Setting recovery partition to active then boot from there

[jgcvaleroso]

well i did copy the partition using the checkbox but im not sure its working. Yes, the recovery flash drive appears in the "use a device" option but when I click on it, it sends me back to advance options screen. when i try to do the restore option from there, it says the media inserted is invalid.

another thing. after i copied the recovery partition and rebooted, the drive i assign on the partition was gone and it went back into being hidden. is that alright?

 

[SIW2]

You could boot up winpe, find the drive letters for your installation partition, and the partition containing install.wim. (Drive letters will be different from winpe - that is normal - you must the letters as seen from winpe )

Then you can create a folder on your installation partition called Windows.old.

Move the following into the Windows.old folder:



Then Apply the install.wim to the installation partition.

E.G if your installation partition is E and your install.wim is in F:\recoveryimage\install.wim (letters as seen from winpe )

Your install.wim is big and may contain 2 images, check first by typing at cmd prompt:

dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:F:\recoveryimage\install.wim

Assuming there is only image,

At a cmd prompt, type:

Dism /apply-image /imagefile:F:\recoveryimage\install.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:E:\

 

[jgcvaleroso]

i dont quite understand. In your example, what is the installation partition? F is supposed to be the hidden recovery partition right?

and im not sure where to get this winpe.
Windows PE USB: Install Windows PE to a USB drive
is this site?

 

[theog]

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html

You can make a WinPE4 for Windows 8 without copying Recovery Partition.



CD version, Windows 8 only
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html (Windows 8 only)

 

[jgcvaleroso]

I've already created a recovery drive using my external hard drive.

 

[Saltgrass]

jgcvaleroso, from the owner's manual for that computer, it shows several Recovery Options for your system.

They all start with hitting F9 after a restart and being able to get into those options. And a Restart and Start for powered down may not behave the same way.

First you should have a Refresh option, which you cannot do because you do not have the Windows 8.1 Source files.

Then you have the Reset, which should work since you have registered the 8.0 image. The Fully Clean the drive option should reinstall Windows 8 from that registered image and set your system back to a Factory condition. So far the external drive has not been required.

There are also other Advanced Options, but I will assume you just want to Reset right now, which will remove all of your personal files.

Please be specific in choosing words describing what process you are using, and be as accurate and complete as possible in describing the result and any messages of that action.

So, you restart your system and hit F9 to access the recovery options. You then select Reset and Fully clean the drive. Does the process work to this point? What happens if it tries to Reset the drive? You could try the "Just remove my files" option, but that might lead to a version conflict with 8.1. Of course the Fully clean option may also lead to the same situation.

I am guessing the boot.wim you have available on your system is invoked if the system needs to boot into an Offline condition. Which would be the same thing as booting to a recovery drive...

 

[jgcvaleroso]

Yes, I have accessed the recovery option using both:

• by hitting F9 after a complete shutdown.
• by going to PC settings and selecting Advance startup.

(I assumed both have the same result)


Okay, so after I selected the "Reset your PC" option, its moves to the next screen which tells me what will that option do. After clicking Next, it will load up a bit and then it will ask for a boot media to continue. Thats about it. I'm stuck at that point.

 

[jgcvaleroso]

here are pictures to be exact.

 

[SIW2]

Very simple:

1. MOVE ( or delete ) the existing windows files on your intended install partition. Best to move them in case you want to dig something out later. Just create a folder on the install partition called anything you like, then MOVE those folders into it.

2. Tell dism to apply the image from install.wim onto that partition. It doesn't matter where install.wim is as long as you point dism at it. It could be on an hd , flash drive, anywhere you can see it.


E.G If install.wim is in Z:\MYFATBUM\INSTALL.WIM and your intended install partition is letter Y

Dism /apply-image /imagefile:Z:\MYFATBUM\INSTALL.WIM /index:1 /ApplyDir:Y:\

 

[SIW2]

You can't do the above from within your existing Windows of course.

Therefore, boot up windows recovery environment ( that loads into ram and does not run from the hard drive ) . Do it from there.

Windows recovery environment can be accessed lots of ways. You can get at it via Advanced boot menu and select "repair my computer", or you can boot up any win8 install dvd and select "repair my computer".

It is probably easiest to use my little program to make a better version of windows recovery environment for you.

Get it from POST 4 on this page. New Free AOMEI partition manager 32 and 64 bit - Windows 7 Help Forums


Ir doesn't matter if you haven't got any of the programs mentioned on that page, it will make the enhanced recovery environment ( also called pe or winpe ) anyhow.

 

[jgcvaleroso]

@SIW2
what is the install partition?

what do I do after downloading peallv10x64.zip ?
when I run the PEALL-RUNASADMINv10.cmd, a command prompt with yellow appears and then disappears instantly.

 

[SIW2]

install partition is the partition you want to install onto.

Strange the peall-etc.cmd isn't working. It works fine for me.

 

[jgcvaleroso]

Here. I've manage to take a snap shot of the command prompt that appears.



sorry its blurry. It disappears to fast for me.

 

[jgcvaleroso]

this is what happens when I select the "Repair my computer" option.

 

[SIW2]

PEALLv11x64.zip

 

[jgcvaleroso]

PEALLv11x64.zip

This created an file in my desktop named "ISO" so I'm assuming it worked. Thanks for that.

Do I burn this on a CD or is there a program inside that I just need to launch?

 

[Saltgrass]

Yes, I have accessed the recovery option using both:

• by hitting F9 after a complete shutdown.
• by going to PC settings and selecting Advance startup.

(I assumed both have the same result)


Okay, so after I selected the "Reset your PC" option, its moves to the next screen which tells me what will that option do. After clicking Next, it will load up a bit and then it will ask for a boot media to continue. Thats about it. I'm stuck at that point.

I have been trying some things, and in this situation, the only thing that showed as valid media was an Install flash drive. Plugging it in resulted in an immediate check and was shown as being valid. So it seems the image on the recovery flash drive or the one in the Recovery partition are not usable for some reason, possibly version differences.

I will be testing today, but not hopeful for an easy resolution.

 

[SIW2]

It is better to extract it to the root of your drive, e.g. c:\peallv11x64. Your "desktop" will have very long paths. It should have offered to create an .iso file


If the iso folder was populated correctly, then you can copy the contents onto a flash drive that has been formatted ( it should be formatted fat32 if you are using uefi boot )

PEALLv11x64.zip

This created an file in my desktop named "ISO" so I'm assuming it worked. Thanks for that.

Do I burn this on a CD or is there a program inside that I just need to launch?

 

[Saltgrass]

I just set up a system with Windows 8 and a Recovery partition and updated it to 8.1. The Reset seems to recognize the Windows 8 image on the Recovery drive and I was not asked for any media. I have not completed the entire reset process, but it looks better than before.

I noticed some differences in the reagent.xml on the recovery drive. One that would seem to be relevant is the change in the 8.1 notation from ImageLocation to PBRImageLocation. The information for both entries is exactly the same so you may be able to enter the info you show for ImageLocation into the PBRImageLocation line.

There is another difference that might be significant and that is a line for DownlevelWinreLocation. Since the Windows 8.1 update adds an additional small recovery partition (and you show this), the line contains references to the original Windows 8 recovery information, like the path to the Winre.wim file for Windows 8.

There are some other differences, such as OSBuildVersion, WindowsRE version IsAutoRepairOn. One entry was removed which was BootKey.

If you could look on your recovery drive and check for the reagent.xml file, then save it as a .txt file and attach or copy in your next post, we could compare the listing to one that seems to work.

Just a point of interest, when I updated to 8.1, these changes were made automatically and I did not have to use reagentc to set anything.

 

[jgcvaleroso]

@Saltgrass I can't seem to get a hold on to reagent.xml file inside. I cant see it in windows explorer. Any suggestions on programs that might help?

@SIW2 Okay so I transferred the BIN folder and the Command Script file to C:\ and launched the script. Here's exactly what I did next:

I reformatted my external drive (the one with the copied Recovery Drive) to FAT32(default)

then I opened the ISO file that came out in C:\ and copied the contents (BOOT, EFI, sources folder) to my external drive. (I copied the files inside and not the whole ISO folder)

in BIOS, I set my external drive as boot priority #1 then saved and exit.

after that, my laptop booted normally so I'm assuming I'm still in my normal windows environment.