Could not find the recovery environment to Reset this PC. (Solved)

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If you cannot reset Windows 10 or Windows 11 because of error “Could not find the recovery environment”, read this tutorial to fix the problem.

The Reset this PC error “Could not find the recovery environment. Insert your Windows installation or recovery media, and restart your PC with the media” error message appears if the Windows Recovery partition is missing or if the Windows Recovery Environment is not enabled on the PC.

How to fix: Can’t reset Windows 10/11, Could not find the recovery environment.

Method 1. Enable the Windows Recovery Environment.

1. Type “cmd” in search and then open Command Prompt as administrator.

2. In Administrator command prompt, give the following command to activate the Recovery Environment.

• reagentc /enable

3. After executing the above command, proceed as follows according the result:

A. If you receive the message “REAGENTC.EXE: Operation successful” (like in below screenshot), issue the below command to verify that the “Windows RE status” is Enabled and if so, close command prompt and try again to Reset your PC. (If the reset fails again continue to method-2).

• reagentc /info

B. If after running the “reagentc /enable” command you receive the message “REAGENTC.EXE: The Windows RE image was not found“, (like in below screenshot), follow the instructions on Method-2 below to repair Windows from an ISO file.

Method 2. Repair & Reset Windows using an ISO file.

The second method to bypass the “Reset this PC” error “Could not find the recovery environment”, is to reinstall Windows from an ISO file. To do that:

Step 1. Download Windows in a ISO file.

1. Depending on the installed version of Windows (Windows 10 or Windows 11), download the corresponding Media Creation Tool from Microsoft’s official download page.

• Download Windows 10
• Download Windows 11

.

2. Then double-click on the downloaded “MediaCreationTool.exe” file and Accept the terms.
3. At ‘Select Language and edition’ window, leave the recommended options for your PC and click Next.

4. At the next screen, choose the ISO file option and click Next again.

5. Then click Save to save the Windows.iso file to your Downloads folder.

6. Now wait for the “Windows.iso” file to download and when it’s done, click Finish.

Step 2. Reset Windows 10/11 using the Windows.iso file.

1. Save your work and close all running programs.
2.Open File Explorer and go to the location where you saved the “Windows.iso” file. (e.g. in the “Downloads” folder).

3. Double-click on the Windows.iso file to open it in File Explorer.

4. Then double-click to open the setup.exe application.

5. Click Next at “Install Windows 11” window.
6. Wait for the Windows installation wizard to check for updates and then click the Accept button when prompted to accept the ‘License Terms’.
7. At the next screen click Change what to keep.

8. At “Choose what to keep” screen, select one of the following options according your will and then click Next.

• Keep personal files and apps: if you want to reinstall Windows while keeping your apps and files.
• Keep personal files only: If you want to reinstall Windows by erasing your settings and apps but keeping your files.
• Nothing: If you want to do a clean installation of Windows and erasing all your files, applications and settings.

9. At the next screen review your selections and click Install to start the installation of Windows.

10. The Windows 10/11 installation will start. Wait for it to finish without interrupting it. (During the process your computer will restart several times)

6. If all goes well, after 20-30 minutes you should have successfully reinstalled Windows.

That’s all folks! Please leave a comment in the comment section below or even better: like and share this blog post in the social networks to help spread the word about this solution.

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Konstantinos Tsoukalas

Konstantinos is the founder and administrator of Repairwin.com. Since 1995 he works and provides IT support as a computer and network expert to individuals and large companies. He is specialized in solving problems related to Windows or other Microsoft products (Windows Server, Office, Microsoft 365, etc.).

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