Microsoft Provides Workaround for Reset This PC Bug

Users on Windows 10 version 2004 who are unable to use Reset This PC successfully now have a workaround that should set things right.

Oddly, I just experienced this on a review laptop: I went to reset the PC so I could remove all my personal information from the device and was told, “There was a problem when resetting your PC. No changes were made,”

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As it turns out, this is a known issue in Windows 10 version 2004, and while Microsoft is working to formally fix it, the firm has provided a workaround for the meantime.

Here are the steps:

1. Open an elevated command prompt. The easiest way is to open Start, type cmd, right-click the top choice in the results (“Command Prompt”), and then choose “Run as administrator” from the menu that appears.

2. Run the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM.exe) command-line utility:

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

3. Reboot the PC. Then, run Reset This PC again.

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Conversation 10 comments

  • rossdelliott

    Premium Member
    23 October, 2020 - 9:49 am

    <p>i just had a similar issue on my Xbox One. I reset it and ended up bricking the system and had to wait for Microsoft to update the offline setup files so I could fix it with a USB drive. </p>

  • blue77star

    23 October, 2020 - 9:59 am

    <p>What I do not understand about 20H2 installation process is screen where is asking you for what you are going to be using computer. Whatever you choose, they install same junk apps. What's the point?</p><p><br></p><p>Speaking of reset bug, who in the world would even use this feature. My format clean install does in 10 minutes.</p>

    • 02nz

      23 October, 2020 - 10:14 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#588038">In reply to blue77star:</a></em></blockquote><p>Sure, power users know how to do a format and clean reinstall, but lots of users have no idea how to format the drive or make the installation media. Another advantage of resetting is that the drivers are kept – with a clean install you sometimes have to hunt for those or resolve mysterious missing driver issues, although that's less of an issue now that almost all devices have drivers available via Windows Update.</p>

      • blue77star

        23 October, 2020 - 10:21 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#588040">In reply to 02nz:</a></em></blockquote><p>Settings with all the options is so messed up that regular user will have no idea how to find reset option to start with. Let's get real here. Btw, you are underestimating people. Today pops and moms, granmas and grandpas in some cases grew up playing Doom and reinstalling junk called Windows 95.</p>

        • hrlngrv

          Premium Member
          23 October, 2020 - 1:20 pm

          <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/242965/microsoft-provides-workaround-for-reset-this-pc-bug#588041&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to blue77star:</em></a></p><p>Parents certainly, but grandparents only of infants. People who are now just reaching 70 were a decade and a half into their careers when PCs became viable work machines. You're talking about people who were under 30 when the Mac debuted. Granted 65 and under are the bulk of the population.</p><p>I was one of the few who took the time to physically format my 1st 20MB drive and them tweak the boot sector so that it'd use 2K rather than 8K clusters before performing the logical format. I know how odd I was compared to my contemporaries then (I also played rugby, and there were precisely 4 others on the club who knew what formatting a drive meant). I figure those who are comfortable opening their PCs to muck with its innards, go spelunking in the registry or use a command line willingly are fewer than 1% of ALL PC users. They may be well over half of thurrott.com commenters, so this site is decidedly unrepresentative.</p>

          • proftheory

            Premium Member
            23 October, 2020 - 8:07 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#588074">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>I remember using debug to do the low level format and changing the interleave on the tracks.</p>

    • ebraiter

      23 October, 2020 - 2:48 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#588038">In reply to blue77star:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yup. I don't think most Pro users [a good chunk will be on a domain] really need stuff like XBox apps.</p>

  • JerryH

    Premium Member
    23 October, 2020 - 12:56 pm

    <p>For number 1 the easiest way is usually to either:</p><p><br></p><p class="ql-indent-1"><strong>Windows key+X</strong> then click "<strong>Windows PowerShell (Admin)</strong>"</p><p>or</p><p class="ql-indent-1"><strong>Right-click the start menu</strong> and then click "<strong>Windows PowerShell (Admin)</strong>"</p><p><br></p><p>Either way gets you a PowerShell prompt where you can run the dism command.</p>

  • winner

    23 October, 2020 - 1:10 pm

    <p>Crack Microsoft software QC team at work again!</p>

  • geoff

    26 October, 2020 - 8:12 pm

    <p>In a bizarre coincidence, I used 'Reset this PC' for the first time ever yesterday. Using 2004</p><p><br></p><p>My son has a new PC, and I decided to re-purpose his old one. Core i5, 8 GB Ram, Dell XPS 18, I'd guess about 6 or 7 years old. </p><p><br></p><p>It had crud from top to bottom – three different user profiles – each with apps and data, Visual Studio and other IDEs, each with huge libraries and inter-dependencies which prevent uninstalling, a few games, Adobe CC, a chain of auto-startup utilities that seemed to not load, just time-out, and more. Uninstalling those things didn't appear to be working fully, and the PC slowed to a crawl.</p><p><br></p><p>To be fair, I think it was our failed attempts at un-installing everything that broke a few things, and made the PC a total mess.</p><p><br></p><p>Reset my PC did it all in a few clicks. Delete everything, reinstall Windows from the cloud, and, Cortana, yell out to me when you're done. (Cortana does yell out when setting up Windows, but at least I knew it was ready when I heard that sound).</p><p> No boot media needed. No cookbook of commands to follow. No questions. No hassle at all.</p><p><br></p><p>I didn't know about any issues until I saw this, but it worked well for me. I may never need it again, but it's a useful tool.</p>

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