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    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10

    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10

    How to Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in Windows 10
    Published by Category: General Tips
    14 Apr 2021
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in Windows 10


    Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a recovery environment that can repair common causes of unbootable operating systems. By default, WinRE is preloaded into the Windows 10 for desktop editions (Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education) and Windows Server 2016 installations.

    WinRE includes these tools:

    See also: Windows Recovery Environment explained | Windows IT Pro Blog

    This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in advanced options at startup in Windows 10.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable WinRE.



    Contents

    • Option One: See Current Status of Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
    • Option Two: Enable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
    • Option Three: Disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)



    EXAMPLE: Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) enabled or disabled in advanced options at startup
    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_recovery_environment-1.jpg Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_recovery_environment-2.png
    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_recovery_environment-3.jpg Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_recovery_environment-4.jpg
    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_recovery_environment-5.jpg Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_recovery_environment-6.jpg






    OPTION ONE

    See Current Status of Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)


    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Copy and paste reagentc /info into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    3 Look to the right of Windows RE Status to see if it is currently Enabled or Disabled.

    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_re_status-1.jpg Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-windows_re_status-2.png






    OPTION TWO

    Enable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)


    This is the default setting.


    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Copy and paste reagentc /enable into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-enable_windows_re.png






    OPTION THREE

    Disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)


    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Copy and paste reagentc /disable into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-disable_windows_re.png


    That's it,
    Shawn






  1. Posts : 1
    Windows 10 Home
       #1

    Hi, I tried using this technique to enable Win RE but I end up with this:

    reagentc /enable
    REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 5

      My Computer


  2. Posts : 31,471
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #2

    ssimlai said:
    Hi, I tried using this technique to enable Win RE but I end up with this:
    reagentc /enable
    REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 5
    Welcome to TenForums ssimlai


    You have to run that command in an administrator command prompt.

    Open Elevated Command Prompt in Windows 10
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 197
    Windows 11 Home
       #3

    Hey, I have ran reagentc /info and it shows it is disabled.

    I then did reagentc /enable and it stated the following:

    reagentc the windows re image was not found

    I had restored an image successfully from aomei backupper when my main ssd died and I had to get it replaced through warranty. But now it seems like the recovery environment is missing. I searched online and it seems like it would be a major pain to re-add it back to the system. I ran a sfc /scan now and the dism command to make sure their was no corruption with the windows 10 install and everything checked out okay. Should I worry about this and attempt to re-add it, or if its working fine and I use images do I need to even worry about this? I don't feel like reinstalling windows just to fix this.

    Thanks
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Hello Andrew @Andrew129260,

    I wouldn't worry about it. You can sort it the next time you do a clean install of Windows 10.

    For now, you could create a bootable Windows 10 installation USB to use instead. When you boot from this USB, WinRE will be available from it.

    Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 197
    Windows 11 Home
       #5

    Awesome, thanks
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 63
    Win 10 10 Pro
       #6

    Win RE can't be enabled


    Hello experts!

    Just like @Andrew129260, I can't enable Win RE either. Brink said to him
    You can sort it the next time you do a clean install of Windows 10.
    Until recently I had a non standard setup, with Boot partitions on Disk 0, and SSD system disk on Disk 1

    I'm trying to get a standard setup, to allow Win RE to be enabled

    Today's attempt failed...
    I first used the DiskPart tutorial script to create the "proper" layout, with Win RE immediately after Windows
    Then I did a clean install of Win 10 1909, original build (10.0.18363.592) ISO created last year by Media Creation tool

    That went fine, rebooted OK and Win RE was enabled - but it was just a plain vanilla Win 10
    Then I used Reflect to restore my latest Windows partition (at 10.0.18363.900) in place of build .592

    It booted OK and all the apps & settings are there, - but Enabling Win RE fails

    Code:
    C:\WINDOWS\system32>reagentc /enable
    REAGENTC.EXE: The Windows RE image was not found.
    Is this because my build now includes the Nov Cum Update?
    The May 2020 update failed twice for me in June, (0x890246019)
    I'm guessing that was likely caused by my non standard boot partitions at the time of the update.

    My Question
    How can I do a clean install and not lose apps or settings?
    Will re-running the Nov Feature update from Setup on USB fix my Win RE partition?

    Disk Management no longer sees the RE partition correctly
    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-annotation-2020-07-02-220509.png

    And this is how Diskpart currently reports the Win RE partition
    Code:
    C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart
     
    Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.18362.1
    Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
    On computer: xxxxx
     
    DISKPART> sel disk 1
    Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
     
    DISKPART> sel part 3
    Partition 3 is now the selected partition.
     
    DISKPART> lis disk
      Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
      --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
      Disk 0    Online          931 GB   362 GB        *
    * Disk 1    Online          111 GB  1024 KB        *
      Disk 2    Online           28 GB      0 B
     
    DISKPART> lis part
      Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
      -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
      Partition 1    System             100 MB  1024 KB
      Partition 2    Reserved            16 MB   101 MB
      Partition 4    Primary            111 GB   117 MB
    * Partition 3    Recovery           450 MB   111 GB
     
    DISKPART> detail part
    Partition 3
    Type    : de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
    Hidden  : No
    Required: No
    Attrib  : 0X8000000000000000
    Offset in Bytes: 119561781248
      Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
      ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
    * Volume 5         WinRE        NTFS   Partition    450 MB  Healthy    Hidden
    DISKPART> exit
    Leaving DiskPart...

    Can you please advise what to try next?

    Thanks in advance

    spilly
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Hello @spilly,

    I noticed your 450 MB partition at the end of Disk 1 doesn't have Healthy (Recovery Partition) under it like below.

    If you like, you could try doing a repair install of Windows 10 that will also normally fix the recovery partition.

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

    Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment in Windows 10-recovery_partition.png
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 63
    Win 10 10 Pro
       #8

    Thanks Brink

    Yes, I realised that.

    I was a bit cautious about forcing the May 2020 feature update, but only because it had failed twice already.
    Do you think those failure were entirely down to the strange boot setup which I had during June?

    spilly
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #9

    spilly said:
    Thanks Brink

    Yes, I realised that.

    I was a bit cautious about forcing the May 2020 feature update, but only because it had failed twice already.
    Do you think those failure were entirely down to the strange boot setup which I had during June?

    spilly
    Usually, the boot setup wouldn't affect being able to update to the latest feature update. It could have been caused from some known issue that Microsoft hard coded to not allow the update yet.

    Known and Resolved issues for Windows 10 May 2020 Update version 2004
      My Computers


 

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