Cloning System Partition, Recreating EFI and Recovery partitions...

blasirl · Feb 8, 2022

TheMystic said:
I will also ensure that the partition type is set to GPT before proceeding further.

Is that just a switch I need to add or is there some other process to do this?

EDIT:
Actually I just realized that since I have a pretty new laptop that came with Win 10, only because at the time Win 11 was not available to them yet, and it has an NVme SSD and my new drive is also an NVme drive, the act of cloning it should have automatically made it GPT. Is this a correct assumption? I'm asking as I am procrastinating re-cloning the drive until I can verify that it actually does not boot first.

blasirl · Feb 8, 2022

NavyLCDR said:
Just a note, you can't format a new SSD. You can only format partitions after they are created on the SSD. If you attempt to format an SSD with no partitions on it you will get an error that no partition is selected.

So is there a way to add partitions after the fact without damaging any data?

NavyLCDR · Feb 8, 2022

TheMystic said:
When you connect a brand new disk to your computer, you will first have to set the partition type under Disk Management (File Explorer won't show the disk unless it is configured under Disk Management). Once that is done, there is no reason why you can't simply run the format command.

You would simply be mistaken. You can only run the format command on an existing partition. For example, if disk 3 below was a brand new SSD:

Code:

C:\windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22000.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RAIDER

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          953 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online          465 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 3    Online          127 GB   127 GB

DISKPART> select disk 3

Disk 3 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

There is no volume selected.
Please select a volume and try again.

DISKPART> convert gpt

DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to GPT format.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

There is no volume selected.
Please select a volume and try again.

DISKPART>

You can only format partitions (volumes), not disks. You have to create a partition first:

Code:

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

You are free to disagree with me, but it won't change the fact that you can't format a disk, you can only format partitions.

NavyLCDR · Feb 8, 2022

blasirl said:
So is there a way to add partitions after the fact without damaging any data?

Yes, you can add partitions to a disk without destroying data. If you do not have any unallocated space to create a partition in, then you shrink an existing partition to create unallocated space. Then you create you new partition in the unallocated space. Then you format the new partition to the filesystem you want (NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, etc.) usually NTFS. You cannot format a disk, it's impossible. You can only format partitions once a partition is created. A brand new SSD or HDD will be nothing but unallocated space. You cannot format unallocated space, there has to be a partition created in the unallocated space first.

blasirl · Feb 8, 2022

NavyLCDR said:
Yes, you can add partitions to a disk without destroying data. If you do not have any unallocated space to create a partition in, then you shrink an existing partition to create unallocated space. Then you create you new partition in the unallocated space. Then you format the new partition to the filesystem you want (NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, etc.) usually NTFS. You cannot format a disk, it's impossible. You can only format partitions once a partition is created. A brand new SSD or HDD will be nothing but unallocated space. You cannot format unallocated space, there has to be a partition created in the unallocated space first.

Is the process listed above or do you have a link?

CornishRattler · Feb 8, 2022

windows 10 create partition drive - Pretraži Videozapisi

www.bing.com

NavyLCDR · Feb 8, 2022

blasirl said:
Is the process listed above or do you have a link?

I am going to use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free, because it will do it all. Disk 1 has no free space. I am going to shrink C: drive by 64 GB to make the free space:

I need to reboot and let MiniTool Partition Wizard shrink the partition. After rebooting, I am going to create a partition in the free space, format it as NTFS and give it drive letter F: all in one step:

Once that is done, I have F: drive available:

TheMystic · Feb 9, 2022

NavyLCDR said:

You would simply be mistaken. You can only run the format command on an existing partition. For example, if disk 3 below was a brand new SSD:

Code:

C:\windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22000.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RAIDER

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          953 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online          465 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 3    Online          127 GB   127 GB

DISKPART> select disk 3

Disk 3 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

There is no volume selected.
Please select a volume and try again.

DISKPART> convert gpt

DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to GPT format.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

There is no volume selected.
Please select a volume and try again.

DISKPART>

You can only format partitions (volumes), not disks. You have to create a partition first:

Code:

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

You are free to disagree with me, but it won't change the fact that you can't format a disk, you can only format partitions.

Nothing to disagree here. When I spoke about formatting, I was referring to formatting the disk (volume/ partition) as it shows up on File Explorer, i.e. right click and choose format.

TheMystic · Feb 9, 2022

blasirl said:
That is good to know. Does that mean it is in the UEFI and not on the current SSD? To be clear, my laptop has only one bay.

The activation key is stored securely on Microsoft servers and is tied to your hardware, primarily the Motherboard. So even when you change the disk that you boot from, Windows will be able to identify your device and activate the licence for you automatically.

blasirl said:
So for me I need to re-format.

Since you had problems during the cloning process and it isn't booting, it will be a good idea to format it and start all over again.

blasirl said:
I was never sure if the operating system drive should also include other items like Office, WinAmp , VLC etc, so Thanks for that tidbit.

Yes, they will if you install all your programs in the default location, which is the OS drive. That is what I would recommend too.

blasirl said:
Can you point (or re-point if I missed it) to the process of creating a partition on my Old (500) drive to do this?

You can use the built-in Disk Management utility or use a 3rd party partition assistant software. There are many good ones out there, so choose any from AOMEI (my 1st preference), EaseUS, MiniTool, Gpart, etc.

blasirl said:
I understand why you suggest the OP method, but as you can tell here, I am a struggling Techie at this point. That method seems convoluted even if it is not in actuality. I am still undecided at this point between it and Macrium Reflect Free.

If you are a Techie, then this will be a good opportunity to experiment with it so you can learn from your own experience. But if you rather prefer an easier route, you can always use a 3rd party software. Macrium isn't very intuitive, so watch a few video tutorials so you can get it right.

blasirl said:
Funny thing is, after going through all of this up to this post, somehow the new drive (2000) went from not booting when installed, to not being recognized at all after returning it to the external case to actually booting via the USB. I did not catch it at first, but if you look at the picture at this post, and one I'll post here shortly it actually did boot - I think - we will see after I redo the boot sequence again.. If I was hallucinating, I will continue on from here ...

My guess is a faculty enclosure. Connect the device directly to the USB port on your laptop.

blasirl said:
Is that just a switch I need to add or is there some other process to do this?

EDIT:
Actually I just realized that since I have a pretty new laptop that came with Win 10, only because at the time Win 11 was not available to them yet, and it has an NVme SSD and my new drive is also an NVme drive, the act of cloning it should have automatically made it GPT. Is this a correct assumption? I'm asking as I am procrastinating re-cloning the drive until I can verify that it actually does not boot first.

Since it is a new laptop, it should be GPT. You can confirm that in Disk Management by right clicking on it and viewing the Properties. If you are using 3rd party partition software, they will list the partition type on the main page itself.

Converting between GPT and MBR without data loss is possible using 3rd party tools. But confirm that first before performing any action. The built-in Disk Management should be used for conversion ONLY if you are ready to loose data or if it is an empty disk.

NavyLCDR said:
You cannot format a disk, it's impossible. You can only format partitions once a partition is created. A brand new SSD or HDD will be nothing but unallocated space. You cannot format unallocated space, there has to be a partition created in the unallocated space first.

Already answered.

blasirl · Feb 9, 2022

NavyLCDR said:
I am going to use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free, because it will do it all. Disk 1 has no free space. I am going to shrink C: drive by 64 GB to make the free space:

View attachment 21242

View attachment 21243

I need to reboot and let MiniTool Partition Wizard shrink the partition. After rebooting, I am going to create a partition in the free space, format it as NTFS and give it drive letter F: all in one step:

View attachment 21244

Once that is done, I have F: drive available:

View attachment 21245

This looks very promising for me. Thank you for taking the time to explain this,. I will give it a try maybe tomorrow if things go well. I have verified that the USB drive boots the computer, so I am going to ------- well maybe not. I am going to try and reformat the new drive first and then see if I am up to this today or not. I had no idea that I was going down such a deep rabbit hole. Thanks again.

blasirl · Feb 9, 2022

TheMystic said:
Since you had problems during the cloning process and it isn't booting, it will be a good idea to format it and start all over again.

I think at this point that is the plan.

TheMystic said:
You can use the built-in Disk Management utility or use a 3rd party partition assistant software. There are many good ones out there, so choose any from AOMEI (my 1st preference), EaseUS, MiniTool, Gpart, etc.

I think I will use the MiniTool as NavyLCDR has so nicely laid out the process for me.

TheMystic said:
My guess is a faculty enclosure. Connect the device directly to the USB port on your laptop.

I assume you meant faulty. It may be, but it has been directly connected to the USB for some time now.

TheMystic said:
Since it is a new laptop, it should be GPT. You can confirm that in Disk Management by right clicking on it and viewing the Properties. If you are using 3rd party partition software, they will list the partition type on the main page itself.

Converting between GPT and MBR without data loss is possible using 3rd party tools. But confirm that first before performing any action. The built-in Disk Management should be used for conversion ONLY if you are ready to loose data or if it is an empty disk.

I verified yesterday that both drives are already GPT

Which drive is the boot drive?

This is a bit more complicated than what my question eludes to. I have a single drive laptop with Win 11 on it and a cloned drive that also has Win 11 on it. I want to swap the cloned drive in as a primary drive but wanted to test it first. I set the UEFI to allow the USB to be the initial...

www.elevenforum.com

All the rest makes sense - we'll see about how I feel after reformatting the 2000 drive whether or not I will delve into the process you originally posted. Thanks again for your assistance.

blasirl · Feb 9, 2022

TheMystic said:
CLONING THE SYSTEM PARTITION

Things Required

1. Backup/ Cloning software: Most cloning software allow system cloning only in their paid version, so keep that in mind. See comment 1 if you don't want to use 3rd party software.

Where is comment 1?

TheMystic said:
1. Boot to Recovery.

How do I do this? Do you mean change the UEFI to boot from my optical disk and use the recovery disk I created when I first purchased the laptop? Or can I use the Windows RE somehow?

TheMystic · Feb 11, 2022

blasirl said:
I had no idea that I was going down such a deep rabbit hole.

It actually isn't as deep as it may appear to be.

blasirl said:
I think I will use the MiniTool as NavyLCDR has so nicely laid out the process for me.

Sure. Use the one that works for you best.

blasirl said:
I assume you meant faulty.

Correct.

blasirl said:
Where is comment 1?

Post in thread 'Cloning System Partition, Recreating EFI and Recovery partitions...' Cloning System Partition, Recreating EFI and Recovery partitions...

blasirl said:
How do I do this? Do you mean change the UEFI to boot from my optical disk and use the recovery disk I created when I first purchased the laptop? Or can I use the Windows RE somehow?

You can boot to recovery from either within Windows or using one of the function keys (which depends on the laptop model, so you'll have to find the correct one for your device) during boot. If you are inside Windows, go to Settings/ Windows Update/ Recovery (or Settings/ Recovery) or just type Recovery in search. Go to Advanced Restart and choose Recovery.

Alternatively, you can also boot from the Recovery disk if you have it.

cereberus · Feb 11, 2022

blasirl said:
Where is comment 1?

How do I do this? Do you mean change the UEFI to boot from my optical disk and use the recovery disk I created when I first purchased the laptop? Or can I use the Windows RE somehow?

That advice about system cloning only being in paid versions is garbage. Macrium Reflect , Aomei backupper, Easeus todo free versions to name most popular one all do it.

Wynona · Feb 11, 2022

cereberus said:
That advice about system cloning only being in paid versions is garbage. Macrium Reflect , Aomei backupper, Easeus todo free versions to name most popular one all do it.

Exactly. This from Aomei Backupper Free and Macrium Reflect Free:

Safe Clone

Clone the whole hard drive disk that contains Windows operating system, installed programs, custom settings upgrade HDD to HDD/SSD without losing data.
Easily clone individual partition or volume to another one with intelligent sector clone by default, which skip the bad sectors on the source partition.

Source: Free Backup Software for Windows | AOMEI Backupper Standard

Are you looking for free backup, free cloning, or free disk imaging software?

Reflect 8 Free is the best no-cost solution on the market. Why does Macrium offer such a feature-rich and powerful product for absolutely nothing? Because we believe the safety and security of your data should be available to everyone.

Where can I use Reflect Free (and other questions)? Details here.

Source: Reflect Free Edition

I don't think I need to add any other most popular backup programs, but they're out there.

gtspeck · Mar 26, 2022

TheMystic said:
This tutorial attempts to achieve the objectives using built-in tools, without use of 3rd party software.

A fresh and clean installation is always the best thing to do, because in addition to a bug-free Windows experience, everything outside the Windows environment like the EFI partition, Recovery partition, and overall system integrity remains intact and well maintained.

However, there are times when simply cloning the current system is preferred. This is not just to save time, but also because the existing system may contain drivers (e.g. BootCamp drivers) and other factors that setting up everything fresh becomes too much time consuming, and sometimes not possible too.

Under these circumstances, the following guide will ensure that you can quickly clone your current system to an external SSD (or an internal one) that can be used on both Windows PC as well as a Mac (assuming the existing system already has the required BootCamp drivers).

BASICS

Before explaining the steps, just know some basics of how the computer functions.

Every time you power on your computer, your system firmware first loads a hidden partition on the boot device called the EFI partition. This partition contains information about the installed operating systems as well as their paths (on the disk). In my experience, simply cloning an existing system partition to another device will often not be enough to make it bootable. This is probably because it breaks the OS paths in the new EFI partition that is automatically created in the cloning process. When that happens, you cannot boot from the target device unless the EFI partition is fixed with the correct path to the OS installed in the target disk.

LESSONS IN THIS TUTORIAL

So in this tutorial, we will see 3 things:

1. How to clone the system partition.
2. How to fix the EFI partition.
3. How to restore the native Windows Recovery Environment (if that gets broken too in the cloning process).

CLONING THE SYSTEM PARTITION

Things Required

1. Backup/ Cloning software: Most cloning software allow system cloning only in their paid version, so keep that in mind. See comment 1 if you don't want to use 3rd party software.

2. External SSD/ HDD/ Flash Drive.

3. External keyboard and mouse (only if you want to boot from the target disk on a Mac and your existing system doesn't have BootCamp drivers).

Process

This is a very straight-forward process.

1. Ensure that the target disk is partitioned as GPT. This is best for Windows 10 and newer. If it is not partitioned as GPT, you can use a partition assistant software that will allow you to convert the partition from MBR to GPT without losing data. Most free versions of well known partition softwares will allow you to do this.
2. Clone the system to the target disk (or a partition in the target disk) using the cloning software. If you are cloning the system that you have booted into, use the System Clone feature. If you are cloning the system partition on another disk/ partition, use the Clone Disk/ Partition feature.
3. When using the System Clone feature, you will see that the hidden EFI partition is automatically included. This EFI partition is often broken in the target disk, and we will see how to fix this in the next section.
4. Once cloning is complete, try booting from the target device. If it boots fine, great. If it doesn't boot, then here are the steps to make it boot.

RECREATING THE EFI PARTITION

Things Required

1. Windows Recovery Disk (if you can't boot into Recovery or if the native Recovery doesn't have command prompt feature)

Process

1. Boot to Recovery. If you don't have one or if it is broken, then connect your Windows Recovery Disk (you have to create one if you don't already have it).
2. Go to Command Prompt while in Recovery:

diskpart
list vol
sel vol x (here 'x' is the volume number of the EFI partition of the target disk; check the result from the previous command)
format quick fs=fat32 label="EFI T5" (you can give any name that helps you to identify the partition easily; in my case, I was installing Windows 10 on my Samsung T5 SSD, hence I named it as EFI T5; you can replace the text within the quotes with one of your choice)
set id=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
assign letter=a (you can replace 'a' with any alphabet that is not currently in use)
list vol (make sure that all the windows partitions in the target disk have a letter assigned to them; if any does not have a letter assigned, then assign a letter to each one of them as in the previous steps: select the correct volume number of the OS partition first and then assign a letter)

exit

Now we have to copy the boot files (which contain the OS paths) from each of the installed Windows OS to the EFI partition.

Pass the following command(s):

bcdboot c:\windows /s a:
(here, I'm assuming that the letter for the OS partition is 'c'; check the letter in your case as it need not be 'c'; use the correct letter for the OS partition that you see in your case; repeat this command for all the operating systems installed in the target disk, replacing 'c' with the corresponding letter of the OS; also remember that 'a' is the letter I used for the EFI partition; if you have assigned a different letter, then replace 'a' with the letter you have assigned for the EFI partition)

exit

Reboot.

If the disk has multiple OS installations, the OS Boot Manager should now show all of them, so you can choose which one to boot from.

If your target disk has multiple OS installed, you will see that there is an EFI partition for each of them. You can safely format/ delete all those except the first one. The system prefers the EFI partition to be installed at the beginning of the disk, so keep the 1st one and format the rest. In our case, it is the one that we assigned the letter 'a'.

To format the additional EFI partitions in the target disk, use DISKPART in command prompt:

diskpart

lis vol

sel vol x (where 'x' is the volume number of the additional EFI partitions in the target disk; repeat this for all the additional EFI partitions)

format quick fs=fat32

Remember, that you must only delete the extra EFI partitions on the target disk, not the ones on other disks that are attached to your system.

Every bootable disk needs just one EFI partition (preferably at the beginning of the disk because that is where the firmware first looks for one) and one Recovery partition. If you are using a multi-boot disk (assuming they are all Windows), a single EFI partition is enough that should contain the paths of all the OSes in the disk. The process above will accomplish this.

Also, each disk needs to have just one Recovery partition. You don't need a separate EFI or separate Recovery partition for each of the OSes installed. Having one EFI and one Recovery on the disk itself would suffice.

RECREATING THE RECOVERY PARTITION (can be done from inside Windows)

Things Required

1. Windows ISO (preferably the latest one)

2. 7zip or any archiver installed

Sometimes, the recovery partition can become corrupt. If that is the case, you won't be able to boot into Recovery or create a recovery disk. Troubleshooting Windows from recovery won't be possible in such cases. But we can restore it as follows:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If the recovery partition does not exist, create it as follows:

Open command prompt with administrative privileges:

diskpart
list vol (note the volume number for Windows partition)
sel vol x (where x is the volume number of the Windows partition from above result)
shrink desired=1024 (this will create a Recovery partition of size 1 GB)
create par pri
format quick fs=NTFS label=Recovery
set id=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC (this is the id for Recovery partition)
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001
exit

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If the recovery partition already exists but is corrupt, then format the recovery partition using command prompt:

diskpart

list vol
sel vol x (where 'x' is the volume number of the recovery partition from the result above)
format quick fs=NTFS label=Recovery
set id=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC (this is the id for Recovery partition)
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001
exit

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ENABLING THE RECOVERY ENVIRONMENT (do it from inside Windows)

1. reagentc /disable (you may see an output that says it is already disabled; it doesn't matter)

2. Go to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery and delete all files there.

3. Copy* WinRE.wim and the uninitialized ReAgent.xml files from the installation Media (ISO file) to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery

4. reagentc /enable (this will move WinRe.wim to the Recovery partition and set the GUID and location in ReAgent.xml)

After restoring the recovery partition, you'll be able to create a recovery disk on an external USB device.

*Here are the steps:

1. Right click the Windows ISO file
2. Use 7zip to open archive (just open; don't have to extract it)
3. Sources
4. Locate the install.wim (or install.esd) file
5. Right click and open
6. Choose the correct folder for your edition of Windows:

1 - Windows 10 Home
2 - Windows 10 Home N
3 - Windows 10 Home Single Language
4 - Windows 10 Education
5 - Windows 10 Education N
6 - Windows 10 Pro
7 - Windows 10 Pro N
8 - Windows 10 Pro Education
9 - Windows 10 Pro Education N
10 - Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
11 - Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations

In case of Windows Home, choose the folder '1'; for Windows Pro, choose folder '6', etc.

7. Go to Windows\ System32\ Recovery
8. Copy the two files (ReAgent.xml and Winre.wim) to your system (C:\Windows\System32\Recovery)

IN ALL OF THE DISKPART COMMANDS, BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL IN SELECTING THE CORRECT VOLUMES/ PARTITIONS/ DISKS. YOU MUST ONLY SELECT THE CORRECT VOLUMES IN YOUR TARGET DISK. DOUBLE CHECK THIS BEFORE PASSING THE COMMANDS.

DISCLAIMER

With the process above, you will have a bootable system with its own recovery environment. I am not sure if this breaks anything. Everything works fine as it should as far as I have tested. Your mileage may vary depending on the hardware you use and the way you use your system.

.

Thank you

Fan11 · Sep 8, 2022

TheMystic said:
This tutorial attempts to achieve the objectives using built-in tools, without use of 3rd party software.

A fresh and clean installation is always the best thing to do, because in addition to a bug-free Windows experience, everything outside the Windows environment like the EFI partition, Recovery partition, and overall system integrity remains intact and well maintained.

However, there are times when simply cloning the current system is preferred. This is not just to save time, but also because the existing system may contain drivers (e.g. BootCamp drivers) and other factors that setting up everything fresh becomes too much time consuming, and sometimes not possible too.

Under these circumstances, the following guide will ensure that you can quickly clone your current system to an external SSD (or an internal one) that can be used on both Windows PC as well as a Mac (assuming the existing system already has the required BootCamp drivers).

BASICS

Before explaining the steps, just know some basics of how the computer functions.

Every time you power on your computer, your system firmware first loads a hidden partition on the boot device called the EFI partition. This partition contains information about the installed operating systems as well as their paths (on the disk). In my experience, simply cloning an existing system partition to another device will often not be enough to make it bootable. This is probably because it breaks the OS paths in the new EFI partition that is automatically created in the cloning process. When that happens, you cannot boot from the target device unless the EFI partition is fixed with the correct path to the OS installed in the target disk.

LESSONS IN THIS TUTORIAL

So in this tutorial, we will see 3 things:

1. How to clone the system partition.
2. How to fix the EFI partition.
3. How to restore the native Windows Recovery Environment (if that gets broken too in the cloning process).

CLONING THE SYSTEM PARTITION

Things Required

1. Backup/ Cloning software: Most cloning software allow system cloning only in their paid version, so keep that in mind. See comment 1 if you don't want to use 3rd party software.

2. External SSD/ HDD/ Flash Drive.

3. External keyboard and mouse (only if you want to boot from the target disk on a Mac and your existing system doesn't have BootCamp drivers).

Process

This is a very straight-forward process.

1. Ensure that the target disk is partitioned as GPT. This is best for Windows 10 and newer. If it is not partitioned as GPT, you can use a partition assistant software that will allow you to convert the partition from MBR to GPT without losing data. Most free versions of well known partition softwares will allow you to do this.
2. Clone the system to the target disk (or a partition in the target disk) using the cloning software. If you are cloning the system that you have booted into, use the System Clone feature. If you are cloning the system partition on another disk/ partition, use the Clone Disk/ Partition feature.
3. When using the System Clone feature, you will see that the hidden EFI partition is automatically included. This EFI partition is often broken in the target disk, and we will see how to fix this in the next section.
4. Once cloning is complete, try booting from the target device. If it boots fine, great. If it doesn't boot, then here are the steps to make it boot.

RECREATING THE EFI PARTITION

Things Required

1. Windows Recovery Disk (if you can't boot into Recovery or if the native Recovery doesn't have command prompt feature)

Process

1. Boot to Recovery. If you don't have one or if it is broken, then connect your Windows Recovery Disk (you have to create one if you don't already have it).
2. Go to Command Prompt while in Recovery:

diskpart
list vol
sel vol x (here 'x' is the volume number of the EFI partition of the target disk; check the result from the previous command)
format quick fs=fat32 label="EFI T5" (you can give any name that helps you to identify the partition easily; in my case, I was installing Windows 10 on my Samsung T5 SSD, hence I named it as EFI T5; you can replace the text within the quotes with one of your choice)
set id=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
assign letter=a (you can replace 'a' with any alphabet that is not currently in use)
list vol (make sure that all the windows partitions in the target disk have a letter assigned to them; if any does not have a letter assigned, then assign a letter to each one of them as in the previous steps: select the correct volume number of the OS partition first and then assign a letter)

exit

Now we have to copy the boot files (which contain the OS paths) from each of the installed Windows OS to the EFI partition.

Pass the following command(s):

bcdboot c:\windows /s a:
(here, I'm assuming that the letter for the OS partition is 'c'; check the letter in your case as it need not be 'c'; use the correct letter for the OS partition that you see in your case; repeat this command for all the operating systems installed in the target disk, replacing 'c' with the corresponding letter of the OS; also remember that 'a' is the letter I used for the EFI partition; if you have assigned a different letter, then replace 'a' with the letter you have assigned for the EFI partition)

exit

Reboot.

If the disk has multiple OS installations, the OS Boot Manager should now show all of them, so you can choose which one to boot from.

If your target disk has multiple OS installed, you will see that there is an EFI partition for each of them. You can safely format/ delete all those except the first one. The system prefers the EFI partition to be installed at the beginning of the disk, so keep the 1st one and format the rest. In our case, it is the one that we assigned the letter 'a'.

To format the additional EFI partitions in the target disk, use DISKPART in command prompt:

diskpart

lis vol

sel vol x (where 'x' is the volume number of the additional EFI partitions in the target disk; repeat this for all the additional EFI partitions)

format quick fs=fat32

Remember, that you must only delete the extra EFI partitions on the target disk, not the ones on other disks that are attached to your system.

Every bootable disk needs just one EFI partition (preferably at the beginning of the disk because that is where the firmware first looks for one) and one Recovery partition. If you are using a multi-boot disk (assuming they are all Windows), a single EFI partition is enough that should contain the paths of all the OSes in the disk. The process above will accomplish this.

Also, each disk needs to have just one Recovery partition. You don't need a separate EFI or separate Recovery partition for each of the OSes installed. Having one EFI and one Recovery on the disk itself would suffice.

RECREATING THE RECOVERY PARTITION (can be done from inside Windows)

Things Required

1. Windows ISO (preferably the latest one)

2. 7zip or any archiver installed

Sometimes, the recovery partition can become corrupt. If that is the case, you won't be able to boot into Recovery or create a recovery disk. Troubleshooting Windows from recovery won't be possible in such cases. But we can restore it as follows:

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If the recovery partition does not exist, create it as follows:

Open command prompt with administrative privileges:

diskpart
list vol (note the volume number for Windows partition)
sel vol x (where x is the volume number of the Windows partition from above result)
shrink desired=1024 (this will create a Recovery partition of size 1 GB)
create par pri
format quick fs=NTFS label=Recovery
set id=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC (this is the id for Recovery partition)
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001
exit

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If the recovery partition already exists but is corrupt, then format the recovery partition using command prompt:

diskpart

list vol
sel vol x (where 'x' is the volume number of the recovery partition from the result above)
format quick fs=NTFS label=Recovery
set id=DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC (this is the id for Recovery partition)
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001
exit

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ENABLING THE RECOVERY ENVIRONMENT (do it from inside Windows)

1. reagentc /disable (you may see an output that says it is already disabled; it doesn't matter)

2. Go to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery and delete all files there.

3. Copy* WinRE.wim and the uninitialized ReAgent.xml files from the installation Media (ISO file) to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery

4. reagentc /enable (this will move WinRe.wim to the Recovery partition and set the GUID and location in ReAgent.xml)

After restoring the recovery partition, you'll be able to create a recovery disk on an external USB device.

*Here are the steps:

1. Right click the Windows ISO file
2. Use 7zip to open archive (just open; don't have to extract it)
3. Sources
4. Locate the install.wim (or install.esd) file
5. Right click and open
6. Choose the correct folder for your edition of Windows:

1 - Windows 10 Home
2 - Windows 10 Home N
3 - Windows 10 Home Single Language
4 - Windows 10 Education
5 - Windows 10 Education N
6 - Windows 10 Pro
7 - Windows 10 Pro N
8 - Windows 10 Pro Education
9 - Windows 10 Pro Education N
10 - Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
11 - Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations

In case of Windows Home, choose the folder '1'; for Windows Pro, choose folder '6', etc.

7. Go to Windows\ System32\ Recovery
8. Copy the two files (ReAgent.xml and Winre.wim) to your system (C:\Windows\System32\Recovery)

IN ALL OF THE DISKPART COMMANDS, BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL IN SELECTING THE CORRECT VOLUMES/ PARTITIONS/ DISKS. YOU MUST ONLY SELECT THE CORRECT VOLUMES IN YOUR TARGET DISK. DOUBLE CHECK THIS BEFORE PASSING THE COMMANDS.

DISCLAIMER

With the process above, you will have a bootable system with its own recovery environment. I am not sure if this breaks anything. Everything works fine as it should as far as I have tested. Your mileage may vary depending on the hardware you use and the way you use your system.

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Thanks for your great tutorial ... My question is, will all the solutions and steps above work in Windows 10, too (without modifying anything)?

aubergine · Sep 9, 2022

Fan11 said:
My question is, will all the solutions and steps above work in Windows 10, too (without modifying anything)?

Yes, if the disk has a GPT partition table.

TheMystic · Sep 16, 2022

Fan11 said:
Thanks for your great tutorial ... My question is, will all the solutions and steps above work in Windows 10, too (without modifying anything)?

Thank you.

Given the diversity of hardware (unlike Apple) on which Windows runs, this tutorial should work on Windows 10 and newer.

jimbo45 · Sep 16, 2022

macrium is the simplest way -- I don't like minitool --if I need a proper free partitioner then I can use the bootable stand alone version of GPARTED which doesn't have any features disabled for "Go Pro" --i.e pay, plus gparted handles any file system under the sun, and in a last resort you can easily clone a disk where you haven't been able to create any partitions on it via the built in terminal command dd -- which simply compies physical sectors from 1 disk (or partition) to another without regard to file system or data contennnt -- note DD will copy errors etc too -- it simply copies byte for byte whatever is on the source disk or partition to target but it's a possible tool if all else fails.

It's always better to have more than a single weapon in your armoury -- as they say if you go to a gunfight don't come only armed with a knife. !!

Cheers
jimbo