Solved Can a Windows Recovery Drive be created from a computer that is missing the WinRE partition

On a laptop/desktop that is provided by various vendors there is towards the end of the drive a WinRE partition. This helps in Windows recovery if something were to go kaput. However if this particular partition is missing or got deleted then on such a system can the Windows Recovery drive be created? Or will it fail since the WinRE partition does not exist?

Transcendence72 said:

On a laptop/desktop that is provided by various vendors there is towards the end of the drive a WinRE partition. This helps in Windows recovery if something were to go kaput. However if this particular partition is missing or got deleted then on such a system can the Windows Recovery drive be created? Or will it fail since the WinRE partition does not exist?

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That depends.

To create a Recovery Drive Windows needs a copy or Winre.wim to be available somewhere. There's normally only one copy of Winre.wim. If the recovery environment is enabled it's in the recovery partition, if it's disabled it's in C:\Windows\System32\recovery. If you want to delete the recovery partition then you should disable the recovery environment first. If you delete it while enabled you'll loose your only copy of winre.wim.


If you have lost your winre.wim you can fix this. Just copy Winre.wim and ReAgent.xml back into C:\Windows\System32\Recovery. You can get these from the Windows install media for the version you are running. Open the install.wim or install.esd you'll find in the sources folder using 7-Zip file manager.

You can also use Windows 11 Installation Media to boot into a recovery environment.

Bree said:

That depends.

To create a Recovery Drive Windows needs a copy or Winre.wim to be available somewhere. There's normally only one copy of Winre.wim. If the recovery environment is enabled it's in the recovery partition, if it's disabled it's in C:\Windows\System32\recovery. If you want to delete the recovery partition then you should disable the recovery environment first. If you delete it while enabled you'll loose your only copy of winre.wim.

Enable or Disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in advanced startup options in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a recovery environment that can repair common causes of unbootable operating systems. Advanced startup...

www.elevenforum.com

If you have lost your winre.wim you can fix this. Just copy Winre.wim and ReAgent.xml back into C:\Windows\System32\Recovery. You can get these from the Windows install media for the version you are running. Open the install.wim or install.esd you'll find in the sources folder using 7-Zip file manager.

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@Bree I do not plan to delete the WinRE partition that ships with most of the vendors provided computers. I was looking to confirm that if it is corrupted or is not accessible then will it impact the creation of Windows Recovery disk from the same computer. So the idea is to create the Windows recovery drive on a computer, on which the WinRE is not accessible or is not present, and then recreate the Windows partition as well as the WinRE partition.

Thanks for tip about having winre.wim file in the C:\Windows\System32\recovery folder. I do not recall having it there in any of the computers that I have worked on. Will keep a look out for it.

Many of the vendors, especially Dell, put a lot of what some would call proprietary stuff in the WinRE partition. And there is no way for that to be created without taking it to the Dell shop, which will charge hundreds of dollops just to reformat it from an image.

FreeBooter said:

You can also use Windows 11 Installation Media to boot into a recovery environment.

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Actually I was looking to create a Windows Recovery Disk in which the WinRE is damaged.

Transcendence72 said:

Thanks for tip about having winre.wim file in the C:\Windows\System32\recovery folder. I do not recall having it there in any of the computers that I have worked on. Will keep a look out for it.

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The all probably had their recovery environment enabled. When you disable the recovery environment Winre.wim is moved to the C: partition for safe keeping, ready to be moved back to the recovery partition if/when you enable the recovery environment again.

In this video i will take you through the steps to create a Windows recovery partition in a Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC installed in UEFI mode with GPT partition style.

Thanks to all. I have my answer based on some excellent posts. I am marking this topic as solved.

We are glad to hear your issue has been resolved, thank you for letting us know that all is now well!

Transcendence72 said:

On a laptop/desktop that is provided by various vendors there is towards the end of the drive a WinRE partition

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That's created by Windows not by the vendors.

Windows generally creates & populates C:\Recovery then transfers its contents into the Recovery partition.
I understand that OEMs make use of this to insert their own customisations into C:\Recovery and hence then into the Recovery partition.


Denis

Try3 said:

I understand that OEMs make use of this to insert their own customisations into C:\Recovery and hence then into the Recovery partition.

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Correct. Starting with Windows 10 Microsoft added the ability to use a Provisioning Package. This allowed OEMs to put their custom apps, configurations, and drivers in a provisioning package on the C: drive, making a factory reset possible without needing an OEM CD or a large OEM system image partition.

Provisioning packages for Windows
Applies to: Windows 11, Windows 10

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Microsoft Learn | Provisioning packages overview

Provided you don't already have an OEM provisioning package, you can make your own.


There's even a Store app for it. Windows Configuration Designer is available as an app in the Microsoft Store