Windows 11 Cloud rebuild reaches the Beta channel: a full reinstall from WinRE, with drivers pulled from Windows Update

Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Beta Preview Build 26220.9343 on September 8. Among the AutoPlay redesign and Emoji 17.0 is a recovery feature with real operational weight: Cloud rebuild, a full reinstall that runs from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and fetches everything it needs from Windows Update.

What it is

The release notes describe it this way:

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.

Microsoft, Build 26220.9343 release notes

That last clause is the point. Cloud rebuild needs a working WinRE and a network connection, not a working Windows.

The Cloud rebuild documentation, marked preview and "for evaluation on non-production devices only," says it can be started from WinRE by a user with physical access, or "from an elevated command prompt in Windows by a local administrator." Remote initiation from Intune "will be available in a later release."

How it runs

The flow is: enter WinRE (automatic after repeated boot failures, or via Settings > System > Recovery > Advanced startup), choose Cloud rebuild, get online, then review the target build, edition and language before accepting a data-loss warning. The two Microsoft documents disagree slightly on the menu path: the release notes say Troubleshoot > Recovery and uninstall > Cloud rebuild, the documentation says Troubleshoot > Cloud rebuild.

The warning is not boilerplate. The documentation says Cloud rebuild "reformats the system disk and removes all locally stored files, accounts, apps, and settings," with only cloud data such as OneDrive untouched. It then goes to the out-of-box experience. Managed devices registered with Windows Autopilot re-enroll in Intune and get apps and policies back automatically.

The second warning deserves the most attention: do not power off or restart mid-process. "Interrupting the process can leave Windows unable to boot," in which case Microsoft's fallback is a recovery drive or installation media, exactly the things this feature is meant to replace. On a laptop, plug it in first.

Networking is the hard part

Prerequisites include a healthy WinRE (check with reagentc /info), Windows 11 minimum hardware, and a manufacturer-supplied network driver inside WinRE. The documentation says: "At this time, only WPA-2 Personal Wi-Fi connections are supported in the WinRE environment."

Build 26220.9343 moves past that. Its release notes add a WinRE capability to "automatically reuse eligible Wi-Fi profiles already saved in the main Windows OS, including supported certificate-based Wi-Fi networks." It is on by default and admins can disable it. So on this build a laptop that only knows a certificate-based corporate network may still get online for a rebuild, something the standalone documentation (last updated July 6) does not yet reflect.

When it fails

The documentation names two error codes:

0x800704C6  no network connection from WinRE
0xc1900200  Windows 11 minimum hardware not met, or a required
            driver is missing from Windows Update

For 0xc1900200, Microsoft says the most common cause is a disabled TPM; if the TPM is on, suspect missing network or storage drivers on Windows Update and contact the manufacturer. Logs live in X:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\Panther, X:\Windows\Logs\MoSetup and X:\Windows\Logs\Rebuild, copied out from a WinRE command prompt.

The usual Insider caveat applies: the release notes say features in these builds "might never get released." For anyone who ends up fixing other people's PCs, though, a reinstall that needs only a network cable and a TPM that is switched on is worth tracking.

Primary sources: Windows 11 Insider Beta Preview Build 26220.9343 release notes, Microsoft Learn, Cloud rebuild (Preview), read 2026-09-18.