Need to repair Windows 10 or repair Windows 11? We show you 6 ways to do it.
We show you how to reset and reinstall Windows (Windows 10 and Windows 11) with or without saving your data and programs, from within Windows or from the boot screen
- Option 1 – Reset Windows through Start Menu
- Option 2 – Restart Computer method
- Option 3 – Fix PC that is not booting up properly
- Option 4 – Repair Windows using Powershell
- Option 5 – Reinstall Windows Using a bootable USB Flash drive
- Option 6 – Force Windows updates (Windows 11 or Windows 10 only)
Reasons you may need to take this drastic action and reset/repair or reinstall windows include:
- Windows becomes corrupt and is erratic
- Windows device will not boot or is caught in a boot-loop
- Windows has been hacked or has suspected ransomeware/malmare/virus infection
- Windows is acting inexplicably slow and sluggish
- Computers Disk Drive (SSD or HD) has been replaced*
- You wish to wipe all contents and data if you are selling or passing device to someone else
When performing the repair, re-install or recovery there are Windows program sources:
- Local Reinstall – reinstalling from the current recovery partition on your computer or
- Cloud Download – installing a new version of Windows via an internet download.*
Our advice is to intially try the first option (quickest) but if this does not work, use the internet option which will download a brand new version of windows over the internet. But be warned. Depending on the speed of your connection, this could take an hour … or many, many hours.
Reinstalling a new version of Windows 11 (The Operating system – OS) and programs is relatively easy. Recovering and reinstalling your data, IS NOT, so make sure you backup to the cloud or an External device before attempting any of these repairs/reinstalls. See link below
As Windows 10 has not been supported since October 2025, it may not be possible to reinstall Windows 10 in the future except using Option 5 below. The default install is going to be whatever version of windows is currently on the device.
Option 1 – Reset Windows through Start Menu
Goto: Start > Settings > System > Recovery
3 Options here. Depending on reasons for wanting to fix/reinstall/wipe, use 1,2 or 3
Choosing 3. above (Reset PC) will ask you to choose between “Keeping your files” or “removing everything”
And the 2nd screen will ask you where to reinstall windows from. “A Cloud Download” or a “Local reinstall”
Our advice is first option (quickest) but if this does not work, use the internet option which will download a brand new version of windows over the internet. But be warned. Depending on the speed of your connection, this could take an hour … or many, many hours.
Option 2 – Restart Computer method
Rather than going through Start > Settings > System > Recovery
A quicker way to get into Recovery mode is to simply restart your PC, press and hold the Shift key while you select Power > Restart.
Option 3 – Fix PC that is not booting up properly
Interrupting the booting up process a number of times can force the PC in Windows Recovery mode as follows:
Using the power button, wait for the logo/bios menu to appear and as soon as the Windows load swirl symbol appears, turn off
Repeat this process 2 or three times until the following message appears
and then
Option 4 – Repair Windows using Powershell
When critical Windows system files are missing or corrupted, your operating system may begin to malfunction. Common symptoms include Windows features not working properly, system errors, or Windows becoming unresponsive or freezing.
If you encounter these issues, you can use built‑in Windows repair tools—Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) and System File Checker (SFC)—to scan for corrupted system files and restore missing or damaged Windows components, helping to return your system to a stable, working state.
DISM provides the files required to repair your corrupted files. You should run DISM prior to running the System File Checker. To do this:
Goto Start > Terminal (Admin)
If you are prompted for confirmation or an administrator password, type the password, or click Allow.
In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter. It may take several minutes for the command operation to be completed.
>DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Full details found here:
Option 5 – Reinstall Windows Using a bootable USB Flash drive
To use this method, we first need to create a bootable USB drive with Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO on it.
Detials on how to achive this can be found here
Once you have a bootable USB with Windows on it, reboot the PC and change BIOS options to boot from the USB drive rather than the HDD or SSD Disk drive. This technique is usfeul if you have a failed, failing or corrupt drive on the computer. If you can boot using this method, you maybe able to recover or copy some or all of the data on the failed, failing or corrupt drive.
Option 6 – Force Windows updates (Windows 11 or Windows 10 only)
If Windows 10 or Windows 11 is refusing to update or repair windows, there are a number of ways of forcing it to do so
- Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter … goto System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters > Windows update …. and hit Run
- Download the Microsoft Windows update assistant here and open the downloaded file
Windows Recovery Mode Options
If the auto updates and troubleshooters do not work, you should be directed to a blue-screen entitled “More Recovery Option” also know as “Windows recovery mode” or Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), these are the options you can choose to fix Windows issue(s)
- Continue -> will send you straight back into Windows without doing anything
- Turn off your PC -> Will do as it suggests, power off your PC/device
- Quick machine recover -> this is the first option to try if your computer is slow, sluggish not starting correctly
- Troubleshoot ->
- Reset this PC – click here
- Advanced Options ->
- Startup Repair – Fixes problems that keep Windows from loading/staring
- Startup Settings – Changes Windows startup behaviour
- Command Prompt – Use the Command Prompt for advanced troubleshooting
- Try running DISM (click here)
- Uninstall Updates – Remove recently installed quality or feature updates from Windows
- UEFI Firmware Settings – Change settings in your PC’s UEFI firmware (BIOS)
- to change which drives your device boots from such as the hard-disk (HDD/SSD), CD/DVD Player, USB drive, External HDD etc
- System Restore – Use a restore point recorded on your PC to restart Windows
Further Help here at Microsoft https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/backup-restore-and-recovery-in-windows-e6d629c4-2568-4406-814f-209a2af06ef7
Note: If you’ve encrypted your device, you’ll need your BitLocker key to complete this task. If you don’t know your BitLocker key, see Find your BitLocker recovery key.
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