How to move non-functioning WinRE partition from start of disk to end and re-install it there?

dbookbinder · Mar 27, 2024

Topgundcp said:
Looking at the BCD text file, I don't see anything related to the HP entry in esp partition, hence it is invalid, the same as in the other thread where the OP has invalid entries. This cause Diskgenius to complain.
As a precaution, you can copy and save this folder to desktop then proceed with the fix.

OR: better yet, just move this folder out of esp partition, reboot and check again to see if the problem goes away.

Since I don't know what I'd be doing, recreating the ESP partition, would it work to use DG to save the ESP (and MSR, which is in the wrong place) from the original drive that came with the computer and copy that to the drive using DG?

Topgundcp · Mar 27, 2024

Yes you can but Since you have Macrium installed, why not just backup those 2 partitions with it, it would be easier.

Keep the esp and msr checked, uncheck C and Recovery partition then click on image this disk

SIW2 · Mar 27, 2024

I've been using Diskgenius since the beginning when it was called "PartitionGuru" then later renamed to be "DiskGenius". IMO, DiskGenius is way better than Partition Manger,

Ditto

dbookbinder · Mar 27, 2024

Topgundcp said:
Yes you can but Since you have Macrium installed, why not just backup those 2 partitions with it, it would be easier.

Keep the esp and msr checked, uncheck C and Recovery partition then click on image this disk

I had forgotten that I'm not limited to just the internal drives with Macrium. What you suggest makes sense but I'm not clear on the sequence. What I ultimately want to do is drop the HP default ESP partition as the first partition in the currently unallocated space, the MBR in the next partition, delete the old ESP and MBR partitions, and merge the C: partition with remaining free space. (see attached Macrium screenshot of what I have now) . Is there a way to do all or most of that in Macrium?

In Macrium, I can backup and restore the ESP and MBR, and I can drop them into that unallocated space, but how do I also delete the existing ESP and MBR? Or will Windows boot even with two copies of these partitions?

Is there a way to do most of that in Macrium, or would I first have to delete those partitions in a partition manager like DG, reboot into a Macrium boot drive, and then restore from the Macrium backup?

dbookbinder · Mar 27, 2024

SIW2 said:
use diskgenius DiskGenius Download Center | Free Download DiskGenius

the free version will let you do all of this

in diskgenius click on the 873mb partition, then select the FILES tab, rt click the winre.wim and select copy to

1. copy winre.wim from the 873mb partition into your windows\system32\recovery folder
2. delete the .xml file from your windows\system32\recovery folder
3. delete the 873mb partition
4. shrink your os partition from the right by however much you want, lets say 1gb
5. rt click on that 1gb unallocated space and select create partition - tell it you want ms recovery partition in the dropdown- click Ok
6. click Save All

I followed the above instructions to create a new WinRE partition and they seemed to work -- when I type reagentc /info, I get a message that WinRE the operation was successful and WinRE is enabled. If I disable it, the WinRE.wim file gets copied back to the Recovery folder in System32. However, the partition is actually empty and WinRE isn't working. I left the partition marked as the recovery partition, per your instructions. I also tried formatting it as NTFS, which is how that partition on my other computer is formatted. Doesn't work either way.

I even tried using Macrium to copy the recovery partition from my backup to that partition. It put the files there, but it still doesn't see it as the recovery partition, and reagentc /info lists the WinRE as being on partition 3, instead of partition 4. Still no joy. Wherever that .WIM file is being copied to, Windows can't find it on boot. What do I need to do to get this to work correctly?

I did find that the ESP partition is apparently not actually damaged. I put my original, HP-formatted SSD in an enclosure and checked the drive with Disk Genius. It also indicated that the partition was damaged, so I guess it doesn't like how HP set things up.

SIW2 · Mar 27, 2024

or after reagentc /enable

type

reagentc /info

it should give the path

if it going somewhere other than the recovery partition, there is a problem with it finding the recovery partition

Topgundcp · Mar 27, 2024

Hi, Sorry I went out for dinner, just came back....
Looking at the the Macrium Image above. The partition layout is a mess, you still don't have a Recovery partition.
Partition 4 is unformatted. The reason you think it works because when run: Reagentc /enable, Reagentc cannot find the Recovery partition so it copy Winre.wim to C:\Recovery (This folder is hidden) and modify the BCD to point to it, you probably did not set the partition ID for Recovery partition correctly. Bitlocker will need this partition for it to work.
To be honest, when I look at this thread, I saw @SIW2 was helping you so I stay out of it, I rather let one person to help you.
But if I had a chance to help you at the beginning, I would suggest to use Macrium only to fix the problem.
FYI, C:\Recovery folder is just a place holder for Reagentc to use. Not to store Winre.wim.
Do you still have the original Macrium Backup before messing with Samsung migration ?

zbook · Mar 28, 2024

Years ago HP had installed software into the EFI partition.

The computer that I'm using has that software.

When possible please post results for post #27.

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

Topgundcp said:
Hi, Sorry I went out for dinner, just came back....
Looking at the the Macrium Image above. The partition layout is a mess, you still don't have a Recovery partition.
Partition 4 is unformatted. The reason you think it works because when run: Reagentc /enable, Reagentc cannot find the Recovery partition so it copy Winre.wim to C:\Recovery (This folder is hidden) and modify the BCD to point to it, you probably did not set the partition ID for Recovery partition correctly. Bitlocker will need this partition for it to work.
To be honest, when I look at this thread, I saw @SIW2 was helping you so I stay out of it, I rather let one person to help you.
But if I had a chance to help you at the beginning, I would suggest to use Macrium only to fix the problem.
FYI, C:\Recovery folder is just a place holder for Reagentc to use. Not to store Winre.wim.
Do you still have the original Macrium Backup before messing with Samsung migration ?

I do still have the backup, though it is not completely current anymore, as I've made changes over the past several days. But, I have backups and can most likely re-do the important changes. I initially tried the restore using Macrium and it had some issues, too, but nothing as messed up as what the Samsung software created. Are you suggesting I just go back to the Macrium backup and restore it and give up on getting the recovery partition to work? I don't really care about the wasted 873MB at the start of the disk except in an OCD kind of way, and as far as I can tell the WinRE partition is the only remaining significant issue, now that I've found the Disk Genius flagging the EFI partition is a false warning.

zbook · Mar 28, 2024

When using Minitool a right click > explore will display the HP files in the EFI partition.

If possible post images or share links of the EFI contents.

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

zbook said:
When using Minitool a right click > explore will display the HP files in the EFI partition.

If possible post images or share links of the EFI contents.

I got the WinRE partition to work! I finally found simple instructions using diskpart and modified them for my setup. This is what I did:

reagentc /disable

Deleted the existing partition and formatted a new one with no drive letter after the C: partition

diskpart>
list disk
sel disk 1
list partitions
select partition 4
det par
set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
det par
exit diskpart

reagentc /enable

Reboot and test.

I think my mistake was figuring that Disk Genius, when it formatted the new partition as a Recovery partition, would actually do what it says on the tin. Instead, neither flagged it as the recovery partition or formatted it. I wasted at least 3 (more) hours before I finally figured that out.

Question:
I next want to split this disk into a 500GB C: drive (though I probably only need about 350GB, but that could change) and a 1.5GB D: drive, then move the non-system data that's now on C: to D: and reconfigure programs to point to the new data drive. Maybe I can use a junction to simplify that process, as most of my programs now point to data on C: and it will take me hours to reconfigure all of the relevant files.

I will then do a Macrium backup of the C: drive. Am I correct in thinking that if I decide to restore that new C: backup, I can have Macrium move all the partitions to the left 873MB to get rid of that unallocated space at the start of the drive? I may not bother, since things are working finally, but I'd like to know if I am thinking about this correctly.

Thanks!

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

zbook said:
When using Minitool a right click > explore will display the HP files in the EFI partition.

If possible post images or share links of the EFI contents.

As I said above somewhere, Disk Genius also flags the EFI partition on a 256GB SSD that I think I formatted using the HP recovery environment, rather than created as a clone, so the "Damaged" flag may be a false alarm.

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

Bug locker said:
Because of Microsoft changed the update policy for WinRE , many users (of Win 10) have problems such as errors at Windows update.
The provided solution for these users is to delete and rebuild a larger WinRE. But are at Win 11. As you can see the "solution" is
and for Windows 11. In real at any time a user can play with that , by : put the partition WinRE at the end or start of the System Disk (if i remember OK , MS recommends at the end of) , change name or size WinRE partition.

So i tried for any case to make it 1GB , last partition , and with my own naming.
I made it. But before ............................ check what problems were created. You will found many answers.
Τhanks to SIW2 I succeeded :

View attachment 91730

-About Disk Genious. In order to find solutions i downloaded and tried.
I realized 2 things. That it has a lot of potential and that it is unreliable. I would tell you not to use it.

-In the other hand i use Mini tool partition wizard. It hasnt the abilities of DG , but is reliable.
-I can't prove it but I believe the error of DG gives you is false.

Whats important and you must check , to understand also if there is problem :
1) You can boot at WinRE via Shift+restart and ensure that major functions like Restore Points and Restore Image work OK.
2) You can boot at WinRE via USB stick and ensure that major functions like Restore Points and Restore Image work OK.
3) You can boot at WinRE by pressing F11 at boot and ensure that major functions like Restore Points and Restore Image work OK.
4) You can boot at HP's UEFI by press the defined key , at my Pavilion thats F2. (i think you have an HP , sorry if i m wrong).

If all these are OK , please post a screenshot of Disk Management and/or Minitool partition wizard ,
to see if there is something looks wrong.

In case that after all these , cant boot at HP's UEFI diagnostics its easy to recreate it.
Just download and run its setup file.

Knoledge about WinRE you could find here.

I have no problem booting into HP's UEFI environment, and I have finally fixed the WinRE partition using diskpart. It took me about five minutes, vs three or four hours playing around with Disk Genius, so I'm starting to have the same opinion about it. It's got a lot of features I have yet to explore, but also seems to be a little buggy, and two of those bugs bit me!

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

zbook said:
Years ago HP had installed software into the EFI partition.

The computer that I'm using has that software.

When possible please post results for post #27.

Thanks for the confirmation about HP's EFI software. I think, except for the unallocated space at the front of the disk that shouldn't be there, I'm up and running now, so I won't be posting the output of the commands you listed in #27.

Topgundcp · Mar 28, 2024

I got the WinRE partition to work! I finally found simple instructions using diskpart and modified them for my setup. This is what I did:

reagentc /disable

Deleted the existing partition and formatted a new one with no drive letter after the C: partition

diskpart>
list disk
sel disk 1
list partitions
select partition 4
det par
set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
det par
exit diskpart

reagentc /enable

Reboot and test.

Did you actually type exactly the commands listed above ? If you did then I cannot see how that works.
You select partition 4 -> det par then set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
without creating a Recovery partition.
So what partition did you set id for ???

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

Topgundcp said:
Did you actually type exactly the commands listed above ? If you did then I cannot see how that works.
You select partition 4 -> det par then set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
without creating a Recovery partition.
So what partition did you set id for ???

I created the partition using Disk Management, as noted here: "Deleted the existing partition and formatted a new one with no drive letter after the C: partition," which I see wasn't written very clearly. Late-night fuzzy writing after hours of tinkering with the aftermath of Samsung Magician.

Previously, I had used Disk Genius to create what it claimed was a recovery partition. I assumed, incorrectly, that it would format it in whatever way recovery partitions were meant to be formatted -- this is all new to me, as is the diskpart command. So, I deleted that volume and recreated it as a simple volume, formatted it with NTFS, then used the above commands to identify that partition as the recovery partition.

Topgundcp · Mar 28, 2024

Please run:
diskkpart
select disk 1
list par
exit
reagentc /info
Then copy and post the result to make sure everything is correct

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

Topgundcp said:
Please run:
diskkpart
select disk 1
list par
exit
reagentc /info
Then copy and post the result to make sure everything is correct

Thanks for your conscientiousness. Everything seems fine now except for the annoying 873MB unallocated space at the front of the disk, where Samsung Magician relocated the original WinRE. Now that I have an easy way to re-create the WinRE partition, I'm planning to do the same process on my old Dell laptop to free up the 12GB used by their reset-to-factory partition.

Topgundcp · Mar 28, 2024

Yep, looks good.

One option is to clone disk 1 to another disk then boot from it. If everything is OK, then clone it back to disk 1.Your C drive is about 700GB, so the only disk that has emough space is 5TB disk (T: drive), is it internal or external ?

Another option is to backup C drive only, wipe out disk 1, Re-create all partitions with diskpart then restore to disk 1 but you will have to do this with Macrium rescue disk.

dbookbinder · Mar 28, 2024

Topgundcp said:
Yep, looks good.

One option is to clone disk 1 to another disk then boot from it. If everything is OK, then clone it back to disk 1.Your C drive is about 700GB, so the only disk that has emough space is 5TB disk (T: drive), is it internal or external ?

Another option is to backup C drive only, wipe out disk 1, Re-create all partitions with diskpart then restore to disk 1 but you will have to do this with Macrium rescue disk.

The T: drive is external.

The computer is a five-month-old laptop, and at this point I'm tired of cracking it open and replacing drives. I got scammed by an Amazon seller, Techno Intelligence, who shipped it with two defective SSDs. I've opened the thing up many times to replace drives, including a new Crucial T500, which failed its extended DST. If I ever need to restore the C: drive from a Macrium backup, I should be able to relocate the partitions to get rid of the empty space.