Fix: “There Was A Problem Resetting Your PC” Windows 10/11

The error “There Was A Problem Resetting Your PC” occurs when the system fails to perform a factory reset. This indicates that the system recovery environment or the files used to reset the PC are corrupted, preventing the resetting process from proceeding further. The most common cause that triggers this error is missing or corrupted system files.

Corruption of the system files can result from failed updates, hardware errors, or malware interference.

With that being said, let’s explore the solutions to this error.

1. Repair the System Files

To fix this issue, you need to ensure you don’t have any corrupted files by running the SFC (System File Checker), a command line utility that scans and restores the missing or corrupted system files.

1. Press the Win key and type Command Prompt.
2. Right-click on it and select Run as administrator.
   
3. In the command prompt, type SFC /scannow and hit enter to execute the command.
   
4. Once the command has been executed, close the command prompt and try resetting the PC.

2. Re-enable the Windows RE

As mentioned earlier, the broken or corrupted Windows Recovery Environment is also one of the main reasons that lead to the “There Was A Problem Resetting Your PC” error message. To fix this, we can try disabling and enabling the Windows RE, which will refresh the Windows RE and may repair the issues, preventing the reset process from completing.

1. Press the Win + S to open the Windows Search.
2. Type Command Prompt in the search box right-click on it and select Run as administrator.
   
3. Now type the following commands to disable and enable the Windows RE.
   To Disable: reagentc /disable
   To Enable: reagentc /enable
   
4. Once done, now try resetting the PC to see if this resolves the issue.

3. Reset Windows from Windows RE

If you have not tried resetting the Windows from the Windows Recovery Environment, doing so may bypass issues that are preventing you from resetting the Windows in a bootable environment.

1. Hold the Shift key and click Restart by pressing the Power button from the Start Menu. This will trigger the system to boot the Windows RE.
   
2. Once you have in the Windows RE, navigate to Troubleshoot -> Reset this PC, and follow the instructions to perform a system reset. If the error persists, proceed to the next methods.
   

4. Use a System Restore Utility

Since the error often results from corrupted or missing system files, we can use a system restore utility to go back to a previous state of Windows when you were not encountering this issue. A system restore utility takes a snapshot of system files, registry files, and drivers. This means that if you created a restore point previously before you encountered this issue, you can use it to fix the issue.

Note: System Restore must have been enabled and a restore point created before the issue occurred for this method to work. However, it’s worth checking as some programs automatically create restore points during installation or updates.

1. Press the Win key and type rstrui. Hit Enter to run the System Restore utility.
   
2. Click Next and select a restore point.
   
3. Once again, click Next and then click Finish to start the restoration process.
   

5. Download ISO File

Warning: Before proceeding with a clean installation, it’s important to back up all important data to avoid data loss. A clean installation will erase all existing data on your system drive.

If you are still unable to reset your Windows, you can proceed to reinstall the Windows by creating a bootable Windows drive using the media creation tool. This approach allows you to reinstall Windows like a reset, without running into error messages.

1. Download the Windows Installation Media Creation Tool from the link.
   
2. Once it is downloaded, run it on your system.
3. Then, accept the agreement to proceed.
   
4. Then, click Next select the USB Flash drive, and click Next.
   
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to create a bootable Windows installation media.
6. Once done, turn off your computer and then turn it back on.
7. As soon as the manufacturer’s logo appears, start processing the key that takes you to the boot options.
8. Select the USB flash drive to boot the Windows installation media.
   
9. Once done, now simply follow the simple instructions to install Windows on your PC.