[Solved] Could Not Find The Recovery Environment

By Asmi Dhakal Updated July 10, 2022

Many users reported having met with “Could Not Find the Recovery Environment” while trying to reset or refresh their Windows. This problem restricts the user from resetting their Windows.

We’re here to assist you if you’ve met with a similar message! Keep reading this article to know what causes this problem and how you can solve it.

Could Not Find The Recovery Environment

There can be a few reasons for this problem. You require a Recovery environment to reset your Windows. Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) assists users by troubleshooting and fixing common causes of unbootable operating system.

If you have a missing or corrupted recovery environment, you may have run into this issue. Here is a list of problems why you may have run into the issue:

Windows Recovery Environment is Disabled: Windows Recovery Environment is needed to restore the information while resetting your device. When your Recovery Environment is disabled, Windows cannot detect it while resetting your Windows.
WinRE.wim is Missing or Corrupted: WinRE.wim is the image of WinRE tool that allows system recovery. This Windows tool is required to be in perfect condition to recover information while resetting your Windows. It is possible that malware is preventing this tool from functioning properly.
Malfunctioning Windows Installation Disk: You may have your Windows Installation disk broken. This creates an issue while reinstalling windows after resetting your device. Hence, Windows doesn’t let you reset your device with a broken Windows installation disk.

How to Fix “Could Not Find The Recovery Environment”

A few solutions can resolve this problem. You can try solutions like enabling your Windows Recovery Environment, fixing the missing or corrupted WinRE.wim tool, running a system file scan, and creating a new recovery drive.

Enable Windows Recovery Environment

You can enable your Windows RE through the command prompt application. Follow these instructions to enable your Windows Recovery Environment:

Open Start, and on the search bar, type cmd.
Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
On the command prompt window, type reagentc /enable. This should enable your Windows RE.
You can type in the command reagentc /info to check if the command worked. You can check the status of the Windows recovery Environment there.

Fix corrupted WinRE.wim tool

Your Windows cannot locate a recovery environment if you have a corrupt WinRE.wim tool. To fix this issue, you need to initially locate the WinRE.wim tool on your device. You can assign a drive letter to the Windows Recovery Partition on your file explorer. You can view the WinRE.wim tool from the partition.

If you don’t have a recovery partition, Winre.wim tool is likely located in a hidden file, C:\recovery. Using the command prompt, locate the Winre.wim file on your device:

Open Start. From the search bar, locate Command Prompt and right-click on it.
Select Run as administrator.
Suspecting the file is located on the C drive, type in the command dir /a /s c:\winre.wim. If the file isn’t located in the C drive, use the same command but replace the letter ‘C’ with a different drive letter.
Run reagentc /setreimage /path [path of Winre.wim] command. In place of [path of Winre.wim], enter the location your tool is located in your file explorer.

If the Winre.wim file on your computer is corrupted, copy the Winre.wim file from another computer of the same Windows version to your computer.

Run SFC and DISM Scan

You can fix your Windows Recovery Environment through the command prompt. When you perform a system file scan, any corrupted file in the disk installation will be located a solved. Similarly, DISM.exe performs servicing on windows images including Windows Recovery Environment.

Follow these instructions to run the system file scan on Command Prompt:

Open Start and type cmd on the search bar.
Right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
On the command prompt window, type sfc /scannow. This will scan through your files and fix issues any related issues.

Repair the Recovery Environment through the DISM command-line tool through these steps:

Locate Command Prompt on Start and right-click on it.
Select Run as administrator.
On the command prompt window, run the command-line:
DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealthDISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Wait till the scan is complete.

Create Installation Media

You can install Windows 11 installation media from the Microsoft website. For this, you will need a USB flash drive with a storage space of at least 8GBs connected to your device. Create Windows 11 installation media through these instructions:

Open your browser and navigate to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11
Under Create Windows 11 Installation Media, select Download Now.
Open the setup file and read the terms and conditions. To continue, select Accept.
Check the box next to Use the recommended options of this PC and select Next.
On Choose which media to use, select USB flash drive. Move ahead by selecting Next.
Select the external media connected to your device then select Next.
Wait for the Media Creation tool to finish downloading.
After download, keep your recovery drive connected to your device.
Reboot your computer. If your computer does not automatically boot from your recovery drive, enter your device’s BIOS.
Depending on your manufacturer, press the key to enter the boot menu of your device.
Select USB/DVD media from the boot options. Exit BIOS.
From Choose an option window, select Troubleshoot.
Select Reset this PC.
Select a reset option from the new window. If you want to only keep your personal files, select Keep my files. If you wish to remove everything including your personal files, select Remove everything.
On the How would you like to reinstall Windows, choose between Cloud download or Local reinstall.
If you want to directly download Windows from the Microsoft server, select Cloud download. If you want to use your system files to download Windows, select Local reinstall.
Choose whether you want to format Only the drive where windows is installed or if you want to format All drives.
Select Just remove my files or, if you wish to clear everything from your PC, select Fully clean the drive option.
Review your reset settings then click on Reset.