Recovery partition empty

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countryboy818

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Joined
Jan 14, 2021
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Hello and thank you for helping us fix our troubled devices.

I have 2 HP noteboooks. Both purchased new with no reinstall disk.
While recently stuck on a blue screen and not rebooting, I noticed my recovery partition is completely empty. I have since got it to reboot. Is there a method to restore the files or create a system image?

I believe the partition may have been removed when updating to 8.1 (same on both machines)
 
Last edited:
Have you clear the checkbox for "Hide protected operating system files" at Folder Options.

You should see two folders one you are looking for Recovery folder.
 
Hi!

The Push-button reset (PBR), windows 8/8.1 feature, has been deprecated in windows 10.
Unfortunately, it was unreliable (like windows backups and system restore).
You should use a third-party tool to create system images (full, i.e. all partitions, or partial, i.e. only system partitions).
As an example, macrium reflect free: Using Macrium Free to Backup or Image your drives.




If you still want to (try to) create a PBR partition and image, follow these steps:
  • Shrink your last partition in your system HDD/SDD (Mine was 16GB in size).
    You can do it in (windows) disk management.
    Right-click your most right-hand side partition, click Shrink volume....
    Put 16384 (16GB) in the editbox Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB:.
    Click the Shrink button.

    shrink.png

  • Format and assign a letter to the new space.
    Always in disk management, right-click the new unallocated (non-allocated) space, click New simple volume.
    Click next, click next, read the letter that will be assigned to your new volume, click next, click next, click Finish.
  • In your new partition/volume, create a destination folder for the recovery image.
    For example, create a folder named ResetW8.1.
  • Download Windows 8.1 Disc Image (ISO File) (W8.1 media creation tool)
  • Right-click the downloaded iso file, click open with, file explorer (or windows explorer): it will be mounted and you should see a new (virtual) drive letter in This pc.
    Double-click it, double-click the sources folder, copy install.esd and paste it in your ResetW8.1 folder.
  • In the next command you have to change YourNewResetPartitionLetter to your recovery partition letter.
    Launch the following command, from a command prompt (admin):
    Code: 
    dism /get-imageinfo /imagefile:YourNewResetPartitionLetter:\ResetW8.1\install.esd
    I get this in windows 10:
    Read More:
    I think you should get only 2 or 3 indexes (home, pro, enterprise versions).
  • Finally, in the next command you have to change:
    - YourNewResetPartitionLetter to your recovery partition letter.
    - YourOSIndex to your os index (i.e., see previous point).
    Command that set your recovery image:
    Code: 
     reagentc /setosimage /path "YourNewResetPartitionLetter:\ResetW8.1" /index YourOSIndex
  • Reboot and see if the new Recovery partition disappeared (it shouldn't be visible in windows).
 
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