Windows RE ( Recovery Environment ) is the Windows 10 recovery console, stored on the installation disk as a winre.wim file. This recovery console is essential for a Windows 10 PC, because it allows you to solve errors and startup problems with integrated tools or by acting with the command prompt. Usually, unless there are hardware problems, practically any errors can be solved from the Windows 10 recovery console.
This Windows RE environment is automatically installed with Windows 10 and placed inside a separate hidden partition, which also contains the boot configuration data (BCD). By pressing the Start button with the right mouse button, you can open Disk Management and notice the presence of one or two partitions with the text Reserved for the system, which is where Windows RE is located.
If, however, the recovery console of Windows 10 is not seen and there are therefore the screen with the options of troubleshooting, access to the command prompt and the ability to reset the system, it may be that the file winre. wim or the dedicated partition has been deleted thus losing the possibility to recover the use of the computer in case of problems. This is a problem I had myself following the conversion of the disk to GPT to activate UEFI, since the GPT disk cannot have more than three partitions, so having two reserved partitions, I had to delete one.
Fortunately, you can reinstall the Windows 10 recovery console by following this procedure (also good for Windows 8.1) and recover all the functions of Windows RE, without having to reinstall the entire system.
READ ALSO: How to open the Windows 10 recovery console
1) First of all, you must be a computer administrator. in another guide we saw how to get administrator privileges in Windows 10.
2) Now download the Windows 10 installation ISO file and copy it to a USB stick. To do this you can download the Media Creation Tool and then follow the wizard that creates an installation USB stick or, alternatively, the DVD. Obviously it is important that the version of Windows 10 installed on the PC is downloaded, therefore Home or Pro, 32 bit or 64 bit.
3) Keeping the USB stick created with the Windows 10 installation files attached to the PC, open Windows Explorer to see which files are inside it (by pressing the Windows-E keys together).
In Windows 10, press ALT + V to display the ribbon (if it was hidden) and open the View tab activate the hidden items checkbox and then press on Options. Go here in the View section to uncheck the " Hide protected system files " option and close the folder options. At the end of the procedure, you will be able to return here to return the modified options as they were before.
4) Back in Windows, open the folder of the USB stick and move inside the folder called sources . locate the install.wim file, hold down the SHIFT key and press the right mouse button on the file. Choose Copy as path to store the file location on the clipboard. If the Media Creation Tool was used to create the Windows 10 ISO file, the install.wim file could be called install.esd . This will be fine too, but first you need to convert it to the WIM format as we will see.
5) Now, open the command prompt from administrator, writing CMD on the search bar of the Start menu. On the command prompt icon, right click on it to open it with administrator rights (Powershell is fine all the same but the guide is based on the command prompt).
6) Only in case the install.esd file was found and not the install.wim file, it is necessary to convert the esd file into a wim file by running these commands by pressing enter after each. The conversion requires approximately 3-4 gigabytes of free disk space.
md c: \ temp \ to create a folder called "temp" on drive C.
Use this command: dism / export-image / SourceImageFile:, then press the right mouse button after the colon and paste, then continue the line by adding / SourceIndex: 1 /DestinationImageFile:C:\temp\install.wim / Compress: max / CheckIntegrity
In the end, the complete command (in my case) is:
dism / export-image /SourceImageFile:"D:\sources\install.esd "/ SourceIndex: 1 /DestinationImageFile:C:\temp\install.wim / Compress: max / CheckIntegrity
After 10 minutes or so, the conversion process ends and you can find the new install.wim file in the created time folder. press on it with the right key of the mouse while holding down the Shift key on the keyboard to make Copy path again .
7) In the command prompt we can now run the command that installs the missing recovery console in Windows 10.
Then write dism / mount-image / imagefile: and after the colon press the right mouse button and do Paste to add the full path of the install.wim file. Complete the command by typing / index: 1 / mountdir: C: \ test \ / readonly .
In the end, the full command in this example should look something like this:
dism / mount-image /imagefile:"E:\sources\install.wim "/ index: 1 / mountdir: C: \ test \ / readonly
Or if the conversion from install.esv to install.wim in step 6 was done, it would look like this:
dism / mount-image /imagefile:"C:\temp\install.wim "/ index: 1 / mountdir: C: \ test \ / readonly
8) After successfully installing install.wim, do not close the command prompt yet, but go back to Windows Explorer and open the C drive and go to the Test \ Windows \ System32 \ Recovery folder. Right click on the winRE.wim file and press Copy .
Now go to C: \ Windows \ System32 \ Recovery, press the right mouse button in an empty space and select Paste . Since this is a folder protected by the system, the Access Denied window will be displayed and you must press the Continue button to proceed with adding the file.
9) The Windows RE image has therefore been restored, but the recovery console must still be activated and another step must be taken to inform the Recovery Agent. From the still open command prompt, type or copy / paste the following command and press Enter:
reagentc / setreimage / path C: \ windows \ system32 \ recovery
Then also execute the command
reagentc / enable
10) Finally, you need to unmount the install.wim image file with the command:
dism / unmount-image / mountdir: C: \ test \ / discard
You can then delete the test folder with the install.wim file inside
11) To verify that the recovery console is activated, type the command:
reagentc / info
The line with Windows RE status written must be Enabled
In most cases, this solves the problem and you can start your PC with the recovery console by going to Settings> Update and security> Recovery> Advanced startup .
You can also start the PC in recovery mode from the command prompt by running the following command and then restarting the PC
reagentc / boottore
Finally, if it is still not possible to create the recovery partition or if the warning " no changes have been made " appears after a system restore, you can resolve it in this way.
In File Explorer, create a folder with Winstall on drive C (having 4 GB of available space).
Open USB media with Windows installation files in File Explorer and go to the sources folder. Then copy the install.wim file into the folder created (see point 6 above to create the install.wim file).
After copying is complete, press the right mouse button while holding down the SHIFT key and choose Copy as path to simplify the next step.
In an elevated Command Prompt, type the command:
reagentc / setosimage / path file path install.wim / index 1
In our case the command is
reagentc / setosimage / path C: \ winstall \ install.wim / index 1
Then retry the procedure starting from point 7.
READ ALSO: Ways to repair Windows 10 and create recovery disk
This Windows RE environment is automatically installed with Windows 10 and placed inside a separate hidden partition, which also contains the boot configuration data (BCD). By pressing the Start button with the right mouse button, you can open Disk Management and notice the presence of one or two partitions with the text Reserved for the system, which is where Windows RE is located.
If, however, the recovery console of Windows 10 is not seen and there are therefore the screen with the options of troubleshooting, access to the command prompt and the ability to reset the system, it may be that the file winre. wim or the dedicated partition has been deleted thus losing the possibility to recover the use of the computer in case of problems. This is a problem I had myself following the conversion of the disk to GPT to activate UEFI, since the GPT disk cannot have more than three partitions, so having two reserved partitions, I had to delete one.
Fortunately, you can reinstall the Windows 10 recovery console by following this procedure (also good for Windows 8.1) and recover all the functions of Windows RE, without having to reinstall the entire system.
READ ALSO: How to open the Windows 10 recovery console
1) First of all, you must be a computer administrator. in another guide we saw how to get administrator privileges in Windows 10.
2) Now download the Windows 10 installation ISO file and copy it to a USB stick. To do this you can download the Media Creation Tool and then follow the wizard that creates an installation USB stick or, alternatively, the DVD. Obviously it is important that the version of Windows 10 installed on the PC is downloaded, therefore Home or Pro, 32 bit or 64 bit.
3) Keeping the USB stick created with the Windows 10 installation files attached to the PC, open Windows Explorer to see which files are inside it (by pressing the Windows-E keys together).
In Windows 10, press ALT + V to display the ribbon (if it was hidden) and open the View tab activate the hidden items checkbox and then press on Options. Go here in the View section to uncheck the " Hide protected system files " option and close the folder options. At the end of the procedure, you will be able to return here to return the modified options as they were before.
4) Back in Windows, open the folder of the USB stick and move inside the folder called sources . locate the install.wim file, hold down the SHIFT key and press the right mouse button on the file. Choose Copy as path to store the file location on the clipboard. If the Media Creation Tool was used to create the Windows 10 ISO file, the install.wim file could be called install.esd . This will be fine too, but first you need to convert it to the WIM format as we will see.
5) Now, open the command prompt from administrator, writing CMD on the search bar of the Start menu. On the command prompt icon, right click on it to open it with administrator rights (Powershell is fine all the same but the guide is based on the command prompt).
6) Only in case the install.esd file was found and not the install.wim file, it is necessary to convert the esd file into a wim file by running these commands by pressing enter after each. The conversion requires approximately 3-4 gigabytes of free disk space.
md c: \ temp \ to create a folder called "temp" on drive C.
Use this command: dism / export-image / SourceImageFile:, then press the right mouse button after the colon and paste, then continue the line by adding / SourceIndex: 1 /DestinationImageFile:C:\temp\install.wim / Compress: max / CheckIntegrity
In the end, the complete command (in my case) is:
dism / export-image /SourceImageFile:"D:\sources\install.esd "/ SourceIndex: 1 /DestinationImageFile:C:\temp\install.wim / Compress: max / CheckIntegrity
After 10 minutes or so, the conversion process ends and you can find the new install.wim file in the created time folder. press on it with the right key of the mouse while holding down the Shift key on the keyboard to make Copy path again .
7) In the command prompt we can now run the command that installs the missing recovery console in Windows 10.
Then write dism / mount-image / imagefile: and after the colon press the right mouse button and do Paste to add the full path of the install.wim file. Complete the command by typing / index: 1 / mountdir: C: \ test \ / readonly .
In the end, the full command in this example should look something like this:
dism / mount-image /imagefile:"E:\sources\install.wim "/ index: 1 / mountdir: C: \ test \ / readonly
Or if the conversion from install.esv to install.wim in step 6 was done, it would look like this:
dism / mount-image /imagefile:"C:\temp\install.wim "/ index: 1 / mountdir: C: \ test \ / readonly
8) After successfully installing install.wim, do not close the command prompt yet, but go back to Windows Explorer and open the C drive and go to the Test \ Windows \ System32 \ Recovery folder. Right click on the winRE.wim file and press Copy .
Now go to C: \ Windows \ System32 \ Recovery, press the right mouse button in an empty space and select Paste . Since this is a folder protected by the system, the Access Denied window will be displayed and you must press the Continue button to proceed with adding the file.
9) The Windows RE image has therefore been restored, but the recovery console must still be activated and another step must be taken to inform the Recovery Agent. From the still open command prompt, type or copy / paste the following command and press Enter:
reagentc / setreimage / path C: \ windows \ system32 \ recovery
Then also execute the command
reagentc / enable
10) Finally, you need to unmount the install.wim image file with the command:
dism / unmount-image / mountdir: C: \ test \ / discard
You can then delete the test folder with the install.wim file inside
11) To verify that the recovery console is activated, type the command:
reagentc / info
The line with Windows RE status written must be Enabled
In most cases, this solves the problem and you can start your PC with the recovery console by going to Settings> Update and security> Recovery> Advanced startup .
You can also start the PC in recovery mode from the command prompt by running the following command and then restarting the PC
reagentc / boottore
Finally, if it is still not possible to create the recovery partition or if the warning " no changes have been made " appears after a system restore, you can resolve it in this way.
In File Explorer, create a folder with Winstall on drive C (having 4 GB of available space).
Open USB media with Windows installation files in File Explorer and go to the sources folder. Then copy the install.wim file into the folder created (see point 6 above to create the install.wim file).
After copying is complete, press the right mouse button while holding down the SHIFT key and choose Copy as path to simplify the next step.
In an elevated Command Prompt, type the command:
reagentc / setosimage / path file path install.wim / index 1
In our case the command is
reagentc / setosimage / path C: \ winstall \ install.wim / index 1
Then retry the procedure starting from point 7.
READ ALSO: Ways to repair Windows 10 and create recovery disk
