e.g. oobe.xml) cannot be restored using provisioning packages. Instead, you will need to use the Push-button reset extensibility points in order to restore them during recovery. These extensibility points allow you run scripts which can:

• Inject an unattend.xml into the recovered OS
• Copy other configuration files and assets into the recovered OS

Important

• You should not use unattend.xml (or other mechanisms) to boot the recovered OS into Audit Mode. The recovered OS must remain configured to boot to OOBE.
• A copy of the configuration files and assets which need to be restored must be placed under C:\Recovery\OEM. Contents in this folder are not modified by push-button reset features and are automatically backed up to recovery media created using the Create a recovery drive utility. To protect the unattend.xml and configuration files/assets from tampering or accidental deletion, Write/Modify permissions of C:\Recovery\OEM should be restricted to the local Administrators user group.

To learn how to author scripts to be run using extensibility points, see Add extensibility scripts to push-button reset.

To learn how to use ScanState to capture and store the resulting PPKG under C:\Recovery\Customizations, which is restored automatically during PBR, see Deploy push-button reset features using ScanState.

Recovery strategies for common customizations

The following table outlines the recovery strategy for common customizations.

Customization	How it's configured	How it can be restored during PBR
OOBE – HID pairing	Settings in the <hidSetup> section of OOBE.xml and images (e.g. .png files)	Use PBR extensibility script to restore OOBE.xml and images from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
OOBE – OEM EULA	<Eulafilename> setting in OOBE.xml and license terms .rtf file(s) stored under %WINDIR%\System32\Oobe\Info	Use PBR extensibility script to restore OOBE.xml and .rtf files from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
OOBE – Preconfigured language and time zone	Settings in the <defaults> section of OOBE.xml	Use PBR extensibility script to restore OOBE.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
OOBE – Hide mobile broadband page	Microsoft-Windows-WwanUI | NotInOOBE setting in unattend.xml	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
OOBE – OEM Registration page	Settings in the <registration> section of OOBE.xml and HTML files for in-place links	Use PBR extensibility script to restore OOBE.xml and HTML files from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Start – Pinned items	LayoutModification.json and LayoutModification.xml stored under %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell	Use PBR extensibility points to restore LayoutModification.json and LayoutModification.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Desktop – Default and additional accent colors	RunSynchronous command in unattend.xml which adds the AGRB hex color values to the registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Desktop – Background image	Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup | Themes | DesktopBackground setting in unattend.xml and image (e.g. .jpg/.png/.bmp file)	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml and background image file from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Desktop – Pinned taskbar items	Settings under Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup | TaskbarLinks in unattend.xml and shortcut (.lnk) files stored in a folder under %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml and .lnk files from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Desktop – Systray icons	Settings under Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup | NotificationArea in unattend.xml	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Mobile broadband – Rename "WiFi" to "WLAN" in network list	Microsoft-Windows-SystemSettings | WiFiToWlan setting in unattend.xml	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Mobile broadband – Enable Network Selection control in Settings	Microsoft-Windows-SystemSettings | DisplayNetworkSelection setting in unattend.xml	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
PC Settings – Preinstalled settings apps	Settings apps are preinstalled in the same way as any other app, and automatically appear in Settings. Capability declared in the app manifest determines whether it is a settings app or not.	Restored automatically along with other preinstalled apps
Default browser and handlers of protocols	Default application association settings XML file imported using the /Import-DefaultAppAssociations command in DISM	Use PBR extensibility points to Import Default App associations or Use an unattend file with a RunSynchronousCommand to Import Default App associations, adding the unattend file to the auto-apply folders
Support information in Contact Support app	Settings under Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup | OEMInformation in unattend.xml and logo.bmp file	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml and .bmp file from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Store content modifier	Microsoft-Windows-Store-Client-UI | StoreContentModifier setting in unattend.xml	Use PBR extensibility points to restore unattend.xml from C:\Recovery\OEM or Auto-apply folders
Windows desktop applications (including driver applets installed via setup.exe)	MSI or custom installers	Use ScanState to capture and store the resulting PPKG under C:\Recovery\Customizations, which is restored automatically during PBR.
RDX contents	See UX WEG for details	Should not be restored during PBR