Windows 11 25H2 - Unable to install updates due to missing WinRE (Operation failed: 2) and BCD information

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Windows 11 25H2 - Unable to install updates due to missing WinRE (Operation failed: 2) and BCD information

ToxxyTheTrash 45

I was running Windows 11 23H2 for a long time, though ever since I've installed it, I've had this note shown in Windows Update and was unable to install any updates that would directly update my Windows version

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I tried clicking "Reinstall Now" but it kept failing after 6%, with an extremely generic error. I've searched through threads and they've pointed me towards the WinRE environment missing, which lined up as I was missing all recovery options when trying to boot into the recovery environment other than seeing the UEFI settings. I tried mounting a Windows 11 25H2 ISO and seeing if I could just upgrade but that also failed, as if the installer didn't know what to do much like Windows Update. I've done some fiddling with reagentc, never got it to work, so I moved around winre.wim into directories that were related to the recovery, did not get it to work, yet somehow whatever I've done fixed both updates and the installer, so I was able to upgrade to 25H2 without issue - after updating, my WinRE environment also returned and the "Reinstall Now" note vanished. This was just for context, as now it is not my first time experiencing this.

Fast forward roughly two months, I get two random updates and they both failed. I checked Windows Update and the same dreaded "Reinstall Now" note appeared again. I started downloading (not installing) the repair version of Windows 11, then failing after reaching 8% with an 0x80070015 error appearing each time (just like before in 23H2). I've checked WinRE with reagentc again and it was gone again, along with bcdedit missing information.

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Despite both of these errors, Windows boots without issue (same as it did on 23H2). When checking Disk Management, my EFI system partition is visible, but lacks any options. When checking it through diskpart, list vol shows it as a RAW partition. I've tried doing a live USB boot into the Windows 11 installer, went into command prompt, reformatted that partition as NTFS, rebuilt the BCD information for the C: drive, and after booting back into Windows, it showed up as RAW once again and I was still missing BCD information.

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I've already tried forcing Windows into using a custom partition (Volume 7) which I've made to act as WinRE, and when I ran reagentc /enable, it failed with REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 2, which then also just deleted/moved the winre.wim file from C:/Windows/System32/Recovery, not knowing where it went, as the RAW volume is likely the real recovery partition - but it's completely inaccessible by either Disk Management or diskpart and I cannot reformat it within Windows.

I have multiple drives in my system as shown in Disk Management here.

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I have ran sfc /scannow and DISM before, both found no problems and couldn't fix/change anything

I am not interested in doing a complete clean install of Windows 11 after less than 2 years of use, this has to be fixable and I feel as if my issue is so specific that I had to create a new thread for this. I am capable of providing as much information as possible!

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Answer 1

Ramesh 180.9K Volunteer Moderator

Let's enable WinRE now.

Run:

reagentc /enable

reagentc /info

Post the output.

ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T15:31:10.0433333+00:00

Finally got a different error! I assume I need to take a winre.wim copy from a Windows 11 installation media now?

I also ran bcdedit and it recognizes my boot info as well
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:34:10.58+00:00

Yes. Extracting Winre.wim from the ISO should help.

You can use 7-Zip to do so.

Once extracted, copy it to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery.
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T15:35:37.2366667+00:00

Alright that's done, I've done this multiple times before but I just needed to make sure I was supposed to put it there. What commands do I run now?
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:36:52.2666667+00:00

After placing Winre.wim into the folder I mentioned, run the two reagentc commands posted earlier.
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T15:44:56.46+00:00

Worked without issue! I ran the Windows 11 ISO and it finally proceeded without spewing out an error, so Windows Update should work now as well.

I'm hoping those bad sectors are just a false positive for now, I should be ready for whenever the K2 update drops!

Thank you so much for your time, I'm really happy with how fast this got resolved with your help!
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:47:29.6366667+00:00

Glad everything is sorted. 👍
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:48:34.57+00:00

Thank you so much for your time, I'm really happy with how fast this got resolved with your help!

You're very welcome. Glad to help.
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:55:32.6366667+00:00

One small issue I noticed is that WinRE.wim is now on volume C: instead of the Recovery partition.

It's not a problem unless you plan to enable BitLocker on volume C: in the future.

If you want to fix that as well, let me know.
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T15:57:08.96+00:00

It's fine, I've never used BitLocker before and don't intend to anyways. Thanks for the information though!

Answer 2

Ramesh 180.9K Volunteer Moderator

Please run "winver.exe" and post a screenshot.
Right-click Start, and click Disk Management. Maximize Disk Management, adjust the column widths in the top pane to make all the entries visible. Post a screenshot.
Run msinfo32.exe, and click System Summary. Resize the columns in the right pane to make the entries visible, and post a screenshot.
Share the following setup log file on OneDrive (or any other host) and post the link here:

C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setupact.log

Note: C:\$WINDOWS.~BT is a hidden folder. To access it, press Win + R, type C:\$WINDOWS.~BT and click OK.

How-To: Share OneDrive files and folders - Microsoft Support

OneDrive sharing options - screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/vZyxpY9

ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T14:18:00.1966667+00:00

Here's winver, I have owner information customized which hopefully shouldn't matter

I've already sent Disk Management in the main post, here it is regardless

System Information's Summary page

And lastly setupact.log, hope attaching the file into here directly isn't an issue?

setupact.log
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T14:23:53.26+00:00
Disk 3, Partition 4 is supposed to be the EFI partition, but it's not currently in use. Volume C: is now acting as the system partition. Using DiskPart, you can delete Disk 3, Partition 4 and rebuild the EFI partition completely.

From Command Prompt (admin), run:

diskpart select disk 3 select part 4 del part override exit

Post the output.
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T14:27:08.66+00:00

I've done this before and despite doing override in before it hasn't worked, this time though it successfully deleted it
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T14:30:35.28+00:00
Run:

diskpart select disk 3 create partition efi size=250 format fs=fat32 quick label=EFI assign letter Y list vol exit bcdboot C:\Windows /s Y: /f UEFI ren C:\EFI Old.EFI

(I think the last command will throw an error. If so, you need to boot into WinRE to run it.)
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T14:35:28.1233333+00:00

after running create partition efi size=250 I can't format the drive within diskpart afterwards as it throws this error, which also prevents me from assigning a drive letter.

I checked Disk Management and it shows up in the list with every option greyed out
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T14:37:44.4633333+00:00

I think that part of the disk is bad. That's probably why you got error 0x80070015 ("The device is not ready.") during setup.
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T14:40:36.6533333+00:00

Bad as in the sectors? I'd be surprised for my M.2 to be failing in under 2 years as it still shows up as healthy in CrystalDiskInfo. I assume my partition setup is just completely messed up?
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T14:40:45.6033333+00:00
Shrink volume F: by 250 MB and format the partition as FAT32. Assign it the drive letter O:

Once done, run:

diskpart select disk 3 list part list vol exit

Post the output.
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T14:42:04.95+00:00

Bad as in the sectors?

Yes, I think so.

https://www.diskpart.com/windows-10/the-parameter-is-incorrect-windows-10-3889.html
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T14:43:23.7433333+00:00

Alright, I've shrunk F: and these are the results

and in Disk Management
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T14:46:59.66+00:00
Create a partition in the Unallocated space. Format it as FAT32, and assign it the drive letter O:

Then, run:

diskpart select disk 3 list part list vol exit bcdboot C:\Windows /s O: /f UEFI
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T14:55:30.3766667+00:00

Alright, that's done, after running bcdboot it made new folders on the O: partition. Strangely I wasn't able to find or format the volume through diskpart and instead made a simple volume through Disk Management directly, naming it "Recovery" and doing a quick FAT32 format

What's next?
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:03:23.5+00:00
It's not the Recovery partition. So, change the label to EFI.

Once done, run these commands:

diskpart select volume O set id=c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b gpt attributes=0X8000000000000000 remove exit attrib -s -h -r C:\EFI ren C:\EFI Old.EFI

Post the output.

Important: The drive-letter in the second command is the alphabet O (not zero)
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T15:05:56.6+00:00

Here's the output! Everything seems to have worked? What's next after this?
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:08:32.69+00:00
Run:

diskpart select disk 3 select part 4 set id=ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7 gpt attributes=0x0000000000000000 list part list vol exit

Please also post the latest Disk Management screenshot.

ToxxyTheTrash 45

DISKPART> select disk 3
Disk 3 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> select part 4
Partition 4 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> set id=ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7
DiskPart successfully set the partition ID.
DISKPART> gpt attributes=0x0000000000000000
DiskPart successfully assigned the attributes to the selected GPT partition.
DISKPART> list part
  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Reserved            16 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Primary            474 GB    17 MB
  Partition 3    Recovery          1024 MB   474 GB
* Partition 4    Primary            250 MB   475 GB
  Partition 5    Primary            476 GB   476 GB
  Partition 6    System             250 MB   953 GB
DISKPART> list vol
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     Y                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     T   gaming ssd   NTFS   Partition    931 GB  Healthy
  Volume 2     W   bigger gami  NTFS   Partition   1862 GB  Healthy    Pagefile
  Volume 3     R   archive hdd  NTFS   Partition    931 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     C   the scrapya  NTFS   Partition    474 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 5     F   gaming nvme  NTFS   Partition    476 GB  Healthy
  Volume 6     E   RECOVERY     FAT32  Partition   1024 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 8         EFI          FAT32  Partition    250 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 9     V   gaming nvme  NTFS   Partition    465 GB  Healthy
* Volume 10                            Partition    250 MB  Healthy    Offline
DISKPART> exit
Leaving DiskPart...

That's the full output for diskpart which says the volume is offline now (assuming that's the expected outcome from the attrributes), here's Disk Management as requested!

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Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:15:53.3166667+00:00

Everything looks good. Since the disk is having a problem, I'd suggest creating a Windows 11 USB setup disk. Create installation media for Windows | Microsoft Support

Once done, restart Windows normally and post screenshot of Disk Management.

Note:

If Windows can't read the newly created EFI partition because of a bad sector or another issue, you may have to use the USB setup disk to get into WinRE and revert to the previous settings. Hopefully, that problem won't happen.
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T15:21:13.7733333+00:00

Alright I've restarted Windows and checked Disk Management, this is how it looks after the reboot:

I can't see the drive letters in here but checking file explorer shows that the EFI partition has remounted itself
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:24:34.51+00:00
Great. The EFI partition is now in use.

To remove its drive letter, please run:

diskpart select volume O remove exit mountvol O: /d mountvol /R

Post the output.
ToxxyTheTrash 45 Reputation points

2026-09-09T15:26:28.4433333+00:00

Here's the output, got no errors it looks like
Ramesh 180.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-09T15:30:06.91+00:00

The comments thread has become very lengthy.

Please check this post → https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/a/12951544