Reset PC is one of the advanced recovery options offered in Windows 11 and Windows 10. Using the Reset this PC functionality, you can reset/reinstall your Windows 11/10 installation by keeping your data.
The Reset PC option can be accessed by navigating to Settings > System > Recovery page (Settings > Update & Security > Recovery in Windows 10).
On some PCs, when trying to reset, users might get a “Could not find the recovery environment. Insert your Windows installation or recovery media and restart your PC with the media” message.
If you get the above error while attempting to reset your Windows 11 or Windows 10 installation, it’s likely because the recovery environment is disabled or missing on your PC.
What is the Windows recovery environment?
Windows recovery environment is nothing but a recovery environment designed to help you troubleshoot and repair common startup issues. By default, the Windows recovery environment is Enabled in all desktop editions of Windows 11. With the help of the recovery environment, users can rebuild and repair the bootloader, add new Windows installations to the boot menu, restore Windows operating system to an earlier date with the help of a previously created restore point, restore Windows images, and much more. In short, the Windows Recovery Environment is helpful in troubleshooting startup issues.
In simple words, if you are getting the “Could not find the recovery environment. Insert your Windows installation or recovery media, and restart your PC with the media” message while resetting your Windows 11 installation, it’s likely because the Windows recovery environment is disabled on your computer. Therefore, you need to enable the same to fix the error.
This guide will show you how to enable the Windows recovery environment by executing a command.
Enable Windows recovery environment in Windows 11/10
Step 1: Open the Command Prompt as administrator. To do that, type CMD in the search, right-click on the Command Prompt entry, and then click the Run as administrator option.
When you get the User Account Control screen, click on the Yes button to continue.
Step 2: At the Command Prompt window, type (or copy & paste) the following command to know if the recovery environment is enabled or disabled. Note that the command might take a minute to generate the information.
Reagentc /info
The Windows RE status field tells you if the recovery environment is enabled or disabled. If it’s disabled, proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Next step is to enable the recovery environment. To do so, type the following command and press the Enter key.
Reagentc /enable
An “Operation successful” message will appear on the screen to indicate that the recovery environment is successfully enabled on your computer.
You may close the Command Prompt window now and start resetting your Windows 11/10 installation again.
