Forum Discussion

IDAnnoyed55's avatar
IDAnnoyed55
Tin Contributor
Oct 15, 2026

win re wim file

I have NOT played with any system files on my Windows 11 PC but have found that under "create a restore point", there is a line that says "WinRETools (Missing)".  It has been there for years in an uncorrupted status and I don't understand why it is now missing. 

it appears I need a file called Winre.wim and that it can be extracted from a Windows 11 ISO file.  I have downloaded 2 ISO files, one in "English (United States)" and one in "English (Great Britain)".  There was also an option for "English (International)".  BUT none of these match the region shown by my Control Panel which says my PC is English (Australia).  Web searches say this language mismatch is a problem and I've posted a separate query to the Community regarding this.

Nevertheless I have proceeded to follow the various instructions on the web / Microsoft website about:

  • download a zip extraction software.  
  • find install.win within the ISO file, and open it/extract/find the file winre.wim.  BUT this is where I'm stuck - no matter how many times I've tried, there is NO winre.wim file within the ISO file.

It appears that if my PC crashes and I need to recover/rebuild from the ISO file, and I won't be able to because the winre.wim file is missing from my computer's C drive, under Windows\System 32\Recovery.

Help!!

1 Reply

  • using iso file extract it, find install.wim or install.esd or install.swm   

    after that mount one of the file and find  mount\windows\windows\system32\recovery\winre.wim

    copy  winre.wim  to   C:\windows\system32\recovery\winre.wim

     

    more information see this article

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/customize-windows-re?view=windows-11

     

    method2

    using iso file extract it,, find  ""boot.wim"" 

     ""boot.wim""  rename to  ""winre.wim"" 

    copy  winre.wim  to   C:\windows\system32\recovery\