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  1. C:
  2. Recovery
  3. WindowsRE
FolderRisk: Do not touch
  • Hidden
  • Access denied

WindowsRE C:\Recovery\WindowsRE

C:\Recovery\WindowsRE: where Winre.wim sits when WinRE is enabled and there is no dedicated recovery partition; managed by reagentc.

Updated on By AltF4 Formation

What it’s for

With WinRE enabled and no separate recovery partition, the recovery environment image is stored here. With a dedicated recovery partition, the same \Recovery\WindowsRE tree exists on that partition, without a drive letter. If you cannot see this folder on C:, the machine most likely has a recovery partition, or WinRE is disabled (the image is then in C:\Windows\System32\Recovery).

What it contains

  • Winre.wim, the recovery environment image.
  • Usually ReAgent.xml and boot.sdi, needed to boot the image from RAM.
  • The system and hidden attributes are set; the folder shows only with protected files displayed, and access is denied to accounts that are not the owner.

Risks and best practices

  • reagentc /disable moves Winre.wim to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery and empties this folder; reagentc /enable copies it back. Never move the files yourself.
  • WinRE updates need free space: if the partition is too small, the update fails. On a single volume without a dedicated partition, keep free space on C:.
  • reagentc /info gives the real location; do not guess it from Explorer.

Useful commands

Fenêtre de terminal
:: WinRE state and location (elevated prompt)
reagentc /info
Fenêtre de terminal
# Recovery partitions on the system disk
Get-Partition | Where-Object Type -eq 'Recovery' | Select-Object DiskNumber, PartitionNumber, Size

Folder contents

Files 1

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