If Windows 11 no longer starts, you may soon not need a second computer and a USB stick to fix it. Microsoft has added a recovery option called Cloud rebuild that fetches a fresh copy of Windows and the right drivers over the internet and installs them on the broken PC.
The catch is that it keeps nothing. Your local files, apps, accounts and settings are all removed, so it is a last resort for a machine that fails to boot or a PC you are handing to someone else. Anything stored in OneDrive or another cloud service is untouched.
Microsoft shipped the option in its KB5127936 preview update on 28 October, for Windows 11 versions 25H2 and 26H2. It is an optional, non-security update, and Microsoft says features in these updates reach devices in phases, so the button may not show up on your PC yet.
Two ways to start it
On a working PC, open Settings, then System, then Recovery, and press Rebuild PC. The computer restarts into the Windows Recovery Environment and begins. If Windows cannot start, the PC drops into that environment by itself after repeated failed boots, and the option sits under Troubleshoot there.
Cloud rebuild then connects over Ethernet, or over a WPA-Personal Wi-Fi network if you type the password, and asks Windows Update which build to install. You are shown the Windows build, edition and language and must accept a data-loss warning before anything happens. Microsoft also changed recovery so that it can reuse Wi-Fi networks already saved in Windows, which saves typing a password on a laptop that is already in trouble.
Remove files, or erase the drive
You pick one of two modes. “Remove files” reformats the system disk and reinstalls Windows, and Microsoft’s Cloud rebuild documentation warns that specialised tools might still recover some of the old files. “Remove & sanitize files” asks the drive itself to erase its data first, which is the one to use before selling, returning or recycling a PC.
Sanitizing cannot be undone, and it depends on the drive supporting the erase command properly. Microsoft says Windows can only report what the drive says it did and suggests checking with the manufacturer if you are bound by a policy or regulation. It also needs the October 2026 non-security update or later, can take a long time, and the PC must stay plugged in and powered on throughout. Pulling the power mid-rebuild can leave Windows unable to boot.
What it needs
Three things have to be true first: the Windows Recovery Environment must be healthy, your PC maker must have included a network driver that works inside it, and the PC needs a way online. You can check the first with reagentc /info in an elevated command prompt. When any of that is missing you still need the old route of USB installation media or a recovery drive from the manufacturer.
IT administrators can switch each type of rebuild on or off and start one remotely on managed PCs through Intune and the Recovery configuration service. Devices enrolled in Windows Autopilot then reconnect to their organisation and restore assigned apps by themselves. A command-line tool, DataSanitization.exe, can also erase the drives from the recovery environment without reinstalling Windows.
