Recovery options in Windows 10

If you’re having problems with your PC, the following table can help you decide which recovery option to use.

See this section

Your PC isn’t working well and you recently installed an update.

Your PC isn’t working well and it’s been a while since you installed an app, driver, or update.

Your PC won’t start, you haven’t created a recovery drive, and resetting your PC didn’t work.

Your PC won’t start and you haven’t created a recovery drive.

Your PC won’t start and you’ve created a recovery drive.

You want to reinstall your previous operating system.

Your PC isn’t working well and you recently installed an app.

Click one of the recovery options below and follow the steps to try to get things working again.

If you’ve recently installed a Windows update, uninstall the update to try to resolve the issue.

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View your update history > Uninstall updates.
View update history settings

Right-click the update you want to remove, and then select Uninstall.

Important: If you’ve encrypted your device, you’ll need your BitLocker key to reset your PC If you don’t know your BitLocker key, see Find my BitLocker recovery key.

Resetting reinstalls Windows 10, but lets you choose whether to keep your files or remove them, and then reinstalls Windows. You can reset your PC from Settings, the sign-in screen, or by using a recovery drive or installation media.

Reset your PC from Settings

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Recovery .
Open Recovery settings

Under Reset this PC, select Get started and then choose from the options and/or settings in the table below.

Keep my files > Change settings > Preinstalled apps On

Reinstalls Windows 10 and keeps your personal files.

Removes apps and drivers you installed.

Removes changes you made to settings.

Restores any apps your PC manufacturer installed if your PC came with Windows 10.

Keep my files > Change settings > Preinstalled apps Off

Reinstalls Windows 10 and keeps your personal files.

Removes apps and drivers you installed.

Removes changes you made to settings.

Removes any apps your PC manufacturer installed.

Reinstalls Windows 10 and removes your personal files.

Removes apps and drivers you installed.

Removes changes you made to settings.

Removes any apps your PC manufacturer installed. (If your PC came with Windows 10, apps from your PC manufacturer will be reinstalled.)

Note: Remove everything > Change settings gives you two options.

Data erasure On removes files and cleans the drive. If you’re planning to donate, recycle, or sell your PC, use this option. This might take an hour or two, but it makes it harder for other people to recover files you’ve removed.

Data erasure Off just removes files. It takes less time, but is less secure.

Reset your PC from the sign-in screen

If you can’t open Settings, you can reset your PC from the sign-in screen. Here’s how:

Press Windows logo key + L to get to the sign-in screen, and then restart your PC by pressing the Shift key while you select the Power button > Restart in the lower-right corner of the screen.

Your PC will restart in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment.

On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC, and then choose one of the options in the previous table.

Connect the installation media you created to your PC and reinstall Windows 10.

Open File Explorer and select the drive with the installation media.

From the root directory of the drive, double-click setup.exe, and then select Yes when asked if you’d like to allow the app to make changes to your device.

Select Change what to keep.

Select one of the following options, and then select Next:

Keep personal files and apps – This will preserve your personal data, apps, and settings.

Keep personal files only – This will preserve your personal data and settings, but all your apps will be removed.

Keep nothing – This will remove all personal data, settings, and apps.

Warning: You cannot undo a reinstallation of Windows 10. Be sure to back up your files first if you choose the Keep nothing option.

To finish, select Install to start reinstalling Windows 10 on your PC.

Your PC will restart several times during the resinstallation.

Important: If you’ve encrypted your device, you’ll need your BitLocker key to use a recovery drive to restore or reset your PC If you don’t know your BitLocker key, see Find my BitLocker recovery key.

If your PC won’t start and you haven’t created a recovery drive, download installation media and use it to restore from a system restore point or reset your PC.

Download the Windows 10 media creation tool and then run it.

Select Create installation media for another PC.

Choose a language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit).

Follow the steps to create installation media, and then select Finish.

Connect the installation media you created to your nonfunctional PC, and then turn it on.

On the initial setup screen, enter your language and other preferences, and then select Next. If you don’t see the setup screen, your PC might not be set up to boot from a drive. Check your PC manufacturer’s website for info on how to change your PC’s boot order, and then try again.

Select Repair your computer.

On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot. From there, you can:

Restore from a system restore point by selecting Advanced options > System Restore. This will remove recently installed apps, drivers, and updates that might be causing your PC problems. Restoring from a restore point won’t affect your personal files.

Important: If you’ve encrypted your device, you’ll need your BitLocker key to use a recovery drive to restore or reset your PC If you don’t know your BitLocker key, see Find my BitLocker recovery key.

If your PC won’t start, you can use a recovery drive to restore from a system restore point or recover your PC. For info on how to create a recovery drive on a working PC, see Create a recovery drive.

Note: If you are using a Surface, see Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface to download and create a USB recovery image specifically for your Surface device.

To restore or recover using the recovery drive:

Connect the recovery drive and turn on your PC.

Press Windows logo key + L to get to the sign-in screen, and then restart your PC by pressing the Shift key while you select the Power button> Restart in the lower-right corner of the screen.

Your PC will restart in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment.

On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot, and then select one of the following two options. (If you don’t see the Choose your option screen, your PC might not be set up to boot from a drive. Check your PC manufacturer’s website for info on how to change your PC’s boot order.)

To restore from a system restore point, select Advanced Options > System Restore. This won’t affect your personal files, but it will remove recently installed apps, drivers, and updates that might be causing your PC problems.

To reinstall Windows 10, select Advanced Options > Recover from a drive. This will remove your personal files, apps and drivers you installed, and changes you made to settings.

For a limited time after upgrading to Windows 10, you’ll be able to go back to your previous version of Windows by selecting the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and then selecting Get started under Go back to the previous version of Windows 10. This will keep your personal files, but it’ll remove apps and drivers installed after the upgrade, as well as any changes you made to settings. In most cases, you’ll have 10 days to go back.
Open Recovery settings

To go back, you’ll need to:

Keep everything in the windows.old and $windows.

bt folders after the upgrade.

Remove any user accounts you added after the upgrade.

Know the password you used to sign in to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (if you used one).

Have the USB drive you used to upgrade to Windows 10 (if you used one).

Note: If you go back to Windows 8.1, some apps that came with Windows, like Mail and People, might not work anymore. To fix the apps, reinstall them from the Microsoft Store.

Note: The option in Settings to go back to your previous version of Windows is only available for a limited time after upgrading.

Info for Windows Insiders

If you’re an Insider and the current preview build isn’t working for you, select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Recovery . Under Go back to the previous version of Windows 10, select Get Started. This won’t remove your personal files, but it’ll remove recently installed apps and drivers, and change settings back to their defaults.

Going back to an earlier build won’t remove you from the Insider Program. When the next preview build is ready, it’ll be installed on your PC.

This option takes your PC back to an earlier point in time, called a system restore point. Restore points are generated when you install a new app or driver, and when you create a restore point manually. Restoring won’t affect your personal files, but it will remove apps, drivers, and updates installed after the restore point was made.

In the search box on the taskbar, type control panel,andthen choose it from the list of results

In the Control Panel search box, type recovery.

Select Recovery > Open System Restore.

In the Restore system files and setting box, select Next.

Select the restore point that you want to use in the list of results, and then select Scan for affected programs.

If you don’t see the restore point that you want to use, select the Show more restore points check box to see more restore points.

If you’re not seeing any restore points, it might be because system protection isn’t turned on. Here’s how to check:

In the search box on the taskbar, type control panel,andthen choose it from the list of results.

In the Control Panel search box, type recovery.

Select Recovery > Configure System Restore > Configure and see if the Turn on system protection option is selected.

If the Turn on system protection option is not selected, system protection isn’t turned on and there aren’t any restore points. In this scenario, you won’t be able to recovery your PC using a system restore point and will need to use one of the other recovery options listed on this page.

If the Turn on system protection option is selected, continue with step 6.

You’ll see a list of items that will be deleted if you remove this restore point. If you’re OK with the deletions, select Close> Next > Finish.

Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE)

Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a recovery environment that can repair common causes of unbootable operating systems. WinRE is based on Windows Preinstallation Environment (WindowsВ PE), and can be customized with additional drivers, languages, WindowsВ PE Optional Components, and other troubleshooting and diagnostic tools. By default, WinRE is preloaded into the WindowsВ 10 for desktop editions (Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education) and Windows ServerВ 2016 installations.

What’s new with WinRE for WindowsВ 10?

• By default, if you install Windows using media created from Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD), you’ll get a dedicated WinRE tools partition on both UEFI and BIOS-based devices, located immediately after the Windows partition. This allows Windows to replace and resize the partition as needed. (If you install Windows by using Windows Setup, you’ll get the same partition layout that you did in Windows 8.1.)
• If you add a custom tool to the WinRE boot options menu, it can only use optional components that are already in the default WinRE tools. For example, if you have a app from Windows 8 that depended on the .NET optional components, you’ll need to rewrite the app for WindowsВ 10.
• If you add a custom tool to the WinRE boot options menu, it must be placed in the \Sources\Recovery\Tools folder so that it can continue to work after future WinRE upgrades.
• When adding languages to the push-button reset tools, you’ll now need to add the WinPE-HTA optional component.

Tools

WinRE includes these tools:

• Automatic repair and other troubleshooting tools. For more info, see Windows RE Troubleshooting Features.
• Push-button reset (WindowsВ 10 for desktop editions , Windows 8.1 and WindowsВ 8 only). This tool enables your users to repair their own PCs quickly while preserving their data and important customizations, without having to back up data in advance. For more info, see Push-Button Reset Overview.
• System image recovery (Windows ServerВ 2016, WindowsВ Server 2012 R2 and Windows ServerВ 2012 only). This tool restores the entire hard drive. For more info, see Recover the Operating System or Full Server.

In addition, you can create your own custom recovery solution by using the Windows Imaging API, or by using the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) API.

Entry points into WinRE

Your users can access WinRE features through the Boot Options menu, which can be launched from Windows in a few different ways:

• From the login screen, click Shutdown, then hold down the Shift key while selecting Restart.
• In WindowsВ 10, select Start >Settings >Update & security >Recovery > under Advanced Startup, click Restart now.
• Boot to recovery media.
• Use a hardware recovery button (or button combination) configured by the OEM.

After any of these actions is performed, all user sessions are signed off and the Boot Options menu is displayed. If your users select a WinRE feature from this menu, the PC restarts into WinRE and the selected feature is launched.

WinRE starts automatically after detecting the following issues:

• Two consecutive failed attempts to start Windows.
• Two consecutive unexpected shutdowns that occur within two minutes of boot completion.
• Two consecutive system reboots within two minutes of boot completion.
• A Secure Boot error (except for issues related to Bootmgr.efi).
• A BitLocker error on touch-only devices.

Boot options menu

This menu enables your users to perform these actions:

• Start recovery, troubleshooting, and diagnostic tools.
• Boot from a device (UEFI only).
• Access the Firmware menu (UEFI only).
• Choose which operating system to boot, if multiple operating systems are installed on the PC.

You can add one custom tool to the Boot options menu. Otherwise, these menus can’t be further customized. For more info, see Add a Custom Tool to the Windows RE Boot Options Menu.

Security considerations

When working with WinRE, be aware of these security considerations:

• If users open the Boot options menu from Windows and select a WinRE tool, they must provide the user name and password of a local user account with administrator rights.
• By default, networking is disabled in WinRE. You can turn on networking when you need it. For better security, disable networking when you don’t need connectivity.

Customizing WinRE

You can customize WinRE by adding packages (WindowsВ PE Optional Components), languages, drivers, and custom diagnostic or troubleshooting tools. The base WinRE image includes these WindowsВ PE Optional Components:

• Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package
• WinPE-EnhancedStorage
• WinPE-Rejuv
• WinPE-Scripting
• WinPE-SecureStartup
• WinPE-Setup
• WinPE-SRT
• WinPE-WDS-Tools
• WinPE-WMI
• WinPE-StorageWMI-Package (added to the base image in Windows 8.1 and WindowsВ Server 2012 R2)
• WinPE-HTA (added to the base image in WindowsВ 10)

NoteВ В The number of packages, languages, and drivers is limited by the amount of memory available on the PC. For performance reasons, minimize the number of languages, drivers, and tools that you add to the image.

Hard drive partitions

When you install Windows by using Windows Setup, WinRE is configured like this:

During Windows Setup, Windows prepares the hard drive partitions to support WinRE.

Windows initially places the WinRE image file (winre.wim) in the Windows partition, in the \Windows\System32\Recovery folder.

Before delivering the PC to your customer, you can modify or replace the WinRE image file to include additional languages, drivers, or packages.

During the specialize configuration pass, the WinRE image file is copied into the recovery tools partition, so that the device can boot to the recovery tools even if there’s a problem with the Windows partition.

When you deploy Windows by applying images, you must manually configure the hard drive partitions. When WinRE is installed on a hard drive, the partition must be formatted as NTFS.

Add the baseline WinRE tools image (winre.wim) to a separate partition from the Windows and data partitions. This enables your users to use WinRE even if the Windows partition is encrypted with WindowsВ BitLocker Drive Encryption. It also prevents your users from accidentally modifying or removing the WinRE tools.

Store the recovery tools in a dedicated partition, directly after the Windows partition. This way, if future updates require a larger recovery partition, Windows will be able to handle it more efficiently by adjusting the Windows and recovery partition sizes, rather than having to create a new recovery partition size while the old one remains in place.

Memory requirements

In order to boot Windows RE directly from memory (also known as RAM disk boot), a contiguous portion of physical memory (RAM) which can hold the entire Windows RE image (winre.wim) must be available. To optimize memory use, manufacturers should ensure that their firmware reserves memory locations either at the beginning or at the end of the physical memory address space.

Updating the on-disk Windows Recovery Environment

In WindowsВ 10, the on-disk copy of Windows RE can be serviced as part of rollup updates for the OS. Not all rollup updates will service Windows RE.

Unlike the normal OS update process, updates for Windows RE do not directly serviced the on-disk Windows RE image (winre.wim). Instead, a newer version of the Windows RE image replaces the existing one, with the following contents being injected or migrated into the new image:

• Boot critical and input device drivers from the full OS environment are added to the new Windows RE image.
• Windows RE customizations under \Sources\Recovery of the mounted winre.wim are migrated to the new image.

The following contents from the existing Windows RE image are not migrated to the new image:

• Drivers which are in the existing Windows RE image but not in the full OS environment
• Windows PE optional components which are not part of the default Windows RE image
• Language packs for Windows PE and optional components

The Windows RE update process makes every effort to reuse the existing Windows RE partition without any modification. However, in some rare situations where the new Windows RE image (along with the migrated/injected contents) does not fit in the existing Windows RE partition, the update process will behave as follows:

• If the existing Windows RE partition is located immediately after the Windows partition, the Windows partition will be shrunk and space will be added to the Windows RE partition. The new Windows RE image will be installed onto the expanded Windows RE partition.
• If the existing Windows RE partition is not located immediately after the Windows partition, the Windows partition will be shrunk and a new Windows RE partition will be created. The new Windows RE image will be installed onto this new Windows RE partition. The existing Windows RE partition will be orphaned.
• If the existing Windows RE partition cannot be reused and the Windows partition cannot successfully be shrunk, the new Windows RE image will be installed onto the Windows partition. The existing Windows RE partition will be orphaned.

ImportantВ В To ensure that your customizations continue to work after Windows RE has been updated, they must not depend on functionalities provided by Windows PE optional components which are not in the default Windows RE image (e.g. WinPE-NetFX). To facilitate development of Windows RE customizations, the WinPE-HTA optional component has been added to the default Windows RE image in WindowsВ 10.

NoteВ В The new Windows RE image deployed as part of the rollup update contains language resources only for the system default language, even if the existing Windows RE image contains resources for multiple languages. On most PCs, the system default language is the language selected at the time of OOBE.

Known Issue

If the GPO «Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options/Accounts: Block Microsoft accounts» is set to enable the policy «User can’t add or log with Microsoft account», attempting to restore the System in WinRE will fail with the error message «You need to sign in as an administrator to continue, but there aren’t any administrator accounts on this PC.»

This is a known issue and the workaround is to either avoid setting the «Accounts: Block Microsoft accounts» to «User can’t add or log with Microsoft Account» or set the MDM policy Security/RecoveryEnvironmentAuthentication to 2.