Can I undo a refresh on windows 8, I have no restore points but would like to go back 24hours?

Please help Brian.... I have also fallen into this trap and definately no warning Programs or data would be lost. I have searched for windows.old but it does not seem to exist in my files. When I also asked to view C: , there is an access denied warning and I am no longer able to see any files or data.

You would think Microsoft would correct its shortcomings but, unfortunately, we need to struggle on our own. There's some hope, though, for those versed in command line. I came across this link which as a procedure for restoring a Windows 7 computer to a previous version of windows and by previous they mean XP and the like.  I decided to take a chance and restore win8 to win8. After 5 hours of finagling, I managed to restore my 6 pages of programs that the lovely "refresh" did away with. Basically, what you will be trying to do is extract the information from a file that Microsoft created when it did the "refresh" I think they may have done that b/c, well, in the event of a lawsuit, THEY'll be able to get the info back.

Here are some notes if you should decide to undertake this:

1. change "Win7" to "Win8" (just so there's no confusion)
2. Although the instructions say to ignore "cannot find" messages and move on, you should take care that you are in c:. My command line was showing x:
3. Don't delete "Documents and Settings" as in the instructions "Rd "Documents and Settings" If I had to do over again I would save it or move it. I ended up making (md) a blank one but I don't know the future repercussions--perhaps none (see #4)

4 When you get to the part where you are moving stuff from \windows.old, you may have to set the attributes -h -s -r of some directories--I think I had to do this with ProgramData. As I said in #3 above, I had to recreate "Documents and Settings" but it may be that Windows doesn't really need it. I say this b/c Windows.old apparently didn't have a copy. But better to be safe.

5 If you don't remember your command line DOS, do recall that a command name followed by "/?" wil tell you all about it.

6. Finally, keep meticulous records of everything you do OR YOU'LL GO around in circles or worse. Also, keep a clear head about what you are trying to do at each step of the procedure.
7. When you have your system reasonably restored, backup it up and set restore points.
8. For those with Onenote, you will have to locate your *.one files and make sure they reside in 'user\yourname\mydocuments b/c that's where they were originally and if you try to bring them in from backup, they'll be read only.

support.microsoft.com/kb\971760

Good luck, hope this helps.

tip for Microsoft: count the number of programs and tell the user, "you'll be deleting x number of programs. Are you sure you want to go ahead."

Absolutely disgusting and unacceptable! Windows 8 - Rubbish. It is time to move to Mac or Linux. "Refresh" is the worst thing I've ever encountered in software,