OEM Recovery partition issues

[Coke Robot]

Good afternoon all!

Right now, I'm in the process of doing a clean reinstall of Windows 8 Core edition on an ASUS laptop. I'm doing this the manual old school way of making a bootable flash drive versus running the Reset feature in Windows 8. Why? It seems to have issues.

What happens is when I go to PC Settings, and then try to do the Reset, I go through the prompts of doing a clean wipedown or just keep the user data files and start fresh. I tried both options, and Windows restarts, and then just doesn't do it. Log back in, and it's like nothing happened. Trying the Refresh option, Windows restarts, shows that it's Preparing to refresh your PC (Why is it always preparing, just do it! Spaceballs reference. ) and then seems to ALWAYS trip up, restart back again into Windows with the banner saying it encountered a problem. OK....

I checked the drive's partitions in Disk Management and that is a liar. It reports that they're empty partitions. EASEUS Partition Manger obviously says otherwise and I can view the install.wim file in the OEM recovery partition.

Now my question is why doesn't this work? Has anyone else encountered this issue before?

The laptop in question had issues with the Windows Store that just required the time to be correctly set. Internet Explorer 10 on the Desktop would not work AT ALL unless in Safe Mode with Networking. I uninstalled certain programs in question that could be affecting it, did everything in the book to address IE issues. Still wouldn't work. So I tried both Reset and Refresh options as that would be the best method, but they don't run obviously. This is within the one administrator on it, after doing several sfc /scannow runs and such. Best option here is to back up user data and wipe things down, thoroughly reformat and start with a squeaky clean copy of Windows 8 Core as I'm assuming the OEM install.wim file has the crappyevilware with it. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Also, I'm curious. Can one make a recovery partition in Windows 8 such as the OEM made ones? That would be handy if something screws up so if Refresh or Resetting is needed to be done, an external piece of media doesn't need to be present to do so.

 

[SIW2]

It's not clear what you are doing

What happens is when I go to PC Settings, and then try to do the Reset, I go through the prompts of doing a clean wipedown or just keep the user data files and start fresh. I tried both options, and Windows restarts, and then just doesn't do it.

Sounds like you running reset from within the somewhat dodgy installation and it can't find the image.

Did you try resetting from bootable installation media?

Also, I'm curious. Can one make a recovery partition in Windows 8 such as the OEM made ones? That would be handy if something screws up so if Refresh or Resetting is needed to be done, an external piece of media doesn't need to be present to do so.

Yep , that should be straightforward. Make a partition - letter R for recovery makes sense, suggest Disk mgmt, paragon or partition wiz for that. Copy the contents of the install dvd onto it. Add R:\sources\boot.wim to bcd. You could add it as regular visible boot menu option, or as a custom action with a hotkey. It does need bcd to function properly to access - so if bcd is borked, you would still external media.

 

[RPV69]

"I tried both options, and Windows restarts, and then just doesn't do it. Log back in, and it's like nothing happened."

I had this exact problem with a new Dell laptop. Select the factory reset option, laptop reboots and goes straight back into Windows. Now it's corrupt and won't boot, so it's going back to Dell for a refund and I'm getting a Mac mini. never had any problems with Win7, but I won't be buying another Win8 machine.

 

[znod]

Good afternoon all!

Right now, I'm in the process of doing a clean reinstall of Windows 8 Core edition on an ASUS laptop. I'm doing this the manual old school way of making a bootable flash drive versus running the Reset feature in Windows 8. Why? It seems to have issues.

Maybe not pertinent, but did you try booting to the startup options menu? Startup Options Menu - Boot to in Windows 8? Not tutoring you, but recall that you may have to use the refresh procedure described in Clean Install with Windows 8 Upgrade to activate since you are doing a reinstall of Win8. Not sure how having an embedded product key would affect this matter--assuming you have one (not sure if you do, but presumably, yes).