[SOLVED] Dell Optiplex won't boot into W10; don't know local Admin pass. FIX: I was able to change PW, went in recovery mode, did reset keeping settings&files

dbdan22 · Nov 24, 2023

Hi,

You had asked me for this:

Code:

C:\Windows\System32>reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

    Windows RE status:         Disabled
    Windows RE location:
    Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
    Recovery image location:
    Recovery image index:      0
    Custom image location:
    Custom image index:        0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.


C:\Windows\System32>



C:\Windows\System32>reagentc /?

Configures the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset.

REAGENTC.EXE <command> <arguments>

The following commands can be specified:

  /info             - Displays Windows RE and system reset configuration
                      information.
  /setreimage       - Sets the location of the custom Windows RE image.
  /enable           - Enables Windows RE.
  /disable          - Disables Windows RE.
  /boottore         - Configures the system to start Windows RE next time the
                      system starts up.
  /setbootshelllink - Adds an entry to the Reset and Restore page in the boot
                      menu.

For more information about these commands and their arguments, type
REAGENTC.EXE <command> /?.

  Examples:
    REAGENTC.EXE /setreimage /?
    REAGENTC.EXE /disable /?


C:\Windows\System32>REAGENTC.EXE /setreimage /?
Sets the location of the custom Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) image.

REAGENTC.EXE /setreimage /path <dir_name> [/target <dir_name>] [/logpath <file_path>]

  /path <dir_name>      - Specifies the directory that contains the custom
                          Windows RE image (winre.wim).
  /target <dir_name>    - Specifies the Windows installation. If this argument
                          is not specified, the running operating system is
                          used.
  /logpath <file_path>  - Specifies the path of log file. If this argument is
                          not specified, the default path is Windows\Logs\
                          Reagent\Reagent.log.

  Example:
    REAGENTC.EXE /setreimage /path r:\Recovery\WindowsRE /logpath C:\Temp\Reagent.log
    REAGENTC.EXE /setreimage /path r:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target C:\Windows

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

xilolee · Nov 24, 2023

Code:

reagentc /enable

(If it works)
Then reboot and see if the recovery options are available.

dbdan22 · Nov 24, 2023

No other switches?

xilolee · Nov 24, 2023

Yes, but if it won't work, you should check if volume 2 is the recovery partition (after the list volume command) and that windows is still C:.
Then proceed with all these commands:

Code:

diskpart select disk 0
List volume
Select volume 2
Assign letter=R
Exit
REAGENTC /setreimage /path r:\Recovery\WindowsRE c:\windows
REAGENTC/enable

I'm not sure REAGENTC will work in your recovery environment, but a try doesn't hurt...

dbdan22 · Nov 24, 2023

Hi,

OK, I got some good news and some bad news.

I'm still getting the 0xc0000021a on reboot.

But now it's trying to do automatic repair again. Yes!!!!

I'm putting the complete log of what I did because the reagentc command is tricky - you can't just do reagentc /enable when you're booted from a Win PE disk, it won't allow it. But I figured out what to do, you'll see.

So it boots to recovery and startup repair now, from the C: drive, which I'm now able to do because, wait for it, I reset the Admin pass!!! So I can run recovery now from the SSD itself. Whew.

But it's still not able to repair whatever is wrong.

So without further ado, here's the log of what I did, and the latest SRT* files from startup repair.

Code:

X:\Sources>c:

C:\>cd windows\system32

C:\Windows\System32>reagentc /enable
Enables the local copy of the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE).

This command can be used from the running operating system without additional
parameters, or from the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) using
the optional /osguid parameter.

REAGENTC.EXE /enable [/osguid <bcd_guid>] [/logpath <file_path>]

  /osguid <bcd_guid>    - Specifies the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier of the
                          target Windows installation. The identifier can be determined
                          by running "bcdedit -enum -v".

  /logpath <file_path>  - Specifies the path of log file. If this argument is
                          not specified, the default path is Windows\Logs\
                          Reagent\Reagent.log.

  Example:
    REAGENTC.EXE /enable /logpath C:\Temp\Reagent.log
    REAGENTC.EXE /enable /osguid {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}



C:\Windows\System32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MININT-GOAN05H

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     C                NTFS   Partition    465 GB  Healthy
  Volume 2         Recovery     NTFS   Partition    529 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 3                      FAT32  Partition     99 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 4     D   WIN10PRO-22  NTFS   Removable     14 GB  Healthy
  Volume 5     E   UEFI_NTFS    FAT    Removable   1024 KB  Healthy

DISKPART> select volume 2

Volume 2 is the selected volume.

DISKPART> Assign letter=R

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> exit

Leaving DiskPart...

C:\Windows\System32>REAGENTC /setreimage /path r:\Recovery\WindowsRE c:\windows
Directory set to: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Recovery\WindowsRE

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.


C:\Windows\System32>REAGENTC /enable
Enables the local copy of the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE).

This command can be used from the running operating system without additional
parameters, or from the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) using
the optional /osguid parameter.

REAGENTC.EXE /enable [/osguid <bcd_guid>] [/logpath <file_path>]

  /osguid <bcd_guid>    - Specifies the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier of the
                          target Windows installation. The identifier can be determined
                          by running "bcdedit -enum -v".

  /logpath <file_path>  - Specifies the path of log file. If this argument is
                          not specified, the default path is Windows\Logs\
                          Reagent\Reagent.log.

  Example:
    REAGENTC.EXE /enable /logpath C:\Temp\Reagent.log
    REAGENTC.EXE /enable /osguid {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}



C:\Windows\System32>bcdedit -enum -v

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-us
inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default                 {ebd07ed8-8981-11ee-a304-b300c98ce24d}
resumeobject            {ebd07ed7-8981-11ee-a304-b300c98ce24d}
displayorder            {ebd07ed8-8981-11ee-a304-b300c98ce24d}
toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {ebd07ed8-8981-11ee-a304-b300c98ce24d}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows 10
locale                  en-us
inherit                 {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \windows
resumeobject            {ebd07ed7-8981-11ee-a304-b300c98ce24d}
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard

C:\Windows\System32>REAGENTC /enable /osguid {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795} /logpath d:\dan\xilo\x99.log
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 32

REAGENTC.EXE: An error has occurred.


C:\Windows\System32>REAGENTC /enable /osguid  {ebd07ed8-8981-11ee-a304-b300c98ce24d} /logpath d:\dan\xilo\x991.log
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.


C:\Windows\System32>

I then booted into recovery mode, but startup repair is still not working.

Here are the SRT* files:
OneDrive

Thank you.

dbdan22 · Nov 24, 2023

I really can't spend much more time on this, so I reset the PC in recovery mode, keeping settings and files. it's back up and running.

Thanks xilolee for getting recovery mode operating again.

Over and out.

[SOLVED] Dell Optiplex won't boot into W10; don't know local Admin pass. FIX: I was able to change PW, went in recovery mode, did reset keeping settings&files

dbdan22

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xilolee

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dbdan22

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xilolee

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dbdan22

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dbdan22

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