This post shows students and new users steps to boot into Windows Advanced Startup (WinRE) in Windows 11. The Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a companion operating system installed alongside Windows, typically on a separate partition, that can help troubleshoot, recover, or boot from external media, such as a USB stick.
WinRE is similar to Windows PE (WinPE). You can think of WinPE as the base OS and WinRE as the user interface with some recovery tools added.
With WinRE, one can perform the following Advanced startup actions:
- Start Repair (WinRE), troubleshooting, and diagnostic tools.
- Boot from a disk (USB or DVD) or device (UEFI only)
- Access the PC’s UEFI firmware
- Command Prompt can be used for advanced troubleshooting
- System Restore helps restore Windows from the image
- Startup Settings help choose the default operating systems when multiple are installed.
When you boot into Advanced startup mode, Windows should launch support tools menu options. For example, if you select a Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) feature from this menu, the PC restarts into WinRE, and the selected feature is launched.
How to boot into Windows recovery environment (WinRE) in Windows 11
As mentioned above, Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a companion operating system installed alongside Windows 11, typically in a separate partition, that can help troubleshoot, recover, or boot from external media, such as a USB stick.
There are multiple ways one can access WinRE:
- From the Start menu, select Power, then select and hold down the SHIFT key while selecting Restart.
- In Windows 11, click on Start > Settings > System > Recovery. Under Recovery options, select the Advanced startup tile, then click Restart now.
- Run command prompt as an administrator and type shutdown /r /o.
- By booting to recovery media.
- Note: an easy way to create recovery media is to use the Media Creation Tool or to create a recovery drive and uncheck the Backup system files to the recovery drive option.
- The OEM configures a hardware recovery button (or button combination).
Boot into WinRE via the Settings app.
To get to System Settings, you can use the Windows key + I shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings, as shown in the image below:
Alternatively, you can use the search box on the taskbar to search for Settings. Then select to open it.
Windows Settings pane should look similar to the image below. In Windows Settings, click System > Recovery tile to expand it.
On the System > Recovery settings pane, under Recovery options, click the Restart Now button on the Advanced startup tile to restart the computer in WinRE mode.
Next, click on Restart now buttons to reboot the machine.
Choose an option. For advanced troubleshooting, click Troubleshoot.
That should do it!
Conclusion:
- Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) provides essential troubleshooting and recovery tools for Windows 11 users.
- WinRE can be accessed through various methods such as the Start menu, Settings app, command prompt, or recovery media.
- WinRE allows users to perform advanced startup actions, including system repair, booting from external devices, accessing UEFI firmware, utilizing Command Prompt for troubleshooting, and system restoration.
- Booting into WinRE can be instrumental in resolving critical system issues and performing maintenance tasks.
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