cmd (admin)
mountvol B: /s
run "Notepad" as Admin
and File open and navigate to B:\
Is there an EFI Folder or BIOS?
According this pic, EFI is partition 3
according diskpart EFI is in partition 4
When finished type cmd
mountvol B: /d
Do not shutdown the PC till the problem is solved unless you have a bootable USB!
also run
C:\Windows\System32>powercfg /H off
Last edited by Pentagon; 1 Week Ago at 03:50.
Thanks Pentagon - first bit gives an error - I thought maybe I should have done 'C' as that's my main drive, but same result:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>mountvol B: /s
The parameter is incorrect.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>mountvol C: /s
The parameter is incorrect.
I may well be being dumb here, but I can't find 'system' under C - definitely ran notepad as admin. Looked through all the 'system' type folders in under the Windows folder, but no bios / efi mention:
The /s parameter is specifically to mount the EFI partition ( https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...mands/mountvol /s Mounts the EFI system partition on the specified drive. ). I only semi-know about these things, for instance Idk if MBR2GPT implies creating an EFI partition, that is not present in MBR disks.
I DID NOT tell you to run mountvol C: /s !!!!!!!!!!
We search the WinRE.wim first:
1. cmd
dir /a /s c:\Windows\System32\winre.wim
if not there:
2.
diskpart
sel disk 0
sel par 4
assign letter=R
exit
dir R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /a /s
Are there these 3 files?
boot.sdi
ReAgent.xml
Winre.wim
3.
only if not there
diskpart
sel disk 0
sel par 4
remove
sel par 3
assign letter=R
exit
dir R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /a /s
ONLY when found in 2. or 3.
cmd
XCOPY R:\Recovery C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
Thanks Pentagon! Steps 1 and 2 couldn't find it but step 3 has got those three files!
C:\WINDOWS\system32>dir R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /a /s
Volume in drive R has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8A30-A5C7
Directory of R:\Recovery\WindowsRE
25/04/2024 14:03 <DIR> .
25/04/2024 14:03 <DIR> ..
07/12/2019 10:08 3,170,304 boot.sdi
25/04/2024 14:03 1,119 ReAgent.xml
12/03/2021 11:24 477,566,327 Winre.wim
Just wanted to check before running the XCOPY command whether that could be run in cmd (admin) or had to be in normal cmd - I don't want to get this wrong! Thanks!!
The MBR2GPT was successful.
The first system partition can't be deleted because the computer booted as Legacy-MBR using the system partition. Once you boot as EFI-GPT you will be able to delete it.
What Pentagon is trying to do is to format the System partition, convert it to EFI, delete the EFI created by MBR2GPT, enlarge the Recovery Partition (to 1G) and install WinRE.wim on it.
As playing with partitions is a risky task, I suggest you create a drive image backup on an external drive and a boot able Win 10 USB installation drive.
Follow this steps
- Create a boot able Win 10 USB installation drive.
- Shut down and set BIOS to boot as UEFI.
It should boot normally. Then I'll give you more instructions.
cmd (admin)
XCOPY R:\Recovery\WindowsRE C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
but your WinRE.wim is too old being successfully updated!
!
YOU are responsible for that!
Have you ever heard s.th. about KB5034441?
Prepare a USB-BootStick
According diskpart you are in Partition 3, according Diskmanagement you are in Partition 4.
Is it normal that in the screenshot of post #8 there's an Active partition outside the main disk (E: in Disk 2). It's the only Active partition. Just guessing, the MBR bootloader might be there since before starting this, or it could have landed there somehow. Idk if this is important.
According to this bios - I'm confused! I don't have an EFI partition in my drive, but I can boot Windows 10 anyways - Super User , UEFI + GPT may have no EFI partition, instead:
Thread: I'm confused! I don't have an EFI partition in my drive, but I can boot Windows 10 anyways
1 Answer: This is possible. EFI doesn't HAVE to be a separate partition.
In this case you have a (hidden) EFI folder located on your C: partition in stead of a separate EFI partition. Or the OEM or Recovery partition doubles as EFI partition as well.
Some pre-installed computers (especially if they also have a recovery system) are setup like this.
If you did a Windows 7/8 upgrade to Windows 10 you can under some conditions also end up with a strange setup like this.
If your computer works fine just leave it be.
If you really want to have standard install you will have to wipe the entire SSD (also remove the OEM/recovery!) and re-install Windows 10 from scratch. It that case it will setup its normal EFI as a seperate partition.
Comment 2: [...] the EFI folder has to be on a FAT partition [...]
Comment 3: [...] I have seen UEFI biosses that also have on-board drivers for NTFS [...]
Thanks Pentagon - no files copied?
C:\WINDOWS\system32>XCOPY R:\Recovery\WindowsRE C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
0 File(s) copied
I have Windows set to auto-update so not sure why that's so old? Is Win RE not covered by that?
I have prepared a USB via the MCT link Megahertz posted yesterday. Here's the current disk management:
Quote
