In a Windows reinstallation example, the author supplemented a WinGet export of more than 150 apps, added settings, and converted it into a YAML configuration. Actual validation covered only 14 apps and three settings in a virtual machine, not the entire list; the second run took under 12 minutes. One setting initially failed because administrator privileges were missing. App logins, browser data, and licenses were not restored, and recorded versions were not strictly pinned. The key is to separate installation automation from data recovery and validate results in a small test environment.