Learn how to fix the “Windows Recovery Environment Is Not Available” error with these simple troubleshooting steps. Don’t let system issues disrupt your workflow – get back on track today!
The error “Windows Recovery Environment is not available” can cause a lot of trouble. Especially when it appears during the process of system recovery or resetting. Why does it occur, and how to fix it? Let’s figure it out in this article.
What is Windows Recovery Environment
The Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a built-in Windows feature that provides the user with a set of tools to fix errors, restore factory settings, and run specialized diagnostics. Its presence is important for restoring the system after serious failures or unexpected situations when standard Windows startup is impossible.
If access to the recovery environment is lost, the user is deprived of automatic error correction tools, which makes the task of system recovery difficult and requires an immediate solution.
Reasons for the error “Windows Recovery Environment is not available”
The main reasons why the operating system cannot find the recovery environment are:
- Disabling Environment – This feature can be intentionally disabled by the administrator, user, or third-party software.
- File deletion or damage . This may occur due to update failures, incorrect use of system utilities, or virus attacks.
- Missing recovery partition . Sometimes users accidentally delete this partition when wiping the disk or reinstalling the system.
- Incorrect bootloader configuration . Errors in the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) data cause the operating system to be unable to recognize the path to the recovery environment.
How to Fix “Windows Recovery Environment Is Not Available” Error
To fix the error, start by checking if the recovery environment is active. This can be done via the command line:
- Open Command Prompt or PowerShell with administrator rights using Win + X;
- Enter the command reagentc /info and press Enter;
- If the command shows that the environment is disabled, enable it using the reagentc /enable command;
- If activation is successful, the recovery environment will be available. Otherwise, proceed to the next method.
Finding the Winre.wim file
The Winre.wim file is an important part of the recovery environment. Check for its presence as follows:
- Open Explorer and enable the display of hidden objects. To do this, in the menu View → Options → Change folder options, configure the display of hidden system files;
- Check the C:WindowsSystem32Recovery folder. If the file is missing, it can be restored using a Windows image;
- Download the Windows ISO image, mount it and extract the Winre.wim file from the WindowsSystem32Recovery folder.
After restoring the file, activate the environment using the reagentc /setreimage and reagentc /enable commands .
Using bootable media
If the Winre.wim file cannot be recovered, you can use the bootable media to restore the system.
- Create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows using the official tool from Microsoft or the Rufus program ;
- Restart your computer, enter BIOS/UEFI and select boot from USB flash drive;
- Once loaded, the Windows installer will appear. In the lower left corner of the screen, select “System Restore”;
- Follow the instructions to fix the errors.
This method is especially effective if the recovery partition on the disk has been damaged or deleted.
Fixing boot configuration
Sometimes the error is related to incorrect configuration of the BCD boot record.
- Run Command Prompt as administrator;
- Run the bcdedit /enum all command and find the line with the recoverysequence parameter;
- Compare the GUID from the recoverysequence parameter with the ID of the partition described as “Windows Recovery Environment”;
- If any discrepancies are found, run the following commands;
- bcdedit /set {GUID} device partition=C;
- bcdedit /set {GUID} osdevice partition=C.
After correcting the configuration, restart your computer.
Complete reinstallation of Windows
If none of the methods worked, you can perform a complete system reinstallation:
- Download Windows image from the official website ;
- Create a bootable USB flash drive;
- Boot from it and select a full Windows installation.
The process will automatically create a new recovery partition.