Recovery environments

You can use WinRE or Linux recovery environment.

The table below summarizes the available options.

Recovered machine	Recovery environment
Recovered machine	WinRE	Linux
Windows	Yes	Yes (Default)
Linux	N/A	Yes

Preparing the WinRE recovery environment might take up to three minutes.

Disk space requirements

The recovery environment requires disk space for temporary files. The requirements vary depending on the recovered machine.

The table below summarizes the available options.

Recovery environment	Boot mode	Machine with non-encrypted system volume	Machine with encrypted system volume
WinRE	BIOS	1 GB in the Windows\Temp folder	1 GB in the Windows\Temp folder
WinRE	UEFI	1 GB in the Windows\Temp folder	1 GB in the Windows\Temp folder
Linux*	BIOS	200 MB on the system volume	400 MB on an unencrypted volume
Linux*	UEFI	200 MB on the EFI system partition (ESP)	One of the following: 400 MB on the EFI system partition (ESP) 200 MB on the EFI system partition (ESP) and 200 MB on an unencrypted partition that is accessible during the boot process

* Recovery of a machine with encrypted system volume requires at least one non-encrypted volume on the same machine.

Limitations

Before recovery, you must lock all encrypted non-system volumes. You can lock a volume by opening a file that resides on it. If the volume is not locked, the recovery will continue without restart, and the volume might not be recognized by the operating system.

You do not need to lock an encrypted system volume.

Troubleshooting

If a recovery fails and the error Cannot get file from partition is shown after restart, disable Secure Boot. For more information, see Disabling Secure Boot in the Microsoft documentation.