[5 Fixes] Reset This PC not Working on Windows 11/10

Why is reset this PC not working?

Whenever you reset your Windows 11/10 to troubleshoot some computer problems, a dialog box saying "there was a problem resetting your PC" or variations of this error message pops out. That means you meet the "Reset This PC not working" issue.

Below is the possible causes that are responsible for this issue:

✿ There is a hardware error on your computer.
✿ The recovery image you're using is corrupted or modified.
✿ Your Windows 10 PC is pre-installed installed of being upgraded from Windows 7/8.
✿ If you're performing a reset from USB, a bad ISO file or flash drive can cause the problem.

After having an understanding of the reasons why Windows reset not working, please go on and try the solutions in the next part.

What to do if reset this PC not working [5 solutions]

Basically, 5 solutions are provided to fix Windows 11 or Windows 10 reset this PC not working. But there are two situations we need to take into account: When you can boot into the computer normally, you can enter into Windows Recovery Environment (WinPE) to apply the fixes, however, when your PC is not bootable, you need a Windows bootable USB to employ the workarounds.

Case one. Windows 11/10 is still bootable

1. Force the computer to shut down 2 times and reboot it.

2. Once entering the "Choose an option" window, select "Troubleshoot".

Case two. Windows 11/10 cannot boot

1. Boot your computer from Windows bootable media.

2. Then, you will be taken to a Windows Setup window. After setting the preferred Language, architecture, and edition, click "Next".

3. Click "Repair your computer" in the next window.

4. Then, select "Troubleshoot".

No matter which situation you are in, you will be taken to the "Advanced options" window shown in the following screenshot after clicking "Troubleshoot". Then, you can use these functions to fix reset this PC not working.

▶ Solution 1. Run Startup Repair

Startup Repair is one of the Windows recovery tools that can solve many system problems automatically. Just give it a try.

Among all advanced options, click "Startup Repair". When the Startup Repair tool finds the cause, it will try to fix the problem automatically.

▶ Solution 2. Perform SFC and DISM scan

SFC and DISM commands are useful ways to repair the corrupted system files so that you can use them to fix Windows 11 reset this PC not working issue.

Step 1. In the "Advanced options" window, click "Command Prompt" to open Command Prompt.

Step 2. Type this command line and press "Enter".

DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Step 3. Once it finishes, type this command and press "Enter".

sfc /scannow

▶ Solution 3. Rename the system and software registry hives

If the SFC and DISM command lines don't work, use another command to make changes in system files after Command Prompt has been launched.

cd% windir% \ system32 \ config

ren system system.001

ren software software.001

After that, reboot your computer and factory your PC again to see whether Windows reset not working problem has missed. If not, continue to try the next method.

▶ Solution 4. Use System Restore

If you have the habit of creating system restore points regularly, it would be much easier for you to fix Windows 11 reset this PC not working problem.

On this page, click "System Restore" to return your PC to a normal status.

▶ Solution 5. Reinstall Windows 10/11

If Windows 10 reset this PC not working is still unfixed after applying the previous four methods, you can try the last solution in this post: Clean install Windows 10/11. This action will erase everything on your computer completely and the loss is irreversible. Make sure you have determined before you follow the steps:

Step 1. When you see this picture after booting from Windows 10/11 installation media and setting some parameters, select "Install now" instead of "Repair your computer".

Step 2. In the "Activate Windows", enter your key or skip it by clicking "I don't have a product key".

Step 3. In the new window, select "Custom: Install Windows only(advanced)".

Step 4. Select the drive you want to install Windows on, click "New" and then click "Next".

Step 5. Wait patiently until Windows 10/11 installation completes.

Recommended reading: Back up your data before resetting

As you can see, reset this PC not working is commonly seen. Although we have provided various solutions to fix it, there are still possibilities that you have to perform reinstalling Windows to erase this error. Therefore, it’s a wise choice to make a backup of your data before resetting.

There are lots of backup software on the market. Here we recommend you a top disk manager named AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional which backs up your data by transferring only OS, copying a single partition, or cloning the whole hard disk to another drive.

Note: If your PC is unbootable before resetting, AOMEI software still allows you to clone hard drive with a bootable USB drive.

Now, you can download the demo version to have a try:

Step 1. Connect a new drive to your computer. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Click "Clone" menu and then select "Clone Disk".

Step 2. Choose the hard disk that you want to back up as the source disk and click "Next".

Step 3. Select the new drive as the destination disk, and then click "Next".

Step 4. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window or change to "Sector to Sector clone", and click the "Confirm" button to continue if there is no problem.

Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk or tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of the SSD if the target disk is SSD. 

Step 5. After returning to the main interface, check the pending operation and click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the operation.

Conclusion

If you meet reset this PC not working on Windows 11/10 computer, don't worry about it. The five solutions shown in this article are effective and useful. Hope at least one of them can help you solve Windows reset not working problem.

It's worth mentioning that resetting Windows to factory is not the only way to troubleshoot computer issues or get rid of data before selling. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a powerful disk manager that can do more than you think: rebuild MBR, extend C drive, wipe hard drive clean, delete partitions, resize encrypted partition, and more.