Recovery Partition Question

After a clean install of Windows 11 I decided to go ahead and use Minitool PartitionWizard to create some unallocated space that SSD can use for OP. I probably could've should've done it by simply making the unallocated space, moving it to the end, and then making sure Windows was pointed at the Recovery partition (I've had Windows make multiple ones in the past). I opted to simply delete the Recovery partition, create the unallocated space, and do a Windows in-place repair/install as I've done in Windows 10 in the past. Normally, this creates a new Recovery partition and everything is good. I've done it twice now and neither time created the partition. I've read that a Recovery partition isn't necessary if I have installation media. Is that correct? If not, short of doing another clean install, is there a way to determine the correct Recovery partition size and "make" one and point Windows to it?

My honest opinion is for you to do a clean install again and don't mess with the partitions again. You're just creating problems for yourself for no gain. That is the simplest way to fix it considering the fact that you have only recently done a clean install.

Please run:

DiskParInfo.bat - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.

Tuneup_plus_log.bat ─ Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.


Post images:

(widen volume and status columns to make sure that no characters are cut off)

In the end, recovery partitions are not that critical as you can clean install from a usb drive anyway, and (my peference) from an image backup. recovery partition only makes it slightly easier to reset your pc.

I always used to delete them until Macrium Reflect introduced WinRe recovery drives which support wifi. However, you can still backup using traditional WinPe but not over wifi but that is no big deal.

cereberus said:

I always used to delete them until Macrium Reflect introduced WinRe recovery drives which support wifi. However, you can still backup using traditional WinPe but not over wifi but that is no big deal.

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You can delete the recovery partition and still be able to use WinRE in Macrium. But you must first use reagentc /disable to turn off the recovery environment before deleting the recovery partition. Doing so will move your only copy of WinRE.wim from the recovery partition into C:\Windows\System32\Recovery, where Macrium will be able to find and use it. If you just delete the recovery partition you will no longer have a WinRE.wim for Macrium to find.

The following folders, and sub-folders are searched for file WinRE.wim

C:\Windows\System32\Recovery

<ALL VOLUMES>\Recovery

If multiple copies of WinRE.wim are found then each WIM is examined and the WIM that contains the most recent Windows OS is copied to the Staging Area.

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I did some research. It doesn't look like the recovery partition is that important, and it is not easy to "build". Supposedly, I'd probably see it built again when Microsoft issues the next major update. I'm able to access the same tools, I believe, using the install drive, though...or if I create a Recovery Drive. As far as Macrium, I have other machines I can make the rescue media (to restore an initial backup). The only thing I have to figure out, since I made it on a different machine, is how to find and add Intel RAID drivers so it can recognize the drive on the laptop. I believe there is supposed to be something in Macrium recovery (set mine up using PE I believe) that I can browse the drive for drivers (inf I assume) and it should load it and let me see the drive. I'll decide if I want to clean install again and install software all over again:)

cereberus said:

In the end, recovery partitions are not that critical as you can clean install from a usb drive anyway, and (my peference) from an image backup. recovery partition only makes it slightly easier to reset your pc.

Click to expand...

It's much more useful than an Over Provisioning partition.

mccnavy said:

It doesn't look like the recovery partition is that important, and it is not easy to "build".

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It's actually very easy to build a recovery partition - provided you turned off the recovery environment before deleting the original one. Use reagentc /disable to turn off the recovery environment, this moves WinRE.wim from the recovery partition into C:\Windows\System32\Recovery. Then you can delete the recovery partition. If you want to re-create one, then use reagentc /enable.

If you have already deleted the recovery partition and lost your only copy of WinRE.wim then it gets more difficult. You'll first have to extract a copy of WinRE.wim from the install.esd or install.wim of the Windows install media and place it in C:\Windows\System32\Recovery before you can enable the recovery environment and create a recovery partition. 7-Zip can do that for you.

Bree said:

It's actually very easy to build a recovery partition - provided you turned off the recovery environment before deleting the original one. Use reagentc /disable to turn off the recovery environment, this moves WinRE.wim from the recovery partition into C:\Windows\System32\Recovery. Then you can delete the recovery partition. If you want to re-create one, then use reagentc /enable.

If you have already deleted the recovery partition and lost your only copy of WinRE.wim then it gets more difficult. You'll first have to extract a copy of WinRE.wim from the install.esd or install.wim of the Windows install media and place it in C:\Windows\System32\Recovery before you can enable the recovery environment and create a recovery partition. 7-Zip can do that for you.

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Alright...complete. I:
Found and extracted "WinRE.wim" from the install.esd archive on my install disk (using 7 zip)
I Pasted it into C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
I entered reagentc /enable in Command Prompt (admin rights) and got an operation successful message.

Does this just enable the environment...it didn't do anything to re-create the partition.

mccnavy said:

Does this just enable the environment...it didn't do anything to re-create the partition.

Click to expand...

Under some circumstances where creating an additional partition may not possible, then WinRE.wim will be moved from C:\Windows\Syatem32\Recovery to C:\Recovery instead and that will be the location in the BCD that boots to the recovery environment.

You can check for this using bcdedit (without any options). Look for 'recovery sequence' under Windows Boot Loader:

recoverysequence {e89ea7bc-31d8-11ec-a1c3-fdf421d4a475}

Then compare that to partition pointed to by the GUID in reagentc /info.

Windows RE status: Enabled Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: e89ea7bc-31d8-11ec-a1c3-fdf421d4a475

Basically whenever the recovery environment is disabled WinRE.wim will be stored under System32 for safe keeping, and whenever it is enabled it will be moved to \Recovery\WindowsRE on the root of a partition, usually, but not necessarily a separate recovery partition.

Got it....I did both of those commands and they show the recovery environment on my main Windows partition (i.e. they match)

mccnavy said:

Got it....I did both of those commands and they show the recovery environment on my main Windows partition (i.e. they match)

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Great. You have a fully working recovery environment now, without an awkward recovery partition getting in the way if you want to rearrange your partitions.

@Bree, I have read other post about moving the recovery partition to drive C. Is there an advantage or is it just a personal choice?

Bree said:

You can delete the recovery partition and still be able to use WinRE in Macrium. But you must first use reagentc /disable to turn off the recovery environment before deleting the recovery partition. Doing so will move your only copy of WinRE.wim from the recovery partition into C:\Windows\System32\Recovery, where Macrium will be able to find and use it. If you just delete the recovery partition you will no longer have a WinRE.wim for Macrium to find.

Rescue Media Builder - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

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Yeah I sort of knew that but forgot. In the end, I used to delete the winre partition to save space on my 32GB emmc tablet. I never bother on my main devices.

There is a little more to creating a Recovery "Partition" as after you create the "Partition" you have to Set ID or GUID, so windows knows it is a "Recovery Partition" else if you create the "Partition" without identifying it to windows, when you use Reagentc it will register winre from windows/system32 without moving it.... BUT, the key point in this thread - Is to use Reagentc/Disable > before doing anything regarding recovery...

Yep...that was my mistake...not disabling reagentc before deleting the partition. Fortunately, Bree's fix of using my install media to extract the *.wim file, place it in the windows/system32/Recovery folder, and then run/re-run the reagentc command seems to be a fix. In addition to comparing the bcdedit vs. reagentc commands above, I ran a quick test last night by booting the machine into Recovery mode (Settings>System>Advanced Startup) and everything appears to be in order. While doing a repair by reinstall didn't re-generate a new Recovery partition (like it has in the past when I did this on Windows 10), I suspect that the next/first major Windows 11 update probably will. In that case, I at least know to run the disable reagentc command before deleting or playing with partitions.