Solved Unable to use recovery partiton after win 8.1 upgrade

Hi All,

I have been browsing all over the internet to find a solution to my problem.

After a upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, I seem to have lost my ability to use the recovery partition. Every time I go and use it I get an error message Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing.

I have contacted ASUS for recovery DVD's however I was told to go to a authorized repairer to have it fixed for a fee. My last laptop was able to burn recovery DVD's but not this one.

I understand that Windows 8.1 creates a new recovery partition for itself however I did read on this forum it is possible to get it back to default settings.

Any help would be very appreciated.











Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

Windows RE status: Enabled
Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition2\Recovery\WindowsRE
Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: ba08d678-3e5b-11e2-b26a-a34ba04e3737
Recovery image location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition5\RecoveryImage
Recovery image index: 2
Custom image location:
Custom image index: 0




Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 300 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Recovery 900 MB 301 MB
Partition 3 Primary 372 GB 1201 MB
Partition 4 Recovery 350 MB 373 GB
Partition 5 Recovery 20 GB 373 GB

Your configuration would seem to suggest you did the upgrade to 8.1 very early in the process. But you do have another Recovery Tools partition which would indicate you had done it just a little later. I believe ASUS and possibly some others with large original Recovery Tools partitions will not work correctly because the new 350 MB partition was not large enough. They are currently adding 450 MB Recovery Tools partitions.

But your Reagentc /info readout shows you as using partition 2, which is the original OEM partition. So I am a little confused as to why it is using that partition and not the 350 MB partition.


I don't know all the reasons why you get that message, but more than likely, trying to Reset with an 8.0 image using 8.1 recovery tools or trying to reset over an 8.1 install, is involved.

Since, even if it would work, you will be put back to Windows 8, did you make a Windows 8 Recovery Drive that included the Recovery partition? If you did, that should be able to reset to factory specs on a clean hard drive. But recommending using it on your current install is delicate since we don't know your exact capabilities as far as backup media. I always keep a spare hard drive around for such times so I don't have to experiment on the actual one. If I was sure I could recover my system back to a usable state, I think I would try formatting the C: (OS) partition to see if a Reset would work.. But again, this could cause you to loose your system if backup media were not available.

Give me a couple of hours and I will test my Non-OEM system to see how it behaves.

It does seem a little nasty the OEM would require you to pay to repair the problem, since they were partially responsible for it. I suppose they can justify by saying you were not required to upgrade to 8.1, but they did not give you fair warning a problem would arise if you did.

Well, I have been testing and found out the Update process does leave a system in a condition to reset it back to 8.0. If yours doesn't work it might be something you did or a problem with the Update process, such as the 350 MB partition being too small.

Since you are pointing at the second partition, you have modified the results of the upgrade.

It also seems your partition readout does not contain the MSR partition. Another indication you have modified your system. The Recovery Image partition would have normally been partition 6.

Since you had changed the Registration on the Recovery Tools, I tried the same. When I did a Reset, it gave me the same messages you got. I then reformatted the C: partition and of course I had to format that partition from some bootable media and used the Command prompt in the recovery options.

I then allowed the system to reboot, and got the PC is broken and needs to be fixed. On the third reboot, I was offered the Recovery options. I chose Advanced and Reset and it started but showed I needed to insert the Recovery or Install media. After I inserted my Windows 8 Recovery Drive (which has the image), the Reset completed normally. You do have the Windows 8 Install DVD so perhaps it would be sufficient. But again, I cannot recommend you format the OS partition since you might loose what you have. It would have to be your choice.

You need to investigate how to apply an image to a partition using DISM. That is an option for you since you do have an image you could use to apply. You might start by using the DISM /apply-image /? command. I am on Windows 7 right now so I cannot be more specific.

Or, just reinstall Windows 8, since you will basically be in the same place.

Hi

Thanks for your response. The readouts are from a virtual image of my computer. I have worked in the IT industry for 9 years and very confident with Windows XP and 7 but Windows 8 baffles me.

My Computer does have 2 Physical drives but the second hard drive has 2 partitions for data.

I have run the command on the physical computer
DISKPART>
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 300 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Recovery 900 MB 301 MB
Partition 3 Reserved 128 MB 1201 MB
Partition 4 Primary 372 GB 1329 MB
Partition 5 Recovery 350 MB 373 GB
Partition 6 Primary 537 GB 373 GB
Partition 7 Recovery 20 GB 911 GB

However it still has the same error not matter if it is the Physical or Virtual computer

If you have MSDN subscription, use the latest "8.1 Update 1 x64 multiple editions" install DVD and use it to perform a "Reset" operation. Basically this will wipe your "C" drive and perform a clean install. I just tried this on my friend's laptop yesterday and worked great. After the "Reset" operation Windows will remain activated but we need to download and install drivers from manufacturer's support site.

If you don't have MSDN subscription, Google for en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_4065090.iso and download it. Make sure the ISO is not tampered by comparing SHA hash.

SHA1: 4652DC6EBFEBE02C6A63E167C36E3FAEDFB93999

Hi All,

Thanks for the comments. Have had a tough year and gave it a crack yesterday and got it to work. When Windows 8.1 gets installed, it creates a new recovery partition however never tells it to redirect. After using DISKPART and mounting the recovery partitions. I had to use a few command prompt commands to move the newer winre.wim to the set recovery partition. Once that was done the computer did its recovery.

After the windows 8.1 upgrade it broke the link to the recovery partition, BECAUSE, the upgrade created it's own 350MB partition, right in front of the recovery image partition..

looking at your recovery info - you will see that partition "5" is the set location

And after the upgrade that recovery partition is now "6" and your right the upgrade does not redirect

Thus the broken link to recovery... all one has to do is register partition "6" as the recovery partition