Can't create a Windows 10 recovery drive; required files missing...

When I attempt to create a recovery drive, I receive the message, "We can't create a recovery drive on this PC. Some required files are missing."

I found a suggestion to enter the following at an Administrator command prompt:

reagentc /disable

reagentc /setreimage /path \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddiskX\partitionX\Recovery\WindowsRE

reagentc /enable

... where X is the number of the C drive, and the partition number of the system setup. Now for me, it is harddisk0 and partition2 because I have an EFI partition at the start of my system disk. However, when I execute

reagentc /setreimage /path \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition2\Recovery\WindowsRE

I receive the message, "REAGENTC.EXE: The Windows RE image cannot be stored in the specified volume. Use the RETAIN command in DISKPART to prepare the volume and try again."


Before I do try using the RETAIN command in DISKPART, is this actually likely to fix my issue or cause me more problems? Is there another easier way to go about creating a recovery drive in the first place?

After experiencing this, I have to say that it is little wonder that very few people have bothered to create a recovery drive for their Windows PC. It can obviously be a lengthy, complex process involving the command prompt, etc.

Thanks for any info.

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, I actually use Macrium Reflect free version to image my boot drive to an external HDD. That is a great backup solution. I only image my machine once every 2 weeks or so because it takes a bit of time. I was thinking I'd like to make a recovery drive so that I'd potentially have an alternative way to restore my system, particularly in case it has been a number of days since I made my last image backup... Or I guess I could make more frequent image backups :)

That could be my problem: I do not have a recovery partition. So maybe my machine wasn't setup in a way sanctioned by Microsoft. In Disk Management, I have a 128 MB EFI partition, then a 155 GB C:\ partition. The following partitions are Linux and Linux swap; I dual boot my machine. I can tell you that other partitioning software, shows a Microsoft Reserved (MSR) Partition of 100 MB between the EFI and C:\ volumes.




All that said, is there a way I can rectify my lack of a Recovery partition? I do have software to allow me to resize and add partitions, etc. I'm aware there are some risks, but I figure I can make an image backup of the entire SSD immediately before attempting this... :)

Is the MSR the same thing as a Recovery partition? If so, I'm guessing 100 MB is too small. I'm also curious why it doesn't show up in Disk Management. And when I entered "harddisk0\partition2" in the REAGENTC command, did that refer to the MSR partition or my C:\ volume? I was assuming it should refer to C:\, and was also assuming that C:\ was partition 2 because it is in the 2nd position in Disk Management.

Thanks again!

I would suggest you not worry about it. You can create a recovery partition using @topgundcp's suggestion, but it won't have any files in it and thus reagentc won't enable it because there is nothing there to enable.

I would just make a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD and export your third party drivers using DISM. You will have everything you need to re-install Windows 10.

In a Command Prompt (Admin):

dism /online /export-driver /destination:G:\Drivers

The path in red is to a folder you create on an external storage device to hold the exported drivers.

Thanks for the replies and info.

So if I did create a Recovery partition, would there be no way to actually populate it with appropriate files?

The main reason I want a recovery drive is to increase the probability of being able to repair Windows 10 if say it becomes non-bootable.

Correct me if I'm wrong, a custom Windows 10 installation USB flash drive would enable me to quickly re-install Windows 10 with all the drivers. But I'd still need to re-install software and re-configure settings, etc., right?

Thanks again. I'll go ahead and mark this thread as solved, since my original question is answered.