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]

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.

Mine does that also.. Start it in its Safe Mode and it will work, or download and install the Home Edition.

When I asked about the kernel panic, they just indicated their software doesn't work on all configurations.... This seems strange since an older version does boot normally

 

[hawkeye62]

Here is a link. Hope it works.

Jim

http://paragon-hard-disk-manager-su...L9HWBInkNvfJVsN9sQvjWcSnOQCRv5QMrYhoCz1Xw_wcB

 

[Saltgrass]

It seems that link just lets me download WinRAR, but I did find one.

The utility seems to have problems with moving any of the Recovery Partitions. If you click on why it has trouble, it mentions the partitions are not moveable on a GPT configured drive. Are you sure you aren't using version 14 of the suite, or just the Partition Manager utility?

I will keep trying, but I think my testing has gone as far as it can.

 

[hawkeye62]

Nope, I used Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Suite. I had no problems moving the Restore partition to the end of the free space and then expanding the C: partition to use all of the free space.

I will try booting Partition Wizard in safe mode tomorrow. I am cross eyed today.

Regards, Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

I found out the Suite trial does not allow for moving partitions, so I used Partition Wizard to move it to the end of the drive and ended up with a RAW designation just as yours shows. I will be spending the night trying to figure out what happened or why and doing a second test to verify.

I am currently using Partition to try to recover the partition, so we will see if it works.

Stay Tuned ....

 

[Saltgrass]

Well, I suppose I might as well shut it down for the night. I just went through the entire procedure of cloning the drive and then moving the Recovery Partition using Partition Wizard. After I moved it, Diskpart showed it as being RAW but after a reboot, it was back to normal.

The recovery options are also still working. I suppose I will just have to assume, unless I want to pay for an old version of the software, that the Paragon version 12 was involved in creating the situation.

 

[hawkeye62]

Well, I suppose I might as well shut it down for the night. I just went through the entire procedure of cloning the drive and then moving the Recovery Partition using Partition Wizard. After I moved it, Diskpart showed it as being RAW but after a reboot, it was back to normal.

The recovery options are also still working. I suppose I will just have to assume, unless I want to pay for an old version of the software, that the Paragon version 12 was involved in creating the situation.

Well, I got the CD version of Partition Wizard running. I selected the recover partitions option and used the quick scan. It found all of the expected partitions. I checked the box for all partitions and then clicked "Finish" to proceed with the recovery. The screen went back to the original screen in an instant. Didn't seem like enough time to accomplish anything. I tried about three more times with the same result. So, I shut down Partition Wizard, got out of Legacy mode and re-booted. No change, recovery options are still missing.

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

Sorry the options are still missing, but are the partitions still showing as RAW? If they are not, then you should be able to use reagentc to reset the tools.

This time you might try putting a drive letter on the actual Recovery partition to use in the path if you want to try.

 

[hawkeye62]

The recovery partitions are still raw. My last effort will be to restore the image I made with Macrium Reflect of the cloned ssd BEFORE using Paragon to move the Restore partition and resize the C: partition. And I will check to see that Recovery options are there before I do any moving and extending.

 

[Saltgrass]

How are you doing the cloning in Macrium? There are two versions, one a "Smart" type clone and the other a sector by sector clone...

 

[hawkeye62]

How are you doing the cloning in Macrium? There are two versions, one a "Smart" type clone and the other a sector by sector clone...

I always do sector by sector.

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

I just did one using the "Forensic" sector clone and it seemed to work OK. I then moved the Recovery partition using the free Paragon Partition Manager and that worked fine.

I cannot find anything that might have caused you problems. Maybe if you start over, you will see when something goes wrong, which hopefully will not.

I do not leave a cloned drive installed with the original drive at the same time. Since you are running a laptop, I assume you did not either. Maybe your buddies at the repair center used some process which effected the install. I don't normally do clones, but image my drives in case I need to reinstall.

Let us know what happens if you repeat the procedure...

 

[hawkeye62]

So, you did what I did except you used Paragon Partition Manager rather than Paragon Hard Drive Manager? Interesting. I am in the middle of restoring the ssd to the image I made just before I moved the Restore partition and expanded the C partition. If this doesn't work, I am going to delete the 20 GB restore partition and expand C partition. (I assume the 20 GB Restore partition has the factory image? Which is useless to me if I can't access it.)

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

What type of image are you using? I know a Windows Backup Image will not normally include hidden partitions other than the System, MSR and Recovery tools partition. If you made the image with another utility, that would be something I have not tried, although once again I will be unable to use the Paragon Suite.

So you will know, there is a thread in another forum where the poster seems to be having the same problem as you. That poster did use the Paragon Partition Manger and not the 2012 Suite, but how he created the install is unknown.

 

[hawkeye62]

OK, I finished the image restore and everything seems to be working perfectly. All of the repair, reset and recovery options are available. However, I now have two 10 GB Recovery partitions. Since the image was 128 GB and the ssd is 250 GB, the image restore did not overwrite the old partition 5 Recovery partition which is at the end of the drive. It looks like I could use the path in reagentc to point to partition 5 as the location of the image. Then if everything is still OK I could delete partition 6 and extend C partition.

What do you think? See the attachments for details of the partitions.

Jim

 

[hawkeye62]

Answer to your previous question. The image was made with Macrium and restored with Macrium.

Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

So the old partition which was showing as RAW is now showing normally ... strange...

How you handle the configuration is of course you decision, but keep track of the status of the partitions and the recovery system after you make changes.

You do know the command for changing the Factory Image registration with reagentc?

 

[hawkeye62]

So the old partition which was showing as RAW is now showing normally ... strange...

How you handle the configuration is of course you decision, but keep track of the status of the partitions and the recovery system after you make changes.

You do know the command for changing the Factory Image registration with reagentc?

The same as you detailed earlier? Do I need to disable first, then do the path change and then enable?
Jim

 

[Saltgrass]

Disabling first seems to be the best way.

There are two reagentc commands. One for the Recovery Tools image and one for the Factory Restore Image. To set the Factory Image as you have in Partition 5, you need to run the command below. If you want to put a drive letter on the partition first, or use the Global path, up to you. Notice the difference between the Tools command /setreimage and the Factory Image command /setosimage.

This is for if you put the letter R on that partition.

reagentc /setosimage /path R:\RecoveryImage /index 2

If you want to try the Global Path, use this one.

reagentc /setosimage /path Link Removed /Index 2

I have been trying to make sure the GlobalRoot path option did not cause some of the problems you show. I have run it on my systems several times without any problems, but use your own judgment.

 

[hawkeye62]

SUCCESS!! I set the Factory Restore Image path to partition 5 per your GLOBALROOT suggestion. All recovery options remained and partition 5 was still NTFS. Then I used Paragon Partition Manager 2014 Free to delete partition 6. All recovery options remained. Then I extended C partition to use all of the free space, again using Paragon Partition Manager 2014 Free. All recovery options remain. I can only conclude that Paragon Hard Drive Manager 12 Suite was the cause of my problems.

I can't begin to express my thanks to you, Saltgrass, for your help and patience in helping me through this very intensive and sometimes frustrating process.

Thanks again, Jim