Reagentc failed

cognus · 30 Oct 2019

Shawn or other friend; in using MBR2GPT this am on a fresh install for which I used Win usb media - all of which went well, the conversion went well, but the edit to Reagentc failed. I thought, per the suggestion in the MBR2GPT.exe helps, to disable /enable but it all fails. Suggestion?

paste:

Code:

MBR2GPT: Attempting to convert disk 0
MBR2GPT: Retrieving layout of disk
MBR2GPT: Validating layout, disk sector size is: 512 bytes
MBR2GPT: Trying to shrink the system partition
MBR2GPT: Trying to shrink the OS partition
MBR2GPT: Creating the EFI system partition
MBR2GPT: Installing the new boot files
MBR2GPT: Performing the layout conversion
MBR2GPT: Migrating default boot entry
MBR2GPT: Adding recovery boot entry
MBR2GPT: Fixing drive letter mapping
MBR2GPT: Conversion completed successfullyCall WinReReapir to repair WinRE
MBR2GPT: Failed to update ReAgent.xml, please try to  manually disable and enable WinRE.
MBR2GPT: Before the new system can boot properly you need to switch the firmware to boot to UEFI mode!PS 
C:\Windows\system32> ReAgentc /infoWindows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:    Windows RE status:         Disabled    
Windows RE location:    Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 96f6f862-ef65-11e9-bebb-b3998c401c9e    Recovery image location:    Recovery image index:      0    Custom image location:    Custom image index:        0

muchomurka · 30 Oct 2019

Empty recovery image location string. Setting image path before winre enabling needed.
perform these steps:

1. set drive letter to recovery partition
2. reagentc /setreimage /path F:\Recovery\WindowsRE
...winre.wim registration (use proper drive letter)
3. reagentc /enable
...winre activating
4. remove drive letter from recovery partition

Can't enable Windows Recovery Environment

cognus · 30 Oct 2019

adding detail:

muchomurka · 30 Oct 2019

Post #2 is all you need. Simply assign drive letter in Disk Mgmt console.

cognus · 30 Oct 2019

ok. The first note I was directed to said to remove the drive letter after the other instructions were done.
in the screenshot

so, then this:
PS C:\Windows\system32> reagentc /enableREAGENTC.EXE: Unable to update Boot Configuration Data.PS C:\Windows\system32>

???

- - - Updated - - -

just a dumb question: assuming I shut down, enter BIOS, set UEFI, reboot ... does the above prevent the system from booting, or just make recovery impossible in the event of issues downstream?

muchomurka · 30 Oct 2019

"Unable to update Boot Configuration Data.PS"

Restart & use admin command prompt instead of powershell. Otherwise no idea. Some problem with BCD store, can be result of mbr2gpt, try to google it.

cognus · 30 Oct 2019

so, set reimage path succeeded. double checking inside the new-assigned D drive, it all looks ok.. do I just bail out and remove the drive letter and life is good now or what? What's the point of enable & disable exercise?

thank you for your help. Just haven't run into this rabbit hole before

I did do quit a bit of searching via google, read threads, none of them seemed to end well.. finally people give up and go "lets find a clean image and start from scratch.". all I wanted to do was set UEFI. otherwise, no issues, its just that it wasn't 'optimal'

muchomurka · 30 Oct 2019

do I just bail out and remove the drive letter and life is good now or what? What's the point of enable & disable exercise?

The only reason for temprorary assigning drive letter to recovery partition is simpler path in reagentc /setreimage, instead of fiddling with devices harddisks partitions etc. See reagentc /info for how system stores the path. After setting proper path you can safely remove drive letter from recovery partition as it is no longer needed.

But without successfull reagentc /enable command, winre wil not be usable. Try admin command prompt after restart. As a last chance, make system image using macrium and perform in-place upgrade attempt.

I have no answers to your other questions, sorry.

muchomurka · 30 Oct 2019

One more thing to try: osguid parameter

reagentc /enable /osguid <bcd_guid>

/osguid <bcd_guid>:
This option allows you to enable your custom Windows RE boot image from Windows PE. It can only be used after bcdboot.exe has been run. <bcd_guid> is the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier of the target Windows installation, obtained by running bcdedit -enum -v.

Example
Reagentc /enable /osguid {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}

Be careful, make system image before.

NavyLCDR · 30 Oct 2019

cognus said:

just a dumb question: assuming I shut down, enter BIOS, set UEFI, reboot ... does the above prevent the system from booting, or just make recovery impossible in the event of issues downstream?

Having reagentc disabled will neither prevent the system from booting nor will it make recovery impossible. There are probably 100's of thousands of computers out there with reagentc disabled and the users have no idea at all about it. All of the functions of the recovery environment can still be used by booting from a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD.