Solved New ASUS laptop has no recovery disk utlity!

Is there a file on there called boot.wim? I can't see it in the screenies.

No, I don't see a boot.wim file located in the recovery drive. I screen-grabbed everything shown in the USB stick including all folders/directories (I think I may have even done a duplicate screen-grab on img 8 & 9).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64-bit OS
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS A55A
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Memory
    16.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
can you zip up a copy of F:\boot\bcd and post it up?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
If it will help any, this is a shot of my recovery drive. This is not an OEM system, but I set up my system to use the custom .wim to Reset Windows 8. Booting to the recovery drive and selecting Reset, should reinstall the .wim.

The boot.wim is a hidden system file and the options in folder options must be enabled to see it.
 

Attachments

  • ResetImages.JPG
    ResetImages.JPG
    28.6 KB · Views: 241

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
can you zip up a copy of F:\boot\bcd and post it up?

I attached a compressed file labeled as "BCD.zip" to this post. I tried to compress the entire recovery drive, however during the compression process was almost finished, it said that my USB stick didn't have any space left to complete the zip file.
 

Attachments

  • BCD.zip
    5.5 KB · Views: 385

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64-bit OS
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS A55A
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Memory
    16.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
Thanks. As expected:

Code:
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {default}
displayorder            {default}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {default}
device                  ramdisk=[B][boot]\sources\boot.wim[/B],{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path                    \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description             Windows Setup
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot              \windows
custom:250000c2         1
detecthal               Yes
winpe                   Yes
ems                     No
Device options
--------------
identifier              {7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
ramdisksdidevice        boot
ramdisksdipath          \boot\boot.sdi
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I just went through the entire Reset process on my system. It took about an hour for my system to finish. You should know, my system only has basic software, so there are no large programs that need to be recovered.

After you boot to the Recovery drive, and probably the UEFI version, as you stated, you see a blue screen with locations. After that, a page showing the Windows 8 install, which you choose. There is a login page and one of the next pages after you go through troubleshooting and get to Reset, will ask you questions about cleaning all the drives, or just the one where Windows is installed.

This may all be shown in the tutorial, I do not know, but did you see such choices while you were doing yours?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Thanks, that explains it.

If it will help any, this is a shot of my recovery drive. This is not an OEM system, but I set up my system to use the custom .wim to Reset Windows 8. Booting to the recovery drive and selecting Reset, should reinstall the .wim.

The boot.wim is a hidden system file and the options in folder options must be enabled to see it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
The asfixwfr.exe file was e-mailed to me by ASUS tech support. It ended up being pretty useless for me. I never bothered to make a disk set, I opted for using a USB thumb drive for my recovery drive. I've since ditched the idea of ever using the recovery drive and erased it. I downloaded a Windows 8 ISO file from TechNet and use that to do a clean install when necessary. The TechNet install media reads my embedded code and then activates online no problem. IMHO clean installs are the way to go to avoid all the OEM bloat that comes bundled with the factory install.

alphanumeric, I went through very much the same things that you did, and I'm glad I found this thread. I got a new ASUS Q200E yesterday. I used EaseUS Partition Manager, merely to resize my C: to make it into C: and D:. Somehow that screwed everything up while doing the partitioning, and I get this error. It says the file is missing or contains errors.
File: \windows\system32\winload.efi error code: 0xc0000225. I'll research that later and try to see why it happened. But that's for the future!

I had created a recovery USB drive yesterday, just as you had done, but I had not made any other backups. I know, that's not smart, but I figured this repartitioning was not risky, and I'd do backups later (no DVD drive on this ASUS Q200E). Booting from that recovery USB drive is getting me nowhere...it says a necessary partition is missing. Wow, something really got hosed.

I have another version of Windows 8 that I bought in Dec. but never used. I have that ISO file on a USB drive, and I booted it. But it's getting an error about the Product Key not matching. I've read another forum that says I can put a PID.txt file on the USB drive and make them match. But then, won't the system have that older key? Maybe that shouldn't matter, but I'd rather have this new key that came with the laptop.

So...finally I'll get to the point! You mentioned that you got the ISO file for Windows 8 from Technet. Would that be the best way for me to get this done? I looked on Technet's site, but I don't see where the ISO files for Windows 8 are. I do see stuff about 8.1. I doubt that would work for me. So can you point me to the right place where I could get a "good Windows 8 ISO" that will boot and let me keep the Product Key that is currently embedded in the system?

Thanks for your help! Your trials and tribulations taught me a lot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8 64 bit
You can't download from TechNet without a valid subscription. You have to have an account to download ISO's. The first time I did my clean install I used an ISO I downloaded from bit torrent. I didn't have a TechNet account at that time. I just compared its MD5 hash code to what is listed on TechNet. They matched so I took the chance and used it. Latter on when I got my Microsoft MVP I downloaded the TechNet ISO to replace the other one from bit torrent. Both images read and used my embedded product code.

I also got that "necessary partition is missing" message when I tried to use my recovery thumb drive to restore to my SSD. I've seen that happen before where repartitioning breaks the link to the OEM recovery partition. The link or hook that ties it to the function key is likely in the boot loader/boot partition. Adding an extra partition skews things and now its pointed at the wrong partition. To be honest I don't know enough about how it works to fix it.

If that other version is an upgrade version that would explain the product key not matching. There is a tutorial for doing a clean install with an upgrade version. Whether or not that will use the embedded key is another matter. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13375-clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.html?filter

You may want to look at this too, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/27129-product-key-find-windows-8-a.html
And this, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/8855-product-key-number-change-windows-8-a.html?ltr=P
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/32122-create-factory-restore-disc.html#post286310


awindowsdummy said:
Update: I e-mailed ASUS support and they gave me a Windows program to do it. Thanks!



ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- The URL you are looking for does not exist. PC 1015E&os=&hashedid=n/a

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Troubleshooting PC 1015E&s=1&hashedid=n/a&os=&no=1718

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...O-L9wRtj51wkc5T46DmGTcg&bvm=bv.53537100,d.d2k

ASUS said:
Using the Support DVD to restore system recovery.

About the Support DVD :
The Support DVD includes an image of the operating system, installed on your system at the factory.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4

Theog, I don't think I understand. Does the "Support DVD" only exist for the Asus EEE series? I have a new X202E Q200e laptop with Windows 8. I don't see any such DVD for that. Sorry if I'm missing something. As for awindowsdummy's post about a "windows program", I can't figure out what that means either. Thanks for your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8 64 bit
For ASUS OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app, would check with ASUS support.

You can order the Microsoft official OEM Recovery disks from the ASUS OEM manufacturer's website.
Essentio Recovery Software
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
For ASUS OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app, would check with ASUS support.

You can order the Microsoft official OEM Recovery disks from the ASUS OEM manufacturer's website.
Essentio Recovery Software

The Essentio Recovery Software link seems to say that's only for an "Essentio Desktop". But maybe I'm missing something about laptops and other models.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8 64 bit
My Asus VivoBook q200e had the beginnings of a hard drive failure.
The 'Recovery Drive' option in Windows 8 never worked for me, so after much searching I found the Asus Backtracker utility that successfully copied recovery partition info to a 16GB flash drive and allowed me to restore that Windows8 recovery partition and OS partition to a replacement HDD.
A search of Asus' web site for "Backtracker" reveals nothing, but a startpage.com search revealed this link:
http://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1008641/

There are 32 and 64bit versions, and it worked on my 500GB (old and new) drive, so hopefully it will work for you too.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Q200E
    CPU
    i3
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