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Have a question about Windows 11, device management, security, updates, or modern endpoint operations? This hour is dedicated entirely to your questions. Bring what's top of mind—from Windows 11 adop...
Heather_Poulsen
Published Jun 18, 2026
Office Hours
Technical Takeoff
Web series
Joe_Lurie's avatar
Joe_Lurie
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Sep 17, 2026

shin0933​ 

systemreset.exe isn’t a documented, supported reset interface in current Windows releases, and there isn’t a direct replacement command that launches the same type of experience. The supported local paths to reset a PC are:
Settings > System > Recovery > Reset PC; or

Windows Recovery Environment > Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.

For managed devices, Intune Wipe, Fresh Start, or Autopilot Reset may be better options depending on whether enrollment and user data should be preserved.

Check this out for more info: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/windows-device-recovery-in-2026-a-guide-for-it-pros/4541207

--Joe.

shin0933's avatar
shin0933
Brass Contributor
Sep 18, 2026

Thank you for your response, Mr. Lurie. What you offered will not help our technicians when they need to reset a device that is in the Out-of-box-experience state. We need to be able to launch a system reset when in command prompt. 

  • Jason_Sandys's avatar
    Jason_Sandys
    Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
    Sep 18, 2026

    Please tell us more including what's the scenario where command-line is required for this?

    • shin0933's avatar
      shin0933
      Brass Contributor
      Sep 18, 2026

      Absolutely.

      We use autopilot and pre-provisioning to prepare our Windows 11 Dell devices. There are times where, either an application update or a Windows version update, will cause an error in the technician phase.  There are stages of the pre-provisioning process where the Reset button does not appear after an error has occurred so we must perform the reset through command prompt.

      Additionally, there are times where a technician does not wait the full 30 minutes after a device hash has been uploaded to Autopilot device enrollment then tries to run pre-provisioning. An error will appear when the device does not get a corporate identifier (we have personal devices blocked) during the Device Preparation phase. The reset button does not appear and we have to reset through command prompt. 

      Our current workaround is to type "start ms-settings:" in the command prompt which brings up the Settings app then click through to the Reset this PC button. Pre-24H2, we could type "systemreset" in command prompt which would start the same process as Reset this PC.