Windows Recovery Environment

HollowKnight · 21 Apr 2018

I've made a clean install of Windows 10 Professional, my partiton layout
Part1: Recovery
Part2: EFI
Part3: Microsoft Reserved
Part4: Windows_C
Unallocated
Part1 is actually NTFS contains \Recovery\WindowsRE\WinRE.wim supposedly to be loaded as Recovery environment. After some modifications. Now I want to back to Original Microsoft Windows RE.
I've successfully mounted Part1 as R:, now R:\Recovery\WndowsRE\WinRE.wim does exist and I WANT Recovery configuration point to this. I've also reset all ReAgentC.XML to 0 for the fileds id, guid, offset etc.
But when I run reagentc /enable /setimage /parth R:\Recovery\WindowsRE, it does not perform my command. It always return:
Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk1\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE
I want it point to PARTITION1 not PARTITION4?
Is there any way to use Notepad or in worst case hexedit to get it done?
Thank you

lx07 · 21 Apr 2018

Try disabling it first to unregister it from C:

reagentc /disable
reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE
reagentc /enable
reagentc /info

You also have a typo "/parth"

HollowKnight · 21 Apr 2018

No changes
PS C:\Users\nguyenc> mountvol R: "\\?\Volume{cdddae3a-c085-4309-acda-0789503bdb45}"
PS C:\Users\nguyenc> reagentc /disable
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

PS C:\Users\nguyenc> reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE
Directory set to: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk1\partition1\Recovery\WindowsRE

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

PS C:\Users\nguyenc> reagentc /enable
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

PS C:\Users\nguyenc> reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

Windows RE status: Enabled
Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk1\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE
Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: f554b0fa-4301-11e8-ae5d-80ac6b3e47c5
Recovery image location:
Recovery image index: 0
Custom image location:
Custom image index: 0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

lx07 · 21 Apr 2018

create a log file:

reagentc /disable
reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE
reagentc /enable /logpath c:\WinRE.log

I'm getting same issue as you:

Code:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> reagentc /disable
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE\WinRE.wim
Directory set to: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Recovery\WindowsRE

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> reagentc /enable /logpath c:\WinRE.log
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

    Windows RE status:         Enabled
    Windows RE location:       \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE
    Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 8ddcf088-4251-11e8-a432-f20650aa86e6
    Recovery image location:
    Recovery image index:      0
    Custom image location:
    Custom image index:        0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

It says my Recovery partition is too small - from c:\WinRE.log

Code:

2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Partition details: {Offset: 1048576, Free space: 40579072, Total space: 471855104}
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements WinRE WIM size: 416713175
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Required free space: 52428800
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Warning                      [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Not enough free space req = 52428800 avail = 40579072 offset = 1048576 
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] --Install on target OS step 4: check if we can put winre.wim in other partitions or create one if needed.
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] CanPutWinREOnOtherPartitions WinRE is not staged. Searching for a suitable partition for WinRE.
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] Entering FindTargetPartition
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] RegLoadKey $OFFLINE$SYSTEM failed. Error: 0x522.
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  Not allowed to repartition the disk
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] Start looping through each partition and initialize os partition, recovery partition and system partition for MBR
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  Checking partition at offset 472907776, partition number: 2
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  skip GPT Partition which type is not PARTITION_MSFT_RECOVERY_GUID
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  Checking partition at offset 114889326592, partition number: 5
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  skip GPT Partition which type is not PARTITION_MSFT_RECOVERY_GUID
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  Checking partition at offset 594542592, partition number: 4
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  find OS partition
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  Checking partition at offset 1048576, partition number: 1
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Partition details: {Offset: 1048576, Free space: 40579072, Total space: 471855104}
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements WinRE WIM size: 416713175
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Required free space: 52428800
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Warning                      [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Not enough free space req = 52428800 avail = 40579072 offset = 1048576 
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe]  skip partition because it does not meet WinRE requirements
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] Complete looping through each partition
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] ----Search target partition option #1: try existing WinRE partition
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] ----Search target partition option #2: try first recovery partition
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] ----Search target partition option #3: try system partition for MBR
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] ----Search target partition option #4: try new recovery partition if allowed
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] ----Search target partition option #5: try target OS partition
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Partition details: {Offset: 594542592, Free space: 18595831808, Total space: 114294779904}
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements WinRE WIM size: 416713175
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] MeetPartitionRequirements Required free space: 469141975
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] Found target partition: use target OS partition, offset: 594542592
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] Exit FindTargetPartition returns with status code: 0x0
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] --Install on target OS step 5: set WinRE settings and restore system to a good state when hitting any errors
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] Enter SetWinRESettings
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] RegLoadKey $OFFLINE$SYSTEM failed. Error: 0x522.
2018-04-21 09:35:43, Info                         [ReAgentc.exe] Copying WinRE from \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Recovery\WindowsRE to staging location on \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition4

My WinRE partition is 500MB - looks like it decides there is not enough free space so as it can't repartition it copies WinRE.wim to C and registers it there.

These are the rules:

If the partition is less than 500 MB, it must have at least 50 MB of free space.
If the partition is 500 MB or larger, it must have at least 320 MB of free space.

UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions | Microsoft Docs

I tried deleting my recovery partition and recreating it 499MB:

Code:

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Recovery           449 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    System             100 MB   451 MB
  Partition 3    Reserved            16 MB   551 MB
  Partition 4    Primary            106 GB   567 MB
  Partition 5    Primary           6144 MB   106 GB

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     R   Recovery     NTFS   Partition    449 MB  Healthy
  Volume 1     C   MacBook      NTFS   Partition    106 GB  Healthy    Boot
  Volume 2     D                ReFS   Partition   6144 MB  Healthy
  Volume 3                      FAT32  Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System

DISKPART>

That didn't work either - same issue - so the free space check in reagentc seems to be bugged (I tried on both 16299 BIOS and 117134.1 UEFI). At least the way it works doesn't conform to documentation as my WinRE.wim is 397MB which leaves more than 50MB of free space it claims is required.

If you have the same cause in your log file then it looks like we both need to shuffle our partitions around and make a bigger recovery.

MS recommend putting recovery after C these days (see here).

Personally I'm going to wait until Spring update and do clean install with recovery 1GB after C. It definitely didn't do this when I clean installed last year - it worked fine.

HollowKnight · 21 Apr 2018

Thanks for the hints,

I just shrinked WinRE partition from 499M down to 449M before moving to SSD. I am upgrading to Windows Insider Preview 17650 RS5 now. Will expand it to 499M and report back.

Thank you

HollowKnight · 21 Apr 2018

Just upgraded to Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview 17650 RS5. The upgrade delete old recovery files in Part1, shrinked Part4 Windows_C and allocate a new Part5 as Recovery of 720MB

Code:

PS R:\Recovery\WindowsRE> cmd /c dir /a
 Volume in drive R has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 28B7-860A

 Directory of R:\Recovery\WindowsRE

04/21/2018  06:12 PM    <DIR>          .
04/21/2018  06:12 PM    <DIR>          ..
04/15/2018  07:17 PM         3,170,304 boot.sdi
04/21/2018  06:12 PM             1,115 ReAgent.xml
04/21/2018  05:03 PM       441,799,058 Winre.wim
               3 File(s)    444,970,477 bytes
               2 Dir(s)     369,410,048 bytes free

.
Now I am reorganizing partitions on my disk and move Recovery back to Part1 and experiment how big it needs for new recovery.
Thanks

topgundcp · 21 Apr 2018

First set Folder option to show all hidden file.

Here's how ReAgentc works:
With ReAgentc /disable:

WinRe.wim is moved to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
Also a copy of ReAgent.xml is created and the first few lines contains all 0's
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?><WindowsRE version="2.0"> <WinreBCD id="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"/> <WinreLocation path="" id="0" offset="0" guid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"/> <ImageLocation path="" id="0" offset="0" guid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"/>
WindowsRe folder is removed from the Recovery partition as shown:

With Reagentc /Enable:

WindowsRE folder is re-created and contains 3 files: WinRe.wim is moved back into this folder, boot.sdi and a new ReAgent.xml is created and the first few lines contains:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?><WindowsRE version="2.0"> <WinreBCD id="{2234e4d9-43fd-11e8-ae15-d43d7e93ddbf}"/> <WinreLocation path="\Recovery\WindowsRE" id="0" offset="1048576" guid="{50d1d77f-76ba-4d30-a47f-e8a6967616ab}"/> <ImageLocation path="" id="0" offset="0" guid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"/> <PBRImageLocation path="" id="0" offset="0" guid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000000000000000}" index="0"/>
NOTE: The new ReAgent.xml is also saved in: C:\Windows\System32\Recovery

You need not to mount/assign any letter to the Recovery partition. If for some reason it's broken. Make sure you have WinRe.wim and Reagent.xml (containing all 0's) under: C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
then type: reagentc /enable

FYI, WinRE.wim is ~350MB so if the Recovery partition is 450MB, it's plenty of room. Starting with version 1709 and later the Recovery partition size is: 500MB.

HollowKnight · 21 Apr 2018

Hi there,

With MiniTool Partition Manager I was playing around with all partition on my SDD, which is relative small 128GB so all relocations finish in 10 mins include 3-4 reboot cycles. I made Partitions Copies with Macrium Reflect for just in case backups. I've put My REcovery Partition as part1 of 790MB Size as it initially set after upgrading to 17650.

I've test recovery boot with reagentc /boottore and reboot. All recovery works.

Actually I've never used Reset or Recovery windows before, I found clean install with properly backup restore tool is much faster than recovery a troubled OS.

Thank you

NavyLCDR · 21 Apr 2018

HollowKnight said:

Actually I've never used Reset or Recovery windows before, I found clean install with properly backup restore tool is much faster than recovery a troubled OS.

Thank you

I don't keep recovery partitions on my computers. Everything available in the recovery partition is also available by booting from a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive. And...like you say...if my system gets messed up enough to actually require the recovery partition, I'm going to restore a backup image or do a clean install anyway.

HollowKnight · 21 Apr 2018

topgundcp said:

FYI, WinRE.wim is ~350MB so if the Recovery partition is 450MB, it's plenty of room. Starting with version 1709 and later the Recovery partition size is: 500MB.

WinRE of 17650 Insider Preview is 441M, and clean install set default recovery partition 500MB as part1 followed by 100M EFI, 16MB Microsoft Reserved then C_DRIVE system partitions.

Code:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> cmd /c dir /a R:\Recovery\WindowsRE\
 Volume in drive R is Windows RE
 Volume Serial Number is CED4-0B20

 Directory of R:\Recovery\WindowsRE

04/22/2018  07:24 PM    <DIR>          .
04/22/2018  07:24 PM    <DIR>          ..
04/15/2018  07:17 PM         3,170,304 boot.sdi
04/22/2018  07:24 PM             1,135 ReAgent.xml
04/21/2018  05:03 PM       441,799,058 Winre.wim
               3 File(s)    444,970,497 bytes
               2 Dir(s)      63,209,472 bytes free