Windows 8 [SOLVED]Recovery Options Missing

[hawkeye62]

I have a Windows 8.1 Asus UX303LA laptop up-to-date on all updates. If I do a shift + restart, it goes to a "Choose Options" screen that includes "Continue", "Use a Device", Troubleshoot" and "Turn Off". If I select "Troubleshoot", the options are, "UEFI Firmware" and "Startup Settings". There are no options for repair, reset or restore.

I recently changed the 128 GB ssd for a 250 GB ssd. I first cloned the 128 GB ssd to the 250 GB ssd using Macrium Reflect. Then I had a local repair center remove the 128 GB ssd and install the new 250 GB ssd. Everything worked as expected. The laptop booted to Windows 8.1 with no issues. As expected, all of the partitions were the same size as the original 128 GB ssd, with the rest of the 250 GB ssd as un-allocated space. There was a 20 GB partition labeled "Restore" following the "OS (C)" partition, then the un-allocated space. I then moved the "Restore" partition to the end of the space, then resized the "OS (C)" to utilize the free space.

Everything appears to work perfectly, except for the lack of repair, reset or restore options. Can anyone explain what happened? I am guessing that somehow, installing a new larger ssd has caused the problem. Is there any way to "fix" the problem so that the new ssd has all of the recovery options? I did make a Macrium rescue CD and a backup image of the original ssd and also one of the new ssd, so I have a way to recover from an ssd failure, but it would be nice to restore the system to factory conditions if I ever decided to sell the laptop.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks, Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

Not sure what might have happened, but cloning the drive might have messed up the partition identifiers and created some problem with finding the Windows tools.

What might help is opening an administrative command prompt and using the command reagentc /info and attach the results. You can copy it from the Command Window and paste.

Also, while in the command prompt, use Diskpart to select the drive and then use a list partition command and copy and paste that listing.

And to complete, a picture of your Disk Management window so we can see the partitions.

This may seem like a lot of information, but we need to check information for one source to confirm some of the settings.

 

[hawkeye62]

Sorry, I don't know how to copy and paste from a command window. I did notice that a WinRE partition was listed as disabled.

Thanks for your help.

Jim

 

[hawkeye62]

Here is a snip of Disk Management. (I hope) The 128 GB partition is missing. But, I can see it in Macrium Reflect.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[hawkeye62]

And here is a second file you wanted.

 

[hawkeye62]

Here is the third file you wanted.

Thanks again for your help.

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

The attachments are fine, but to copy from a command prompt, right click and select Mark. Then highlight what you want to copy and right click again to copy.

Neither the Recovery Tools or the Recovery Factory image are registered. We can try the easy fix first which is running two commands.

reagentc /disable
reagentc /enable

Then run the reagentc /info again to see if the Recovery tools will show as registered and the listing will show as enabled instead of disabled. I will post what it should look like when I get back on my Windows 8 system.

If it doesn't show as enabled and registered, we can try running a command to register it, assuming the Winre.wim file is in the 900 MB partition and this is Windows 8.1.

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

If the enable command did not work, hopefully this will register just the Recovery Tools. We will have to Register the Factory image next since it may be more complicated.

 

[hawkeye62]

Here is the result of the steps you suggested. It doesn't look like good news.

I still can't do a copy from a command window. It highlights OK, but any attempt to copy just removes the highlight.

Thanks for your continued help.

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

When you right click after highlighting in the Command Prompt, it is copied. All you need to do is then paste it wherever.

Let me know what happens when you run the second set of commands. These commands assume the directory structure for the Winre.wim file. Depending on what type of message you get when you run those commands, we may have to adjust that.

Below is the reagentc listing from my system so you can see how it should look. The partitions and drive will be different on yours.

C:\Windows\system32>reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:
Windows RE status: Enabled
Windows RE location: Link Removed
Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 666fc8e3-1231-11e4-814d-999cae8b55b8
Recovery image location: Link Removed
Recovery image index: 1
Custom image location:
Custom image index: 0
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

Edit: You can also copy from the forum and paste into a command prompt window.

 

[hawkeye62]

Here is an additional attempt to complete your suggestion.

Thanks, Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

The message you got concerning the partition came up in another thread regarding that partition. If you run a detail partition command in Diskpart, as illustrated in the quote, it will show the FS as being RAW instead of NTFS. If that is the case, the other Recovery partition may be in the same circumstance.

If this is your situation, all I know to do is to try to recover the partitions using a third party partition management software like Partition Wizard, which we can discuss if this is in fact the case. Please do not use EaseUS since it causes some problems on a UEFI install.

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.3.9600
Copyright (C) 1999-2013 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: AIO
DISKPART> sel dis 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list par

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 500 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 OEM 40 MB 501 MB
Partition 3 Reserved 128 MB 541 MB
Partition 4 Recovery 750 MB 669 MB
Partition 5 Primary 221 GB 1419 MB
Partition 6 Recovery 9 GB 223 GB

DISKPART> sel par 4
Partition 4 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> det par
Partition 4
Type : de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
Hidden : Yes
Required: Yes
Attrib : 0X8000000000000001
Offset in Bytes: 701497344
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 6 WINRETOOLS NTFS Partition 750 MB Healthy Hidden

 

[hawkeye62]

Looks like both recovery partitions are RAW. Strange because Macrium Reflect shows both as NTFS.

Thanks, Jim

 

[hawkeye62]

One other piece of info. With Macrium Reflect, I can browse the image I made of the 250 GB ssd after moving the "Restore" partition and resizing the OS (C) partition. Both of the "Recovery" partitions show normal NTFS fs and I can browse the files in the partitions.

Thanks, Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

I need to ask what utility you used to move the Recovery partition?

I suggest you download the bootable free home version of Partition Wizard. Burn it to a CD and boot to it. You could try booting it using UEFI and Secure Boot, but I think you might need to set your system to boot Legacy.

After you get booted into the utility, you can use the Partition Recovery option. It will scan the drive and show you all the partitions it finds. Check those partitions and make sure they look accurate. If you see a bunch of strange partitions, do not proceed. When you get ready to run the Recovery operation, make sure and put a check mark on all the partitions. If you do not check a partition, it will not be on the final version of you install.

Depending on what your answer to the first question is, I may do some testing to see if I can duplicate your situation. But as I currently understand it, you used Macrium Reflect to clone the drive to an external device. You then swapped out the original drive with the cloned version. After that was running, you used ________ to move the large Recovery partition and extend the C: partition

 

[Saltgrass]

One other piece of info. With Macrium Reflect, I can browse the image I made of the 250 GB ssd after moving the "Restore" partition and resizing the OS (C) partition. Both of the "Recovery" partitions show normal NTFS fs and I can browse the files in the partitions.

A third party utility may be able to see the contents of a partition when Windows cannot. But right now, we do not know what caused the partitions to show the formatting as RAW. It does seem to be a common theme, such as with EaseUS, that the Recovery Partitions are targeted.

I am going to start imaging my system now so I can do the testing... I still need the utility you used to move the partition.

 

[hawkeye62]

I used Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Suite to move the Restore partition and extend the C: partition.. I will give Partition Wizard a try.

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

I have never used that utility. You might see if it has a partition recovery option.

I will be trying to use it to move the partition on my test system, just getting ready to create the clone now. I will report back if it seems to be involved in the problem.

 

[hawkeye62]

I can't find any partition recovery option in the Paragon HD Manager or in Macrium Reflect. The Partition Wizard CD will not boot. I have heard of issues by changing to Legacy mode. I think I will wait for your report. (Anyway, I am not sure how to select Legacy mode. I will have to do some research.)

Thanks, Jim

 

[hawkeye62]

Well, I got into Legacy mode and booted the Partition Wizard CD. BUT, the startup failed with a kernel panic message. So, I guess it is back to the drawing board.

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

It seems I have hit a bit of a snag. The cloning operation went fine and all Recovery partitions still showed as NTFS in diskpart. The snag is the Paragon HD Manager 12 is no longer available and the current version is 14 and costs actual money.. Since I do not see a trial version I suppose I will not be running that part of the test, unless you have a link for the software.

The fact you are using version 12, might be involved in the problem. Possibly the newer version corrected an issue, if there was one.

The Partition Wizard bootable version does need a Legacy boot. But you can also download and install the home edition which has a partition recovery tool in the Partition Management section.. You do not have to use the Data Recovery option, since that is a different thing.

If you know of a download link for the Paragon version 12, please advise.