The native Backup and Restore tool in Windows 10 and 11, also known as “Windows 7 Backup and Restore Tool,” lets you backup your files and create a system image of your current Windows installation. You can access the tool from the classic Control Panel.Read more
windows recovery environment
How to Start Windows 10 or 11 in Safe Mode
Safe mode starts Windows in a basic state, using a limited set of files, drivers, and services. If a problem doesn’t happen in safe mode, this means that default settings and basic device drivers aren’t causing the issue. Read more
How to Reset Forgotten Windows 10/11 Account Password
Summary: This article tells you how to reset the password(s) for any local user account, including the built-in administrator in Windows 10 if you have forgotten the password.
Occasionally, we may forget the Windows user account password, especially if we have been using the auto-login using stored credentials or PIN sign-in method for a long time. Most users don’t have a second administrator account on their computer. And they would have never activated the built-in Administrator account (keeping it disabled is good for security, anyway).
The local user account password can be reset easily using different methods even if you haven’t created a password reset disk beforehand.
If you’re using a Microsoft Account (MSA), you can reset your forgotten MSA password online. However, this is not within the scope of this article. This post tells you how to reset the local user account password.
Similar problem: Lost administrator rights but not the password?
If the user account has suddenly lost its administrative privileges (but you remember the password) and turned into a guest or standard user account, it’s a different issue and the fix is very simple in that case. Check out the article Lost Administrator Rights? Recover the Account via Windows RE for an easy fix.
How to Create Recovery Drive in Windows 10
If your current Windows 10 installation gets corrupted, you’ll be able to use the recovery drive to reinstall Windows 10 — restoring the same build and version of Windows 10 you were using, along with the installed drivers and preinstalled customizations.
For this, you’ll need to have created a USB recovery drive beforehand — when your system was healthy. Recovery Drive can also be useful if you’ve replaced your hard drive and want to install Windows 10 on it.
Restoring from Windows 10 USB recovery drive is equivalent to using the Remove Everything option in Refresh/Reset this PC in the Windows 10 settings. The recovery drive is an alternative if Windows doesn’t boot.Read more
“We can’t create a recovery drive on this PC” Error
Windows allows you to create USB recovery media using the RecoveryDrive.exe (“Create a recovery drive”) utility. When you attempt to create the recovery drive in Windows 10 or 11, the following error appears, and the process stalls: We can’t create a recovery drive on this PC Some required files are missing. To troubleshoot problems when … Read more
Error “Could not find the Recovery Environment” When Resetting PC
When you attempt to use the Reset this PC option to Reset (“Remove everything”) or Refresh (“Keep my files”) Windows 10 or 11, the following error may appear:
Could not find the recovery environment Insert your Windows installation or recovery media, and restart your PC with the media.
This error occurs if the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) is disabled or if the WinRE image is corrupted in the system.
With the Windows RE feature disabled on the computer, if you boot into the Windows RE (without the setup or repair disk), the following features would be missing in the Windows Recovery Environment:
- Reset this PC
- System Restore
- Uninstall Updates
- System Image Recovery
- Startup Repair
- Command Prompt
- Startup Settings
Additionally, if Windows RE is disabled or corrupted, the following error occurs when you attempt to create a Windows Recovery Drive (USB).
We can't create a recovery drive on this PC Some required files are missing. To troubleshoot problems when your PC can't start, use your Windows installation disc or media.
This article tells you how to fix the errors “Could not find the recovery environment” and “We can’t create a recovery drive on this PC” by enabling or repairing the Windows Recovery Environment feature.Read more
How to Use “Reset this PC” to Clean Install Windows 10 or 11
Windows 10 and 11 have multiple recovery options to revert or roll back to an old configuration. The built-in recovery options include System Restore, driver rollback, in-place upgrade (a.k.a repair install), Reset This PC, Recovery disk, and Go back to the previous version of Windows.
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How to Uninstall a Windows Update Offline via Windows RE
If a recently installed cumulative update or feature update has rendered your Windows 10/11 computer unbootable, you can use the Windows Recovery Options to uninstall the newly installed update.
You can uninstall a recent update using two methods, and this article explains both ways.Read more
Enable the Built-in Administrator in Windows 10/11 via Windows RE
There are situations where you’ll need to activate and use the built-in Administrator account in Windows. The built-in Administrator account is disabled by default. If your existing admin user account profile gets corrupted (and you have no alternate user account with admin privileges), you’ll need to enable and use the built-in administrator account to fix things up or create a second administrator account.Read more