Microsoft has begun testing the Cloud Rebuild recovery feature in the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview builds released for users in the Experimental channel.
First introduced at the Ignite developer conference in November 2025, Cloud Rebuild is a tool that can remotely trigger a complete system reinstall from the cloud for Windows 11 devices experiencing persistent problems or that have become inoperable.
“We’re introducing Cloud rebuild, a new recovery option that restores a Windows 11 PC to a clean, known-good state by performing a full OS reinstall, even when Windows won’t boot,” Windows Insider Communications Lead Stephen Lines said on Monday.
“Unlike Reset this PC, Cloud rebuild downloads both the target Windows image and the device’s drivers from Windows Update, so the device comes back fully functional without USB media, without a custom image, and without depending on the health of the currently installed OS.”
Windows Insiders who want to test Cloud Rebuild must first install Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26300.8772, then start the recovery process by clicking “Cloud rebuild” in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) under Troubleshoot > Recovery, and finally uninstall.
In the next step, they have to review the target Windows build, edition, and language, and then confirm the data-loss warning before the rebuild starts.
At the Ignite conference, Microsoft also announced Point-in-Time Restore (PITR), another recovery feature that allows administrators and users to roll back a Windows 11 system to an earlier, healthy snapshot within minutes.
PTTR began rolling out in June with the release of the KB5095093 preview cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2.
These two features are part of Microsoft’s Windows Resiliency Initiative and are designed to help quickly restore devices when they can no longer start or function properly.
In November, Microsoft also began testing an updated version of Quick Machine Recovery (QMR), a tool designed to help admins resolve Windows boot failures without physical access to the device.
When Windows 11 fails to start due to a new driver or configuration change, it automatically boots into the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), launches the QMR tool, sends crash data to Microsoft, which can remotely remove buggy drivers or updates and adjust settings to fix boot issues.
The same month, Microsoft also began testing a new feature that recommends running a memory scan after a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) to improve system reliability.
Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.
The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.
Get the whitepaper
