Microsoft finally looks set to give Windows 10 PCs and tablets a feature that has been available on Macs since 2011: Internet Recovery …
Mac Internet Recovery
Apple first offered a new recovery tool as part of OS X Lion back in July 2011, and it’s available for some mid-2010 Macs too. This allows you to do a complete macOS reinstall over the Internet without the need for any recovery media.
All you need is a Wi-Fi connection to set up as a brand new machine.
Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold Command (⌘)-R or one of the other macOS Recovery key combinations on your keyboard. Continue holding until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe. Startup is complete when you see the utilities window.
After starting up from macOS Recovery, select from these utilities, then click Continue [for two options]:
- Restore From Time Machine Backup: Restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup of your Mac.
- Reinstall macOS (or Reinstall OS X): Download and reinstall the Mac operating system.
The Windows version
The Verge spotted a reference to the upcoming feature in the release notes for Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18950. The clue is small, but we’d agree that the meaning seems clear.
The site notes that Windows machines currently rely on a copy of the OS on a partition, with third-party tools required for cloud restore — though Microsoft has recently made it an official feature on Surface devices.
‘Mac Book’ may be recommending people to get a Surface, but perhaps Apple should be welcoming Microsoft to 2011 …
Photo: Fortune
