Solved Unable to use built-in ASUS recovery partition

[SIW2]

Your attached link to photo leads nowhere, btw.

 

[Qub1]

The 8.1 ent trial is no use to you.

You need 8.0. There are links to 8.0 ent trial , but it means d/l the whole thing and extracting winre from the big install.wim.

Much easier for you to have a look with pgpro and see if there is a folder on the 300mb partition called Recovery\WindowsRE. Good chance 8.0 winre.wim will still be hiding out in there.

Here is what it looks like :

( EDIT - I just saw the 350mb partition in your screenie. That is where 8.1 winre.wim should be. )

You may be able fix reagent by replacing the .xml files with templates. Check where everything is first.

Why wouldn't I be able to use the 8.1 iso's? I do have 8.1 installed, but since the laptop came with 8.0, does that mean the 8.1 iso wouldn't work?

Also, I took a look with pgpro, and I found the winre.wim file here:


Now what to do with those files? And where would I be able to get those template xml files you were talking about?

[DEL]Also, I don't think I meant to attach anything so that may be why[/DEL]
If you were talking about the output of the /disable command, I think I fixed it

 

[alphanumeric]

Enterprise is a different ISO/SKU from Pro.

 

[SIW2]

Attachment no good.

8.1 trial will let you install trial version good only for 90 days. It will not let you refresh to 8.0. ( It is ridiculous, but tell that to MS )

You don't have an CORE/PRO 8.1 install.wim to use as far as I can tell.

Looks like you only have the original factory install.wim which you said came as 8.0

Therefore you need 8.0 winre.wim to utilise the 8.0 factory install.wim.

 

[SIW2]

Now what to do with those files? And where would I be able to get those template xml files you were talking about?

You will have to show us where they are.

 

[Qub1]

Yeah I found it but since the attachments don't seem to work, here it is uploaded on Flickr:

pgpro by Quincy Bakker, on Flickr

Also, the output of the command:

cmd2 by Quincy Bakker, on Flickr

 

[SIW2]

OK try replacing the .xml file next to winre in your screenie with this one.

Also replace the .xml file in windows\system32\recovery.

View attachment ReAgentXML.zip

 

[Saltgrass]

The reagentc command will also fail if the BCD Store does not have the correct information. You might run the command below in a command prompt and attach the results.

bcdedit /enum all > %userprofile%\Desktop\bcdtext.txt

The Windows 8.1 upgrade added the 350 MB partition, which is where the Windows 8.1 Recovery Tools are located. It should have been set up correctly and the reagentc command should be working. The Winre.wim file should be in a Recovery\WindowsRE folder, so in order to /setreimage, you would need a drive letter on that partition. The Windows 8.0 Winre.wim file is in the 900 MB Recovery partition and the reagent.xml file should make reference to it.

You can assign a drive letter and run the reagentc commands from the administrative command prompt. Use Diskpart and after selecting the disk and the correct partition, use the assign letter="T" command. If you want to check the contents, after you exit Diskpart, go to t: and use the dir /a command.

In the listing below, I am looking at the Restore partition that contains the install.wim for resetting the system. It works the same way for the smaller partition.

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.3.9600

Copyright (C) 1999-2013 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: WATCHER

DISKPART> lis dis

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 233 GB 1024 KB *

DISKPART> sel dis 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> lis par

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Recovery 300 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 System 99 MB 301 MB
Partition 3 Reserved 128 MB 400 MB
Partition 4 Primary 149 GB 528 MB
Partition 5 Primary 68 GB 150 GB
Partition 6 Recovery 15 GB 218 GB

DISKPART> sel par 6

Partition 6 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> assign letter="T"

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> exit

Leaving DiskPart...

C:\Windows\system32>t:

T:\>dir
Volume in drive T is Recovery
Volume Serial Number is 94C6-8FC7

Directory of T:\

01/18/2014 12:42 PM <DIR> RecoveryImage
0 File(s) 0 bytes
1 Dir(s) 10,263,478,272 bytes free

 

[Qub1]

OK try replacing the .xml file next to winre in your screenie with this one.

Also replace the .xml file in windows\system32\recovery.

View attachment 35378

Just tried that, I still get the exact same error message. This problem is getting really annoying. Also the reagentc command still doesn't work. I think we're running out of options

 

[Qub1]

Found something interesting:
My original ReAgent.xml file contains these strings:
<WinreLocation path="\Recovery\WindowsRE" id="0" offset="315621376" guid="{72d98fd5-afa6-4935-8df5-b325a9c2b722}"/>
<ImageLocation path="\Recovery\WindowsRE" id="0" offset="315621376" guid="{72d98fd5-afa6-4935-8df5-b325a9c2b722}"/>
<OsInstallLocation path="\RecoveryImage" id="0" offset="978718818304" guid="{72d98fd5-afa6-4935-8df5-b325a9c2b722}" index="2"/>

The ReAgent.xml file is in the Recovery partition, which does indeed contain the WinRE and ImageLocation folders referenced above. However, the OsInstallLocation folder it points to isn't in the Recovery partition at all, but it is in the Restore partition. So would copying the contents of my restore partition to my Recovery partition fix the problem? I'm asking here first before I mess anything up

 

[alphanumeric]

Is one big enough for the contents of the other?

 

[Qub1]

No, I would have to resize the Recovery partition to be able to make the other files fit. And since resizing stuff caused the problem to occur in the first place, it doesn't seem like such a good idea to me

However there must be a simply solution we're overlooking. All the files are still exactly where they were, partition sizes untouched. The only thing that's missing is the file that lets windows know where the recovery files are

 

[alphanumeric]

OK, that's what I thought. A lot of this stuff is over my head but it seems to me that the 8.1 update overwrote the factory setup/link to the big restore partition. The little one is what you get with a clean install from a retail disk. The larger one with the full image is added by the OEM.

 

[Qub1]

OK, that's what I thought. A lot of this stuff is over my head but it seems to me that the 8.1 update overwrote the factory setup/link to the big restore partition. The little one is what you get with a clean install from a retail disk. The larger one with the full image is added by the OEM.

Yeah I believe you are correct. The little one is about 500 mb, and the other one is 20 gb in size, so it must contain the recovery image. I'm just not able to restore it. I also found this thread, another person with the same exact problem (I ran the same commands he did with exactly the same output). However, his problem was never solved. Here's the link: http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/38933-windows-not-detecting-oem-recovery-partition.html

 

[popeye]

Can't help but glad I made a usb flash recovery right after getting my laptop. Let this be a lesson for anyone reading this.

I hope you can figure it out Qub1 and teach us all something in the process. Should be in the realm of possibility to get it to work I would think. Anyway to get the files onto a flash and try to boot from it?

 

[Qub1]

Can't help but glad I made a usb flash recovery right after getting my laptop. Let this be a lesson for anyone reading this.

I hope you can figure it out Qub1 and teach us all something in the process. Should be in the realm of possibility to get it to work I would think. Anyway to get the files onto a flash and try to boot from it?

Haha, well once I got my PC the first thing I did was create a recovery partition using the software provided, since the exact same thing happened to my previous PC. So I did take all the precautions, the software didn't give me an option to create it on an external drive. Also I could place them on an external drive but what good would that do? Windows still wouldn't be able to use it since its not supposed to be run from outside the Recovery Environment.

 

[alphanumeric]

The procedure to use with my new ASUS laptop was to run the Recovery utility in Control Panel and check the option to "copy the factory recovery partition to the drive". I used a 16 GB USB thumb drive. You booted from that to do the factory restore. Doing a Windows reset, like your trying to do, would restore the PC to the factory condition as it would use the image on the thumb drive copied from the factory restore partition. I never got to test mine out as I swapped my spinner for an SSD. I couldn't restore to the different sized/partitioned drive. Its a long thread but here is what I went though.
http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/21897-new-asus-laptop-has-no-recovery-disk-utlity.html

 

[SIW2]

Anyway to get the files onto a flash and try to boot from it?

Sure, that is one of several options. OP has the files needed to do it.

 

[Qub1]

Anyway to get the files onto a flash and try to boot from it?

Sure, that is one of several options. OP has the files needed to do it.

I could, but since the laptop is quite new (about 5 months old) it would kind of annoy me to have already destroyed the recovery partition, especially since I've used it before. However, would restoring the files from an external drive using the files also repair the partition? Since it is supposed to restore the entire hard drive to factory conditions. Anyway I think it is worth a shot so I'm going to give it a try tomorrow, since it is about 2:30 AM here and I'm tired

So thanks everyone, and if there is any further advice please let me know. I'll report back here once I've tried a restore with the files from an external drive.

 

[alphanumeric]

I'm calling it a night too, but will check back in the morning to see what's what. Take care.