{"id":74982,"date":"2024-04-28T12:35:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T07:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=74982"},"modified":"2024-04-28T14:04:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T08:34:53","slug":"reset-windows-10-or-11-win-re","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-windows-10-or-11-win-re\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Reset Windows 10 or 11 via Windows RE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are situations where Windows doesn&#8217;t boot or the &#8220;Reset this PC&#8221; option in Update &amp; Security (Settings) does not work. In such cases, you can reset Windows 10 or 11 via the Windows Recovery Environment (&#8220;Windows RE&#8221; or &#8220;WinRE&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>This article tells you how to reset the PC via WinRE. Resetting through the Windows RE is equivalent to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clean-install-windows-10-using-reset-this-pc-option\/\">Reset this PC<\/a> feature in the Settings app.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clean-install-windows-10-using-reset-this-pc-option\/\">How to Use &#8220;Reset this PC&#8221; to Clean Install Windows 10 or 11<\/a><\/div>\n<h2>Reset Windows 10 or 11 via WinRE<\/h2>\n<h3>Step 1: Access Windows RE<\/h3>\n<p>You can access Windows RE using one of the methods in the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/access-windows-recovery-environment\/\">How to access Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> If Windows <strong>does not boot<\/strong>, you can access WinRE using the following steps, as mentioned in &#8220;<strong>Method 6<\/strong>&#8221; of the above article. Here are the steps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Turn off your computer.<\/li>\n<li>Turn on the computer. While it is booting, turn off the power. You may need to hold the power button for 4-5 seconds to power the unit off.<\/li>\n<li>Repeat the off\/on steps two or three times.<\/li>\n<li>Turn on the computer and wait. After three failed reboot attempts, Windows goes into recovery mode.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/diagnosing-your-pc-startup-repair.jpg\" alt=\"startup repair - diagnosing your pc\" width=\"477\" height=\"360\" \/><\/li>\n<li>This takes you to Windows RE.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>(For more information and screenshots, see &#8220;<strong>Method 6<\/strong>&#8221; in the above article.)<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Step 2: Reset Windows via Windows RE<\/h3>\n<p>In the Windows RE screen, click Troubleshoot.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-74983\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/reset_winre_1.png\" alt=\"reset windows 10\/11 via windows re - keep files or remove everything\" width=\"751\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Click <strong>Reset this PC<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-74984\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/reset_winre_2.png\" alt=\"reset windows 10\/11 via windows re - keep files or remove everything\" width=\"751\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can choose &#8220;<strong>Keep my files<\/strong>&#8221; or &#8220;<strong>Remove everything<\/strong>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>(The &#8220;Keep my files&#8221; option removes your apps and settings, but preserves your personal files. &#8220;Remove everything&#8221; removes all your apps, settings, and files on the OS partition.)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-74985\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/reset_winre_3.png\" alt=\"reset windows 10\/11 via windows re - keep files or remove everything\" width=\"751\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">If you choose the &#8220;Remove everything&#8221; option, you&#8217;re given two more sub-options: &#8220;<strong>Just remove my files<\/strong>&#8221; and &#8220;<strong>Fully clean the drive<\/strong>&#8220;.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-74989\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/reset_winre_3a.png\" alt=\"reset windows 10\/11 via windows re - keep files or remove everything\" width=\"752\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"odd\">\n<td><strong>Option<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Description<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td style=\"white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Just remove my files<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>This option performs a quick format of the disk. This deletes the table on the drive that contains file system pointers to your data files. It does not delete the actual file data or touch the parts of the disk where the data exists.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"odd\">\n<td style=\"white-space: nowrap;\"><strong>Fully clean the drive<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>The behavior of this option will vary depending on if the drive is encrypted with BitLocker.<\/p>\n<p>If the volume is not encrypted, then this option performs a full format of the disk and writes zeroes to every sector. This will take quite a long time. This is similar to running the command below:<\/p>\n<pre>format.exe c:\\ \/P:0<\/pre>\n<p>If the volume is encrypted with BitLocker, only a quick format is performed, as that wipes all of the information necessary to decrypt the disk. With no way to decrypt the disk, the data is effectively lost.<\/p>\n<p>Note that this procedure will take much longer than the quick format. It could take hours on a large hard drive.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>(Src: <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/archive\/blogs\/olivnie\/windows-8-recovery-and-troubleshooting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Fully clean the drive&#8221; option formats the drive and writes zeroes to every sector (secure erase), making the data difficult to recover. If you plan to donate, recycle, or sell your PC, use the &#8220;Fully clean the drive&#8221; option. This procedure can take a long time to complete.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the next screen, you must choose one option: <strong>Cloud download<\/strong> or <strong>Local reinstall<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Cloud download&#8221; downloads fresh installation source files from Microsoft. Whereas the &#8220;Local reinstall&#8221; option uses the existing image on your PC.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Cloud download&#8221; is recommended.<\/strong> This option downloads the OS setup image (WIM or ESD) to the &#8220;C:\\$SysReset\\CloudImage&#8221; folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-74986\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/reset_winre_4.png\" alt=\"reset windows 10\/11 via windows re - keep files or remove everything\" width=\"751\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the final screen, read the information displayed and click the <strong>Reset<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-74987\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/reset_winre_5.png\" alt=\"reset windows 10\/11 via windows re - keep files or remove everything\" width=\"752\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<p>WinRE will download a fresh copy of Windows setup files and cleanly install Windows 10\/11 on your device. The Reset procedure can take anywhere from 20 minutes to more than an hour, depending on the hardware specifications of your computer.<\/p>\n<p>The results of the Reset operation are logged into the files setupact.log and setuperr.log, stored under the folders &#8220;C:\\$SysReset\\Logs&#8221; and &#8220;C:\\Windows\\Logs\\PBR&#8221;.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cant-reset-windows-10-could-not-find-win-re\/\">Error &#8220;Could not find the Recovery Environment&#8221; When Resetting PC<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are situations where Windows doesn&#8217;t boot or the &#8220;Reset this PC&#8221; option in Update &amp; Security (Settings) does not work. In such cases, you can reset Windows 10 or 11 via the Windows Recovery Environment (&#8220;Windows RE&#8221; or &#8220;WinRE&#8221;). This article tells you how to reset the PC via WinRE. Resetting through the Windows &#8230; <a title=\"How to Reset Windows 10 or 11 via Windows RE\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-windows-10-or-11-win-re\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Reset Windows 10 or 11 via Windows RE\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,869],"tags":[680],"class_list":["post-74982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-windows-recovery-environment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56584,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/access-windows-recovery-environment\/","url_meta":{"origin":74982,"position":0},"title":"How to access Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a recovery environment based on Windows PE that contains troubleshooting and diagnostic tools to repair an unbootable operating system. By default, WinRE is preinstalled into Windows 10 and Windows 11. WinRE has the following features: Start recovery, troubleshooting, and diagnostic tools. (System Restore, Startup Repair,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Automatic repair - Startup repair - Windows Recovery","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/startup-repair-advanced-options.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/startup-repair-advanced-options.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/startup-repair-advanced-options.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/startup-repair-advanced-options.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17815,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cant-reset-windows-10-could-not-find-win-re\/","url_meta":{"origin":74982,"position":1},"title":"Error &#8220;Could not find the Recovery Environment&#8221; When Resetting PC","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"We can't create a recovery drive on this PC","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/win-re-fix-recovery-disk.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/win-re-fix-recovery-disk.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/win-re-fix-recovery-disk.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76147,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/delete-cygwin64-folder\/","url_meta":{"origin":74982,"position":2},"title":"Fix: Cannot Delete the Cygwin64 folder","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"If you installed \"cygwin64\" earlier and want to delete the folder after uninstalling the tool, you may be unable to do so. It may say, \"Folder Access Denied.\" This can happen if the NTFS permissions for the folder are tight or the profile that owned the folder no longer exists\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"find osdevice in winre by running bcdedit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/winre-bcdedit-find-osdevice.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/winre-bcdedit-find-osdevice.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/winre-bcdedit-find-osdevice.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/winre-bcdedit-find-osdevice.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":80120,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/0xc00000bb-boot-launch-windows-re\/","url_meta":{"origin":74982,"position":3},"title":"Error 0xc00000bb when booting or accessing Windows RE","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This post explains how to fix error 0xc00000bb during boot or when accessing Windows RE on a Windows 10 or 11 PC. 0xC00000BB (\"STATUS_NOT_SUPPORTED\") means \"The request is not supported\". Resolution The error code 0xC00000BB can occur during boot or only when accessing Windows RE (i.e., Windows boots fine otherwise).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"0xc00000bb error when booting Windows 10 or 11","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0xc00000bb-boot.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0xc00000bb-boot.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0xc00000bb-boot.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0xc00000bb-boot.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75373,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/backup-winre-wim-image\/","url_meta":{"origin":74982,"position":4},"title":"How to Backup your WinRE Image (Winre.wim)","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Windows Recovery Environment is powered by the Winre.wim image, usually located in the Recovery partition or, in some cases, in the OS partition itself. You may have to back up your Winre.wim image in some situations, e.g., before or after servicing Winre.wim, or when you want to resize the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"enable winre using reagentc and get confirmation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/winre-enable-reagentc.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/winre-enable-reagentc.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/winre-enable-reagentc.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/winre-enable-reagentc.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17854,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/we-cant-create-a-recovery-drive-on-this-pc-error-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":74982,"position":5},"title":"&#8220;We can&#8217;t create a recovery drive on this PC&#8221; Error","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"We can't create a recovery drive on this PC","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cant-create-recovery-drive-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cant-create-recovery-drive-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/cant-create-recovery-drive-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}