Could Not Find The Recovery Environment In Windows 10

If you cannot Reset Windows 10 due to "Could not find the recovery environment. Insert your Windows installation..." error, here's how to fix.

Kapil Arya
11x Microsoft MVP · Admin
2 min read
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We’ve earlier shared you the step-by-step guide to Reset your Windows 10, when it is not working as per your expectation:

How to completely Reset Windows 10

While you’re working with Reset feature, it is mandatory that Windows Recovery Environment (RE) is enabled on your system. If Windows RE is disabled on your system, you’ll not able to go ahead with Reset feature, as following error occurs while you opt for it:

Could not find the recovery environment

Insert your Windows installation or recovery media, and restart your PC with the media.

FIX Could Not Find The Recovery Environment In Windows 10

If you’re also facing this problem on your Windows 10, below mentioned fix will help you to solve this.

FIX: Could Not Find The Recovery Environment In Windows 10

Well, the root cause for this problem is that Windows RE is disabled on your system. As per Microsoft, “Windows RE is also a starting point for several tools for manual system recovery.” On a Windows 10 installation, usually Windows RE is enabled by default. But if you installed some third-party software or faulty updates, it might get disabled and cause this issue.

So our main goal here is to enable Windows RE, which should hopefully get rid of this problem. Try these steps:

1. Right click Start Button or press W8K + X keys and select Command Prompt (Admin) to open Command Prompt as administrator.

[FIX] The Selected GPT Formatted Disk Contains A Partition Which Is Not Of Type 'PARTITION_BASIC_DATA_GUID'

2. In administrative or elevated Command Prompt window, type reagentc /info and press Enter key.

FIX Could Not Find The Recovery Environment In Windows 10

3. As you’re the victim of this issue, you’ll see the Windows RE status: Disabled in the resulting output. So now type reagentc /enable and press Enter key.

FIX Could Not Find The Recovery Environment In Windows 10

You’ll see Operation Successful as return message, which means Windows RE is now enabled on your system.

NOTE: If you can’t enable Windows RE using above method, try steps 1-3 mentioned in this fix.

Close Command Prompt and try to perform Reset then. You’ll find that the Reset wizard is working fine now.

FIX Could Not Find The Recovery Environment In Windows 10

Check this video for illustration of this method:

Hope this helps!

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Article by

Kapil Arya
11x Microsoft MVP · Admin

Kapil holds Microsoft MVP title in Windows IT Pro expertise, 11-times in a row (2014-2025). He is 8-times Windows Insider MVP as well, and author of 'Windows Group Policy Troubleshooting' book. In 2015, Microsoft India accomplished him as 'Windows 10 Champion'. Being passionate Windows blogger, he loves to help others on fixing their system issues. Kapil has worked with official Microsoft Community Engagement Team (CET) on several community projects. You can subscribe him for news/updates and fixes for Windows.

10 Comments
Jeffer Udani

Hi, I tried “regaentc \info” but it says ‘regagentc’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
First of all I want you to know that I’m doing this reset to factory settings because there is virus on my pc and all my files are infected by extension file “puma”. That’s why I just want to reset to factory settings and delete all files and apps that are installed in my computer. What will I do now?

Kapil Arya Author

^^ You’re not using correct command. You need to run reagentc /info command not regaentc \info.

Shannon Dean Lee Deguara

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. LIFESAVER

Kapil Arya Author

^^ Glad to help!

Raza

REAGENTC.EXE: Unable to update Boot Configuration Data. Not able not to enable the ‘reagentc /info’. Getting the mentioned error, how can I solve this? Any idea.

Kapil Arya Author
Raza

Thanks, Arya. Now the system starts resetting the PC but after 2% shows another error ‘There was a problem resetting your PC No changes were made’. Should I have to go with fresh installation instead of resetting the PC? I am also attaching the disk partition management snapshot for better guide and support. ibb.co/znLWrLT

Raza

Tried multiple things but not able to reset the Dell Inspiron 3542 laptop 💻. Suppose If I want to go with a fresh windows installation there will be any activation issue because I don’t have the key laptop comes with a actived windows. While the system protection is corrupted and unable to restore.

Kapil Arya Author

^^ Check if you’ve OEM license: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-check-type-of-windows-10-license-installed. If yes, you can go ahead with clean install, your system will be automatically activated, as the license is tied to motherboard.

Lincoln

When I do the enable, it says that “The Windows RE image was not found”

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