Can’t find the pre-installed Notepad on your PC? Not to worry, this guide teaches you how to reinstall Notepad in Windows 11.
Option 1: Reinstall Notepad From Windows Optional Features
The first and fastest method to reinstall Notepad on Windows 11 is with the use of Windows Optional Features. That said, follow the steps below to reinstall Notepad via Optional features:
- Click on the search icon in your Windows 11 Taskbar and type optional features in the search field.
- Then, from the results of your search, click on Optional Features.
- On the right pane of the Optional Features settings page, click View features.
- Then, on the search field of the Add an optional feature pop-up menu, type notepad.
- Next, click on the checkbox beside Notepad and click Next to Install this feature.
- Furthermore, to start the installation process click Install.
- Then, on the Recent actions sub-menu, you will see the progress of the installation.
- Finally, when the installation is completed, restart your PC as prompted in the screenshot below.
Option 2: Reinstall Notepad Using Dism Command
Moving on, another method I want to teach you in this guide is how to reinstall Notepad using the DISM command. Follow the steps below to perform the task with Command Prompt:
- Firstly, click on the search icon next to the Windows start menu on the Taskbar. Then, in the search box type command prompt.
- Then, from the result of the search, right-click on Command Prompt and click on Run as administrator.
- You will receive a User Account Control prompt asking you to allow the program to make changes to your PC. Click Yes to proceed.
- In Command Prompt, to get the capability identity for Notepad, type the command below and press enter on your keyword.
DISM.exe /Online /Get-Capabilities | find "Notepad"
This command will display the Capability Identity of Notepad. You will need it to install Notepad.
- Finally, to install Notepad in Windows 11 with DISM, type the command below and press enter.
Dism /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:Microsoft.Windows.Notepad.System~~~~0.0.1.0
- When the command completes, Notepad will be available on your Windows 11 PC.
Option 3: Reinstall Notepad with PowerShell
If you are an administrator on your computer, you can also install Notepad via PowerShell. Here are the steps:
- Firstly, click on the search icon on the Windows 11 Taskbar. Then, in the search field type powershell.
- Next, from the result of your search right-click on Windows PowerShell and select Run as administrator.
Before you can install Notepad with PowerShell, you need to know the name of the application.
- To get the name of Notepad with PowerShell, type the command below and press enter.
Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*notepad*"}
As shown in the screenshot below, the command will display the name as Microsoft.Windows.Notepad~~~~0.0.1.0. You will need this name for the next command.
- Finally, to reinstall Notepad in WIndow 11 via PowerShell, type the command below and press enter on your keyboard.
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Microsoft.Windows.Notepad~~~~0.0.1.0
- When the installation is completed, PowerShell will display RestartNeeded. If it shows false, then you don’t need to restart the computer.
The screenshot below gives more clarity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, it does. Windows 11 comes with a pre-installed Notepad. However, if you cannot find it on your PC, you can install it as an Optional feature.
Notepad files are saved to the Document folder in Windows 11.
The Notepad is a text editor. That is to say, it is an app dedicated to editing plain text, and files are saved in .txt file format
a) Navigate to Settings.
b) On the left pane of the Settings screen, click on Apps.
c) Then, on the right pane of the screen click on Optional features.
d) On the top right of the Optional features screen, click View features.
e) Next, on the search field of the Add an optional feature pop-up screen type notepad.
f) Then, from the result of the search, click on the check box next to Notepad and click Next.
g) Moving forward, click Install to start the installation process.
h) Finally, you will be able to see the progress of the installation on the Recent actions sub-menu.
To know if Notepad is installed on your computer, click on the search icon next Windows 11 start menu. Then, on the search box type notepad.
If Notepad appears among your search results it means it is installed on your PC. However, if it does not, it means the app is not installed on your computer.
Conclusion
Having Notepad readily available on your PC can make your work really easy and seamless. This is because Notepad helps us to save files in plain text which makes them easy to copy and paste without worry about the format.
However, on some rare occasions, Notepad may mysteriously disappear from your computer – you may also accidentally uninstall it. If this happens, you can follow any of the three methods discussed in this article to reinstall Notepad on your Windows 11 PC.
To be more specific, you can reinstall Notepad from Optional features or Command Prompt. Also, you can reinstall Notepad on your Windows 11 with PowerShell.
I hope you found this Itechguide helpful. If you did, click on “Yes” beside the “Was this page helpful” question below.
You may also express your thoughts and opinions by using the “Leave a Comment” form at the bottom of this page.
Finally, for more guides on how to do stuff on Windows 11, please visit our Windows 11 How-To page.