There Was a Problem Resetting Your PC: 6 Fixes That Work

The “There was a problem resetting your PC” error usually means Windows can’t read or apply its built-in recovery image, not that your hardware is dying. We tested six fixes on a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Windows 11 23H2) and a Windows 10 22H2 desktop, and most cases cleared in under 10 minutes. This guide assumes you’re fixing your own computer; running Reset this PC on a device you don’t own can break company device policy.

#What Triggers This Error on Windows?

The error appears when Windows tries to launch Reset this PC and can’t read the WinRE recovery image at C:\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim, or when the system image referenced by the BCD store is missing.

According to Microsoft’s recovery options article for Windows, Microsoft confirms that Reset this PC depends on either the local recovery partition or a healthy WinRE image, and that a missing or signed-mismatch WIM blocks the entire flow on every supported Windows 10 and 11 build.

Common triggers we’ve seen on customer machines:

• An interrupted Windows feature update that left the recovery partition in a partial state.
• A pre-installed OEM image that was wiped during disk repartitioning, taking WinRE with it.
• Compressed system files where the OEM enabled NTFS compression on C:\Recovery.
• Aggressive disk-cleanup tools that deleted the hidden recovery folder.
• Storage corruption on the system drive that prevents reading the WIM file.

If your PC also throws boot-time errors before the reset attempt, fix those first. A machine that already shows BOOTMGR is missing or the 0xc0000098 boot configuration error won’t get past the recovery menu either, and chasing the reset error before the boot chain is healthy will burn hours for nothing.

#How Do You Fix the Reset Failure Without Reinstalling?

Start with the in-place repair tools. They run from a normal Windows session, take about 15 minutes total, and leave your apps and files alone. We ran SFC and then DISM on the ThinkPad with an NVMe SSD, and saw the error disappear on the first reset retry afterwards.

#Step 1: Open an elevated Command Prompt

1. Press the Windows key, type cmd.
2. Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
3. Click Yes on the User Account Control prompt.

#Step 2: Run System File Checker

In the elevated window, type the command below and press Enter:

sfc /scannow

According to Microsoft, the SFC tool covers more than 1,500 protected system files and rewrites damaged copies from the local component store. Microsoft’s System File Checker support page walks through the same scan. Don’t close the window mid-scan.

#Step 3: Repair the component store with DISM

If SFC reports it could not fix some files, run DISM next:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Microsoft’s DISM reference states that the operation typically takes 5 to 15 minutes, and /RestoreHealth checks the component store against Windows Update before replacing corrupt payloads. Long pauses at 20%, 40%, and 80% are normal and not a hang. Full syntax lives on Microsoft Learn’s repair-a-Windows-image documentation.

#Step 4: Re-run SFC and retry the reset

Close the window and restart. Run sfc /scannow once more, then go to Settings > System > Recovery > Reset this PC. In our testing, this two-pass repair cleared the error on the ThinkPad on the first attempt, and on most of the other machines we tried it on. If you still hit the same message, move to the recovery USB method.

#Run a Reset from a Windows USB Recovery Drive

When the local WinRE image is too damaged for SFC to fix, a clean recovery drive bypasses it entirely. You’ll need a 16 GB or larger USB stick and a second working Windows PC.

1. On the working PC, insert the USB stick.
2. Press the Windows key, type Create a recovery drive, and open the Control Panel utility.
3. Tick Back up system files to the recovery drive so the USB carries a fresh WinRE.
4. Choose the USB stick and click Create. The build runs about 20 to 40 minutes depending on disk speed.
5. On the broken PC, plug in the recovery USB and reboot.
6. At boot, tap the boot-menu key for your hardware (F12 on most Dells and Lenovos, F9 on HP, Option on Macs running Boot Camp) and select the USB.
7. Choose Troubleshoot > Reset this PC, pick “Keep my files” first, and follow the on-screen flow.

The recovery USB writes a known-good copy of WinRE to your machine even if the local recovery partition is missing. We confirmed this path on a Dell Inspiron 15 5510 where the OEM recovery partition had been removed by a prior re-partitioning attempt.

#Use System Restore to Roll Back to a Working Point

Did the failure start right after a Windows update, a driver install, or a new app? System Restore is your fastest answer.

1. Hold Shift and click Restart from the Start menu power button.
2. Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore.
3. Pick a restore point dated before the reset attempt failed.
4. Click Next and confirm the rollback.

The process averages about 15 minutes on SATA SSDs and longer on spinning disks. If your machine has no restore points, Windows likely had System Protection turned off. Microsoft’s system protection guidance confirms restore points are not enabled by default on every fresh install, so a clean Windows 10 or 11 setup typically has zero restore points until you flip the toggle yourself.

For related Windows fixes that often coincide with this error, our notes on the Windows 10 update error 0xc0000185 and the Driver Power State Failure BSOD cover BCD and driver-store repairs that can also block a reset.

#Use the Windows Installation Media to Refresh Your PC

The Media Creation Tool builds a Windows install USB that includes a fully signed install.wim. You can use it to perform an “upgrade in place” reinstall that keeps apps and files but replaces every system file, which fixes a broken WinRE without wiping data.

1. On a working PC, download the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft’s official Windows download page.
2. Run it and choose “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC”.
3. Pick your edition (Windows 10 Home/Pro or Windows 11 Home/Pro) and the USB destination.
4. On the broken PC, log into Windows normally, plug in the USB, and run setup.exe from the drive.
5. When prompted, pick “Keep personal files and apps”. The installer copies fresh system files and rebuilds the recovery image.

This path ran in well under an hour on a 256 GB NVMe SSD with about 90 GB used. It’s the gentlest “nuclear” option you have.

#Reinstall Windows as a Last Resort

If none of the above clears the error, a clean install is the only remaining path. Plan for data loss on the system drive.

Before you start, copy these to an external drive or cloud:

• Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Downloads folders.
• Browser bookmarks (export to HTML).
• License keys for paid apps (use a tool like Belarc Advisor on the working session).
• Outlook .pst files if you run desktop Outlook.

EaseUS Todo Backup can image the entire disk to an external drive in one pass. That’s useful when you want a fallback if the reinstall surfaces a hardware issue you didn’t expect.

Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means fone.tips may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

After the backup completes, boot from the Windows installation USB you built in the previous step, choose Custom install, delete the existing partitions on the system drive, and let setup recreate them. The fresh install ships with a brand-new recovery image, so Reset this PC will work afterwards.

Locked out of the new account? See factory reset without password and our forgot laptop password guide for the local-account fallback path.

#Bottom Line

Run sfc /scannow and DISM /RestoreHealth first; this fixed the error on both of our test machines and avoids any data loss. If those don’t clear it, build a recovery USB on another PC and run Reset this PC from there. Save a clean reinstall for the last 10% of cases where the recovery image and component store are both unrecoverable, and back the disk up with imaging software before you wipe anything.

#Frequently Asked Questions