Welcome everybody;
On this video,
I'm going to show you how to enable Windows Recovery Environment...
and system reset in running windows,
or by booting from the USB drive.
This is a brief video for professional users,
however, there is another video containing many methods and comprehensive details...
showing everything about Windows Recovery Environment and variations in its location.
The second video is available on video description...
or from notification of suggested videos.
I will show you 4 methods to repair or to restore the WinRE environment in Windows 10,
however, the procedure is the same for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Method number 1:
1.1. Type CMD into Search box, then run command prompt as administrator
As you can see, the C is the Windows partition in my PC.
1.2. If you are booting from USB, open command prompt and Execute this command to identify windows partition: BCDEDIT
Also the C is the windows partition.
Execute this command to change CMD directory to System 32 folder. CD /D C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32
Replace the C with the letter of windows partition in your computer.
1.3. Execute the following command to show of windows identifier:
1.4. Type this command without hitting Enter: REAGENTC /ENABLE /OSGUID space
1.4. Copy the identifier of windows and paste it after previous command then press Enter.
Make sure the description is containing Windows 10 or the windows version that is installed on your PC.
In running windows, you can execute Reagentc /ENABLE command with or without using OSGUID.
Method number 2:
If you failed in method number 1 with the following error message, “REAGENT.EXE: The WindowsRE image was not found”, do the followings:
2.1. Search for WinRe.wim image file using this command: DIR /S /A C:\WINRE.WIM
Replace the C with the letter of windows partition in your computer.
2.2. If the file found in another folder, copy it into recovery folder using this command: XCOPY /H C:\BACK\WINRE.WIM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY
2.3. Execute Reagentc Command again to enable Recovery.
Method number 3:
3.1. If the WinRE file not found in windows partition, search for it in Recovery Partition if available as followings:
Type DISKPART and hit enter
Type LIST DISK and hit enter
If you have more than one disk, select the disk that contains windows partition based on its size.
In my case, I have only one disk which is the disk number 0, so I will select it using this command: SEL DISK 0
Execute this command to show the list of volumes: LIST VOL
Execute this command to show the list of partitions: LIST PART
As you can see, there is a separated partition for recovery in my PC, which is partition number 4 or volume number 2.
Recovery partition usually labelled with Recovery name and its size around 500 megabytes with NTFS file system, but not FAT32 file system.
In a custom manufacturer recovery with additional apps or tools, the size of partition may extended into many gigabytes.
If the recovery volume doesn’t have a letter, give it V letter using the following 2 commands: SEL VOL 2 ASSIGN LETTER=V
Execute EXIT command to close DISKPART
Show contents of the V partition using this command: DIR /S /A V:\
If the WinRE file available in the recovery partition, copy it recovery folder inside system32 folder using the shown command: XCOPY /H V:\RECOVERY\WindowsRE\WINRE.WIM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY
Remove editing protection from all files inside WindowsRE folder using this command: ATTRIB -S -H -R V:\RECOVERY\WINDOWSRE\*.*
Delete all files in WindowsRE folder using this command: del V:\RECOVERY\WINDOWSRE\*.*
In running windows, you may need to set the recovery path using this command: REAGENTC /SETREIMAGE /PATH C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY
Rename the Ragent.xml file in recovery folder using this command: REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY\REAGENT.XML REAGENT.OLD
Enable recovery Environment using ReagentC command as on method number 1.
If the reagentc failed with this error message, “The boot configuration data has not been configured” or “REAGENTC.EXE: Unable to update Boot Configuration Data”, you can fix that as followings:
execute the following command to rebuild BCD, BCDBOOT C:\WINOWS
Execute ReAgentC command again using new Windows identifier:
Restart your computer to apply new changes.
Method number 4: How to enable Recovery if the required files are missing?
If the winre file is not available in both windows and recovery partitions in your pc, you need to copy it from the USB or DVD that you boot from.
5.a. If the windows in the USB or DVD contains the whole windows files, use the following commands:
5.a.1. Create an empty folder in the C partition using this command: MD C:\MOUNT
5.a.2. Extract the first index from the USB or DVD using this command: DISM /MOUNT-IMAGE /IMAGEFILE:D:\SOURCES\INSTALL.WIM /INDEX:1 /MOUNTDIR:C:\MOUNT /READONLY
Replace the D with the letter of the USB or DVD drive in your computer.
5.a.3. Copy the Winre file from extracted folder to the default path using XCOPY command as shown: XCOPY /H C:\MOUNT\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY\WINRE.WIM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY
Execute the ReagentC command to enable Windows Recovery Environment.
I have already created a bootable recovery image for windows 10 X64 version 19041.
The link for ISO file of this WinRe image and how to flash it into a USB is available in description.
You can use my recovery ISO image if applicable to your OS version either by double click the ISO file in running windows, or by flashing it into USB drive then booting the PC from it.
5.b.4. Use the shown command to copy Boot.wim file from the USB into default path inside system32 folder: XCOPY /H E:\SOURCES\BOOT.WIM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY
Replace the E with the letter of the USB drive or mounted ISO file in your computer.
5.b.5. Rename the boot.wim file to Winre.wim using this command: REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RECOVERY\BOOT.WIM WINRE.WIM
5.b.7. Execute the ReagentC command to enable Windows Recovery Environment.
Thanks for watching.
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