Windows 11 Partitions

IF you deleted your original recovery partition earlier, you accidentally deleted the actual recovery file (which is called winre.wim). Making a new empty partition doesn't fix the error because the file itself is gone, and Windows can't enable something that doesn't exist. We just need to put a fresh copy of that file back.

Let's see if a backup is hiding on your PC.

1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery.
2. You'll need to enable hidden files to see anything. Click View > Show > Hidden items (you might also need to go into Options and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files").
3. If you see the winre.wim file in there, awesome! If the folder is empty, no biggie, just move to Step 2

Step 2: Grab a fresh copy from Microsoft : Since the file is gone, we'll extract a new one from a Windows installer.

1. Download the Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft's website.
2. Double-click the downloaded ISO to "mount" it (it’ll show up on your PC like a DVD drive).
3. Open it up, go to the sources folder, and look for a file called install.wim or install.esd.
4. You'll need a free app like 7-Zip to open it. Just right-click the install file, choose to open it as an archive with 7-Zip, and dig down into the Windows\System32\Recovery folder.
5. Drag the winre.wim file out onto your Desktop, and then copy it into your C:\Windows\System32\Recovery folder.

Step 3: Tell Windows where the file is

1. Almost done! Open Command Prompt as an Administrator and type in these commands one by one, hitting Enter after each:
2. Tell Windows where we put the file: reagentc /setreimage /path C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
3. Turn the recovery environment on (this automatically moves the file into your new 1 GB partition): reagentc /enable
4. Double-check our work: reagentc /info

It should now say "Windows RE status: Enabled"!