Table of Contents
Introduction
"There was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made! This is the error message I got during resetting my laptop. My laptop becomes very slow recently, and I was advised to reset computer since there is not system backup available. Now, my PC even cannot boot up. Anyone knows how to fix the booting issue?"
Microsoft Windows 10 is a user-friendly and popular operating system, and yet it is not perfect, for it contains a fair share of issues even though Microsoft has always been trying to optimize it. This operating system provides options for the purpose of fixing some problems on its own, especially when there is something wrong with system booting. When Windows 10 finds issues during booting, it will launch the Automatic Repair Wizard. If problems cannot be fixed by the wizard, you may have to try reset or refresh your PC.
The "Reset this PC" feature has been included in Windows since version 8 and 8.1 and this function gets further improved in Windows 10. This function is rather similar to the "factory data reset" feature of Android devices. It allows you to choose to keep personal files or remove them and then reinstall Windows. You can find the option in Advanced Startup Options under Windows Settings > Update and Security > Reset this PC. It is a helpful tool when you want to deal with serious system problems, such as malware, virus, system file corruption, system crash, etc. Once your computer gets reset, Windows will turn to its factory default configurations, thus you can get a system which is as fresh as it once was produced. Plus, resetting a PC works much faster and easiler than reinstalling Windows operating system from scratch.
Resetting your PC is a good way to get rid of many system-based issues, but there is a possibility that this function won't work as expected. What happens when Windows fails to reset your PC? You will receive an error message saying, there was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made. If you get this error, you will not be able to boot into Windows at all. If you are facing similar problem during resetting your Windows 10 computer, then read on and you will find several solutions to fix the above-mentioned problem.
How do you fix "There was a problem resetting your PC" error in Windows 10?
From this section onwards, we are going to talk about a couple of methods that can help you fix Windows 10 there was a problem resetting your PC problem. You can follow these stepwise methods with ease and get rid of the issue.
Method #1: Run system Startup/automatic repair
Step 1. Insert your Windows 10 bootable installation DVD and reboot your PC. Then Press any key to boot from CD or DVD when you see following message.
Step 2. Choose a Language with which you are comfortable and then click Repair your computer option on the bottom part of the Install Windows page.
Step 3. Follow the on-screen instructions and select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Repair (or Automatic Repair) in sequence.
Step 4. Wait for the repairing to complete and restart computer to check if the error is fixed.
If Windows 10 installation CD/DVD is not available for the moment, you can try other methods.
Method #2: Use bootrec.exe to rebuild BCD
Step 1. Launch Command Prompt.
If you have a Windows installation CD/DVD, you can launch Command Prompt by clicking Repair Computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt. If Windows installation CD / DVD cannot be found at a time, you can use a bootable disk to launch Command Prompt. How to create a WinPE bootable USB disk?
Install and run DiskGenius on a working Windows 10 computer and insert your USB disk to this PC. Then select the USB disk in DiskGenius and choose Tools > Create WinPE bootable USB drive of DiskGenius, as below:
Click OK button on the pop-up window and the bootable disk will be created in seconds.
Insert the bootable USB disk to the computer which has a problem resetting system and enter BIOS to make the PC boot from USB disk. After that, reboot system, and your computer will boot from the USB disk. Click the Start menu and choose Windows Command Processor.
Step 2. Now type the following commands one by one and press Enter key after each command. Once these commands are executed successfully, you can restart your PC and try resetting PC again.
bootrec.exe /FixMbr
bootrec.exe /FixBoot
bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd
Method #3: Run System File Checker (SFC)
SFC (System File Checker) is a Windows built-in tool which can help users to scan and repair corruptions in system files. You can follow these steps to perform a SFC scan.
Step 1. Launch Command Prompt again.
You can easily open Command Prompt if your computer can boot to Windows: right-click on Start menu > Command Prompt (Admin). If your PC cannot boot normally, then you can refer to Method 2 to create a bootable disk and start Command Prompt.
Step 2. Enter sfc / scannow when Command Prompt opens up and hit Enter key.
SFC scanning will be started and the process may take several minutes. Do not interrupt it. If System File Checker cannot solve the PC resetting issue, you can try typing following command lines. Remember to press Enter key after typing each command.
cd %windir%\system32\config
ren system system.001
ren software software.001
Method #4: Check & repair bad sectors for system hard disk
Disk bad sectors can lead to all kinds of problems, such as data loss, system boot issue, partition corruption, computer freeze, etc. There is likelihood that the PC resetting problem is caused by disk bad sectors. So, let's have a check of bad sectors for the hard drive where Windows is installed.
Step 1. Launch DiskGenius from your computer, choose the disk you want to check bad sectors on the left pane, and click Disk > Verify Or Repair Bad Sectors, as below:
If the PC you are trying to reset cannot boot to Windows 10, you can perform the bad sector checking in Windows PE environment. Just create a WinPE bootable USB disk for DiskGenius following Method 2, and you can launch DiskGenius WinPE edition easily.
Step 2. Click Start Verify button on the "Bad track verification" window, and DiskGenius starts to run a scanning on the disk and check if there are any bad sectors.
The scanning may take a while if the hard disk being checked has very large capacity, and you need to wait for the process to complete.
If the disk indeed has bad sectors, you can click Repair button to try repairing bad sectors. Please note that repairing bad sectors may cause data loss, please back up important file in advance. For more information, please refer to the document: check and repair bad sectors.
Method #5: Perform a system restore
System Restore uses a restore point created for your PC to restore Windows. A system restore may also be able to get the problem fixed, but this method won't work if you've never created a system backup for your computer. If you are not sure whether there is a system restore point, you can just follow these steps.
Step 1. Insert Windows 10 installation CD/DVD and restart computer, and press any key when you see "Press any key to boot from device…"
Step 2. Select Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > System Restore, as follows:
Step 3. Now you can follow the on-screen system restore wizard to restore your PC to the state when restore point was recorded.
If you've never backed up your operating system, you can use Isoo Backup to do the job for you. Isoo Backup is effective and easy-to-use backup software and it is able to backup Windows as well as non-system partitions via very simple steps. You can free download the free trial version to test the software.
Why do you receive "There was a problem resetting your PC" error?
Before we jump into the solutions, let's have a look at reasons behind the issue, for a general understanding of causes may make it easier for you to fix the error. "There was a problem resetting your PC" might be caused by system bug, and here are some specific situations that you are likely to experience the issue:
- Windows 10 system on your PC is pre-installed instead of being upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
- The manufacturer of your PC enabled compression so as to reduce disk space required for pre-installed programs.
- You created a USB recovery disk by using the feature "Create a recovery drive" in Windows 10.
- Your PC was booted to USB recovery disk via: Troubleshoot > Reset this PC > Remove everything.
- Your Windows Recovery Environment is not correct or has been corrupted.
- The version of your recovery image is missing or unsupported.
- System disk contains bad sectors and it fails to work normally.
FAQs related to problem resetting PC
1. Why can't I reset my Windows 10?
Quite a few reasons can lead to the problem resetting a computer, for example, some crucial system files are corrupted; there is something wrong with the Windows Recovery Environment; there are bad sectors on the hard drive.
2. How do you fix there was a problem resetting?
Different methods can be tried to fix the problem resetting Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.
Method 1: Run SFC (System File Checker) to fix errors in system files.
Method 2: Restore Windows to a previous working status instead of resetting PC.
Method 3: Use Command Prompt to restore some crucial system files.
Method 4: Repair errors in Windows Recovery Environment via disabling ReAgentc.exe.
3. Why is my PC stuck on resetting?
If you PC stuck on resetting process, you should pay attention to these aspects: the hard drive has bad sectors, preventing it from reading or writing data normally; the Internet connection is not disabled, and your PC might be busying downloading updates and drivers.
4. What to do if you can't reset your PC?
When you cannot reset your PC by following steps suggested by Windows, you can try these workarounds: run SFC scan, check errors in Recovery partition, try resetting PC from WinRE, check and repair errors on hard drive.
5. How do I force my computer to do a factory reset Windows 10?
A factory reset removes everything and reinstall Windows, which means all of your personal files and customized setting will be reset, and installed programs except those came with your PC will be removed. Here are steps to reset a computer:
Step 1: Right-click Start menu to choose Settings. The click Update & Security > Recovery.
Step 2: Click Get Started under "Reset this PC". The follow instructions to reset computer.
Conclusion
We just discussed the there was a problem resetting your pc no changes were made error which occurs during factory resetting Windows, and you can try methods mentioned above when you encounter similar problems. Methods in this article can help you get out of the issue within a few minutes, and you can start from method one and see which works best on your PC. If you have any queries, suggestions or doubts regarding this error, please feel free to contact our technical support team.
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