Laptop Recovery Partition


  1. Posts : 48
    Windows 10 Home (x64) Version 20H2
       #1

    Laptop Recovery Partition


    I recently updated my Toshiba Satellite from Win 8.1 to Win 10. And everything seems to be running smoothly.

    My question is, how to have the recovery partition with Win 10 and not Win 8.1?

    Please remember the KISS principle
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  2. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #2

    Windows 10 does not use traditional recovery partitons.

    To create a bootable external recovery drive:-

    control panel, recovery, create recovery drive, and click option to copy system files.
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  3. Posts : 48
    Windows 10 Home (x64) Version 20H2
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Ok, so I can use a USB as an external recovery drive?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #4

    lvr181 said:
    Ok, so I can use a USB as an external recovery drive?
    Yes, which is good to have because if your hard drive completely dies the recovery partition will die with it. The recovery USB/DVD will do everything a recovery partition will do.

    But...
    you can make a recovery partition - you have to download the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft tech bench, mount the iso file, copy the correct install.wim file to the recovery partition then use the
    reagentc /setosimage command to point the recovery environment to it.
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  5. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #5

    NavyLCDR said:
    Yes, which is good to have because if your hard drive completely dies the recovery partition will die with it. The recovery USB/DVD will do everything a recovery partition will do.

    But...
    you can make a recovery partition - you have to download the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft tech bench, mount the iso file, copy the correct install.wim file to the recovery partition then use the
    reagentc /setosimage command to point the recovery environment to it.

    On tablets which used the old 8.1+Bing OS, when you created a recovery drive, it also included the special drivers not included in the standard MS iso. I assume these drivers were injected by the oem into the wimboot recovery partition.

    I do not know if you create a recovery drive in Windows 10 if the same applies. I would hope so, or else there would be little to be gained in using a recovery drive (other than being marginally more up to date).

    Incidentally, I do not think it is really a good idea to create an actual recovery partition, unless you updated after each major build upgrade which seems more hassle than it is worth eg you could go several builds, downloading the iso, but really you only need to download iso on an as needs basis (maybe using another pc). Of course backing up your drivers is a good plan.

    Even if you make a recovery drive, the new build model now means you should recreate it after each major build update which is a point perhaps not fully appreciated by many users.
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  6. Posts : 4,131
    Windows 3.1 to Windows 11
       #6

    For Windows 10 Recovery Drive =
    Control Panel > Recovery > Create a Recovery Drive

    If you do this after every "Patch Tuesday" your Windows 10 Recovery Drive will always be for the current (Updated/Patched) OS...

    Remember the Recovery Drive is the Windows 10 OS Only...
    No 3rd party drivers or Programs/Apps..

    So also good to export drivers to Recovery Drive...

    But your Best Solution is to use Macrium Reflect >
    http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx?x-ca=blog

    And create System Disk backups...
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #7

    cereberus said:
    On tablets which used the old 8.1+Bing OS, when you created a recovery drive, it also included the special drivers not included in the standard MS iso. I assume these drivers were injected by the oem into the wimboot recovery partition.
    I have one of those tablets. I knew that 8.1 + Bing could not be downloaded anywhere, so the first thing I did before I even created an account on it was to boot it with a Macrium Reflect Rescue USB and make an image of the 32gb memory. Then I created a user account and the very next thing I did was run:
    DISM.exe /Online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\destpath

    Part in red was changed to a folder I created on a microSD card inserted in the tablet. That saved all those special drivers. Then when I clean installed Windows 10 all I had to do was go to device manager and point all the "unknown devices" to my microSD card to load the drivers.

    Then I discovered a couple more problems, though. The screen rotation was off 90 - 180 degrees and only one camera would be operable at a time. So I ended up restoring the Windows 8.1 image and looking in the registry for the keys to set the screen orientation right, exported the key and imported it in Window 10 and had to uninstall the Windows 10 camera app and then reinstall it and it picked up both cameras then.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #8

    NavyLCDR said:
    I have one of those tablets. I knew that 8.1 + Bing could not be downloaded anywhere, so the first thing I did before I even created an account on it was to boot it with a Macrium Reflect Rescue USB and make an image of the 32gb memory. Then I created a user account and the very next thing I did was run:
    DISM.exe /Online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\destpath

    Part in red was changed to a folder I created on a microSD card inserted in the tablet. That saved all those special drivers. Then when I clean installed Windows 10 all I had to do was go to device manager and point all the "unknown devices" to my microSD card to load the drivers.

    Then I discovered a couple more problems, though. The screen rotation was off 90 - 180 degrees and only one camera would be operable at a time. So I ended up restoring the Windows 8.1 image and looking in the registry for the keys to set the screen orientation right, exported the key and imported it in Window 10 and had to uninstall the Windows 10 camera app and then reinstall it and it picked up both cameras then.

    Yeah clean installing Windows 10 on these tablets is more complicated than on normal pcs (done all of above more or less).

    Incidentally Macrium Reflect Free is the only package I have found that reliably works on both my tablets (linx8 and hp stream 7).
      My Computer


 

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