If Windows still loads, the option appears in Settings > System > Recovery as "Rebuild PC". If the machine refuses to boot, it falls back to the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) after a few failed starts, where Cloud rebuild sits under the Troubleshoot menu. The existing "Reset this PC" feature has offered a cloud download mode for some time, but Cloud Rebuild goes further by also fetching drivers and by not depending on the installed copy of Windows being intact.

It is a clean slate, though: the system drive is reformatted, wiping apps, settings, user accounts and local files, with only data synced to services like OneDrive surviving. Anyone passing the PC on can choose a sanitise mode that securely erases the drive first, and IT admins can trigger a rebuild remotely through the Recovery configuration service provider.

There are practical limits. WinRE must be healthy, and the PC needs to get online from inside it over Ethernet or Wi-Fi using a network driver the manufacturer included; the rebuild also fails if a device's drivers are not published on Windows Update. The same update lets WinRE reuse Wi-Fi profiles already saved in Windows.

This stops short of Apple's macOS recovery, which can fetch a system from the web even when the storage drive is completely dead, whereas Windows still needs a working recovery environment to reach the internet. Even so, it spares novice users from needing USB installation media, which is handy for anyone with only one machine at home or no spare flash drive.