How To Downgrade From Win 8 To 7 With Recovery Partition
Dec 30, 2012
I recently upgraded my HP Pavilion m6-1000 to windows 8 from windows 7 using windowsupgradeoffer. Since then, I have only experienced bugs and problems with my computer so I want to downgrade to windows 7. I didn't get a recovery disc when I bought the computer, but I have a recovery partition on the computer, called "Recovery (D:)". I also have the product key for windows 7
I have read that it is possible to downgrade using this partition
Basically, I upgraded from windows 8 to 8.1 a few weeks ago and since I could barely run any games, they have compatibility issues and all sorts.
I tried updating my drivers, it says they're all up to date I spent countless hours looking for solutions on how to downgrade All the solutions require me to have a disk, but I lost it I also looked up on how to set it back to it's factory setting, but it doesn't work
I was told to press F8 or F9 (can't remember at them moment) as soon as the computer turns on until the recovery screen pops up, but it never does.
I'm using an Alienware x51. Is it even possible to reset my computer without the disk? if not, then where can i get another disk that came with the computer?
If you have a recovery drive - that includes the recovery partition - made on one computer, but have a toshiba laptop with a bad drive (but the recovery partition is ok), can you replace/copy the partition on the recovery drive with the recovery partition from the bad laptop HD?
My friend's laptop would not boot, and would not factory recover, reset, or refresh. I tried to clone the hard drive before I started messing with the disc. It would not clone, but I was able to copy the recovery partition to a USB drive.
He never make recovery discs, so could not re-install, but I can borrow the recovery drive that my aunt made for her laptop.
I have an Asus ux32a zenbook and basically, I was wanting to reinstall my windows 8 back to the factory settings. My recovery image I saved is deleted and I may have started formatting my hard drive but am not sure. I try the f9 at startup to access the asus recovery but nothing happens.
I have a copy of Windows 7 I was going to just install over it but when I go to the advanced set up where it asks where I want to install windows I get a long list of disk partitions that have OS, Data, Restore ect. already on it looks like , which makes me think I can still access windows 8 somewhere on my computer.
The problem is, when I boot my computer without an installation usb, it directly takes me to the bios and nothing else. My question is, is it possible to see if I can access my recovery partition, if there is one, just through bios, since that is my only option when I turn the computer on?
I recently purchased a new Dell XPS laptop with SSD. The first thing I did after receiving it was to split the C drive into two using Easeus Partition Manager. Probably due to this, neither Windows nor the Dell Backup & Recovery software detect the recovery partition any more.
When I launch Windows built in recovery creator, it's 'Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive' option is grayed out. If I click next, it would say 'We can't create a recovery drive on this PC. Some required files are missing'.
Dell Backup and Recovery says 'Corrupted Environment. Dell Backup and Recovery has not been able to detect the Recovery Partition on this computer. It may be missing or corrupted." (see screenshots below).One thing I am 100% sure is that the recovery partition is present and is intact. I was able to create a bootable USB using Dell Backup and Recovery (this is different from a full recovery media in the sense that the laptop will boot from USB, and then recover from the recovery partition). Using this USB, I was able to restore the OS properly. Unfortunately, even after this factory restore, Windows doesn't detect the recovery partition.
1. Output of diskpart Here, partition 4 and partition 9 both have WinRE.wim. Partition 4 also has Reagent.xml. Both have the GUID same, but offset is different.
2. Output of various commands Code: reagentc /disable successful
Code: reagentc /info & reagentc /enable REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 3 REAGENTC.EXE: An error has occurred.
Code: recimg /showcurrent The recovery image configuration cannot be found. The system cannot access the configuration file. Error Code - 0x80070002
3. I also tried modifying the c:WindowsSystem32ReAgent.xml file without success. Based on the output of 'diskpart detail partition' shown below, I updated the file.
Attempt 1: Attempt 2:
Code: Here, 'WinRe.wim' is located in 'Partition 9WindowsRecovery'. That's why I used 'WindowsRecovery' as the 'WinreLocation path'.
I would like to create a custom recovery partition for windows 8.1 that I can use to refresh the pc. I would like to include the drivers that are required. How I can do this?
I have a 64GB flash drive I just bought to make a recovery for my laptop. I made the recovery partition just fine but its taking up 32gb when only using 21.5GB of space leaving over 10gb not usable. I am trying to shrink the partition to 24GB but it wont let me. Look at the attached screenshot.
Another question is my primary 1tb drive has a few extra 450MB partitions. What are they for?
I recently picked up an Asus laptop, a SDD to replace the the laptop's HDD, and a HDD caddy to hold the HDD in place of the CD/DVD drive. After a fresh Win 8.1 install on the SDD, I made system images of both the SDD and the HDD with the Win 8 OEM install (both stored on external drive). I also created a USB recovery drive and then formatted the HDD.
Fast forward a few weeks... It's last Friday. I'm about to leave for a business trip. I boot up my laptop and a screen comes up telling me to "reboot and select proper boot device". I pull the SDD out, hook it up to my desktop, and see that the drive shows up, but it's blank. A little googling turned up a few reviews from other people with the same issue. On rare occasion, it will wipe itself. Using the USB recovery drive and the Win 8.1 system image, I got things up and running again.
Now for my question, instead of constantly carrying around the 2 USB drives holding the recovery and system image, can I create a recovery partition on my HDD that I can boot too if my SDD wipes again? (Could I copy or clone my Recovery USB to a partition on my HDD?) Then I could just keep the SSD system image on the HDD in case I need to restore it, right?
Disk 0: SDD disk that wiped itself Disk 1: HDD that I'd like to have a recovery partition and system image on
I also have: Win 8 OEM system imageWin 8.1 system imageRecovery USB drive (8.1)Win 8.1 USB Install drive
I was using win 8 which was original came with notebook , then I installed Windows 8.1 (not upgrade from Store , just from .iso packet ). Because of some errors I re-installed another Windows 8 . iso and now I can't download Recovery from SW Update .It says recovery partition doesn't exist.I was able to use that before. How can I re-create my recovery partition again?
I upgraded my new refurbished Dell 15 7000 from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. Now, my hidden recovery drives are showing on "My Computer". On Windows 8, they were hidden so the user, or softwares, can't access the partitioned recovery drives.
After upgrading to windows 8.1, they are all visible on "My Computer" and files are be written on them. How can I hide these drives? I am afraid of doing Windows Update or installing Office 365 since they extract the files on a different drive and move them back to C drive.
Dell 15 7000 specs Windows 8.1 upgraded from Windows 8 Intel i7 4500u Nvidia 750m GDDR5 2GB 8GB memory 1TB Western Digital HDD 4 USB 3.0 ports
I buy new asus X550CC-XO028H ultrabook with windows 8 preinstalled.I upgrade windows 8 to 8.1 over windows store.I get many erros in event viewer.So now need restore windows 8 from recovery partition.Install all programs and upgrade to 8.1.But i cannot to do this.Windows 8.1 cannot find system image.I try this this manual System Image Recovery - Restore Image on Computer in Windows 8 Asus manual also say recovery same [URL] .....
1. Restart your Notebook PC then press F9 during POST. 2. Wait for Windows to load the Choose an option screen then tap Troubleshoot. 3. Tap Advanced options. Notebook PC E-Manual 4. In the Advanced options screen, select System Image Recovery. 5. Choose an account you would like to recover using a system image file. 6. Type your account password then tap Continue. 7. Select Use the latest available system image (recommended), then tap Next. You can also choose Select a system image if your system image is in an external device or DVD. 8. Follow the succeeding steps to complete the system image recovery procedure.
How fix to work recovery partition.All original asus partitions are untouched. [URL] .....
My son's laptop (Windows 8) failed, and despite F9 options to reset or refresh, and CHKDSK was unable to recover the system due to bad disk sectors. I bought a new disk , but as I had made no recovery media, and the OEM doesn't supply any, I have no way of reinstalling Windows 8.
However I did mange to install Ubuntu Linux on the new disk and the Laptop is now working fine. Out of curiosity I connected the old bad disk via a USB enclosure, and lo and behold Disk utility was able to read the OEM Recovery and Restore partitions. I have made several copies of these on a Win 7 laptop, USB and LInux partitions, and all look good (as far as i can tell).
My issue is that as the OEM recovery partitions seem fine, I reckon they should be installable onto the new disk, but I am at a loss as to how I can use this data to reinstall Win 8 onto my laptop. Most of the advice I can see assumes a working copy of WIn 8 or having a retail Win 8 ISO, which of course I do not have. Remember , unlike Win 7, WIn 8 has no product key identifiable as it is contained in the BIOS somewhere, but I reckon it should recognise the OEM's recovery partition if I only could manage to load it.
I now have a sketchy knowledge of lots of new terms (mounting , partitioning, MBRs, boot sequences etc ) so exactly what to do. [ The tutorial on this form requires a retail win 8 ISO]. I did find a Linux method involcing DD, DDRESCUE , PARTPROBE etc ) which I have tried but all to no avail - I am sure I was close though! ]
System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2 OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro, 64 bit Processor: AMD E-300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, AMD64 Family 20 Model 2 Stepping 0 Processor Count: 2 RAM: 2666 Mb Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics, 384 Mb Hard Drives: C: Total - 281129 MB, Free - 233356 MB; D: Total - 19850 MB, Free - 2098 MB; E: Total - 4055 MB, Free - 935 MB; Motherboard: Hewlett-Packard, 3577 Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled
I am trying to build a recovery drive on a USB flash drive for Win 8.1. I have been unable to copy the Recovery Partition from the PC to the recovery drive. It appears to be disabled when I view it from the Recovery Drive. I have discovered that in Windows 8.1 the recovery partition is installed in a INSTALL.WIM file format. How do I locate the Windows 8.1 INSTALL.WIM file and how can I register the INSTALL.WIM file as the Recovery Image on my PC?
I downloaded the Windows 8.1 Enterprise evaluation kit and became totally lost.
I finally broke down and bought a modern laptop Asus A55A (K55A) and installed Ubuntu 12.04 in a dual boot situation. With the nefarious secureboot and other such nonsense Windows 8 install met with an untimely demise. However, I have the files left on the recovery partition (copied to my 16gb usb) and need to make an install disk. My only issue is that I can't find a way to do it in Ubuntu as all the tutorials I find assume that Windows is installed. Is there a way to make a bootable Windows 8 install usb or iso from the files on the recovery partition-without using Windows to make it? I would love to re-install Windows 8 and then setup a stale dual boot.
I have some problems with my laptop ASUS K55VD. I had windows 8, but with the store of windows I have updated to windows 8.1.
I have tried to use the recovery partition, but every time I try appears a message. Failed to reset your computer. A partition of unity necessary is missing. For that reason I have looking for some information, and with CMD commands like "diskpart". I have noticed that I have 8 volumen.
And in Computer Management appears this.
Then googling recommend to use EaseUS Partition, and some many things change. In the beginning, I had the same 3 partions in red and I don't know what happened.
But in diskpart change too, and I only have 4 volume, and it have dissapeared the recovery partition, and I don't know why?
Before to use EaseUS partition I have created a USB booteable with 9.79gb, and I had this:
But, in this days I have tried to create the USB booteable again, but I can't. And everytime I have tried to run the usb, appears to select the language, the keyboard, and then appears the same windows with troubleshoting and turn off (it returns at the previous windows in blue)
I have an i7 ASUS Ultrabook (HDD is 2xssd in raid0, UEFI, GPT partitions.) which is great but have an issue where wifi profiles don't retain and i'm not too concerned about retaining the data on the ultrabook so after attempting to fix the wifi profiles not saving (Have been through the driver scenario, folder permissions, sfc, etc and no joy) i'm just going to do a clean install from the recovery partition.
I started by trying the recovery methods 8 has built in, refresh the files, but fails without an error and makes no changes. Attempted to do a full restore via 8 recovery also but fails with no error also and then I realized I was actually missing the OEM options (F9 during boot doesn't allow for EMS boot to begin recovery from recovery partition like expected, just boots into normal recovery).
After installing windows 8.1 it no longer allows me to do an OEM recovery via Windows 8.1's built in recovery methods so I created a recovery USB from the recovery partition using the windows 8 tool since the AI Recovery Burner doesn't recognize the partition, the USB recovery creation did recognize the partition and allow me to create the USB recovery drive from this successfully.
When running the USB recovery, the recovery fails with "Required drive partition is missing"
I think this is because the recovery partition is actually a windows 8 partition, not 8.1, and will not work.
Seems like a lot of effort but I want to retain the OEM key and software set (because it's surprisingly not a piece of trash) so was thinking if I install windows 8 (I have an ISO and another key) over the existing 8.1 partition it may actually allow me to then do the normal recovery.
Since the recovery drive did not work I decided to clone the recovery partition and have the WIM file now, although since cloning the partition when running recovery I no longer have the option to create a recovery drive using the recovery partition, the partitions no longer show as recovery partitions in disk management but instead as OEM partitions (Not sure why this changed.)
The recovery xml configuration for REAGENTC does have the correct GUID's and offsets for the partitions although when running this in elevated cmd it results in error 3 unable to run.
Am I able to create a base recovery drive from another windows 8.1 pc and use the WIM file?
Any way to tell what partition table my created recovery drive is expecting so I can adjust the current partitions to match and perform the recovery? When I try to refresh the files from this recovery I get the error "Windows system is locked" which is why I went for the full recovery.
I just ran into a problem during my upgarding my laptops to win 8 pro from win 7 and also win 8
1) I have discovered that my laptop which came with win 8 which i upgraded to win 8 pro with a dvd, has had the contents of the hidden partition deleted in the upgrade process [as told to me by acer][that is i can no longer go back to factory default settings ever!].The hidden partition is going to be returned to original condition.So i would like to copy the image of that hidden partition somewhere,where i can copy it back onto the hdd hidden partition should this ever happen again for whatever reason.But not onto a dvd,either a externall hdd or usb stick if its possible.
2) I have another acer laptop which i have also upgraded,but from win 7 to win 8 pro. And it seems that the hidden partition and the factory default settings in that laptop have been untouched!! as i have just restored it back to factory condition.
But i would also like to copy the hidden partition for this one. And i also have other laptops with hidden partitions with vista and xp.
So win 8 will delete the factory settings in a hidden partition when it is an upgrade from win 8 to win 8 pro but not from win 7 ???
What are the ways to copy the hidden partition for ones i know how to remove the hdd and ones that i do not?? In a way that is easy to copy back to the hdd concerned.
After a upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, I seem to have lost my ability to use the recovery partition. Every time I go and use it I get an error message Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing.
I have contacted ASUS for recovery DVD's however I was told to go to a authorized repairer to have it fixed for a fee. My last laptop was able to burn recovery DVD's but not this one.
I understand that Windows 8.1 creates a new recovery partition for itself however I did read on this forum it is possible to get it back to default settings.
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration Information:
Windows RE status: Enabled Windows RE location: ?GLOBALROOTdeviceharddisk0partition2RecoveryWindowsRE Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: ba08d678-3e5b-11e2-b26a-a34ba04e3737 Recovery image location: ?GLOBALROOTdeviceharddisk0partition5RecoveryImage Recovery image index: 2 Custom image location: Custom image index: 0
I installed Ubuntu 14.04 a few weeks ago and I was happy about it, but I need to sell this PC and I need to install Windows in it. The problem here is that I erased the recovery partition by accident and I can't install Windows with a CD because my computer doesn't have a disk case, the model of my PC is Lenovo Yoga 11s.
I tried to make a booteable Windows 7 USB with Unetbootin, but the BIOS doesn't let me boot from the USB slot. My BIOS configuration was in Legacy Support and my USB was the priority to boot. My USB was formatted in NTFS. When I open the boot menu it take me to the Grub of Ubuntu.
I don't know what else to do... I just need to install Windows, it doesn't matter if is 7 or 8.
When I installed my copy of windows 8 using a dvd, It installed a recovery partition during the installation. This partition allowed me to do things such as create a recovery drive, and use startup repair, all without needing to insert an installation disk. For some reason, this recovery partition is no longer working. I can't create a recovery drive without being told to insert installation media, and there are no troubleshooting settings when I launch "advanced startup". I noticed this after I deleted all of the bcd bootloader entries in easybcd, and tried to create a recovery drive. I don't know if deleting those entries could have affected windows but I think it might have something to do with it.
The recovery partition is still there, and the files in it are still there.
After upgrading to 8.1 i see two recovery partitions: Difference between each, or how to find out if i need both.
Secondly,i have a recovery USB flash drive which has boot efi and sources, but the latter is empty. Should i redo that to copy one of the two recovery partitions? (it's 3.7 GB).
Note: i also have 4 DVDs of media recovery, and a single system image on an external hard drive. Not sure how these are related to use of the USB drive,Where is the best description of a recovery process to follow in case of losing a C:drive?
I wish to purchase a new laptop that has Windows 8 OEM pre-installed on a 256GB SSD and a recovery partition. I would like to move the recovery partition to an USB drive using the feature available in Windows 8 and create another partition on the SSD for a different OS (linux). I have several questions:
1. Is there any difference between a recovery USB and the recovery partition on the SSD?
2. [Answered] If I completely wipe the original Windows 8 installation can I restore my system using the USB drive?
3. [Answered] During recovery, can I chose on what partition I want to install Windows 8 or create a new partition for it (similarly to a fresh install) or is the whole thing done automatically? I want to know if the recovery process wipes the whole SSD or only the Windows partition and if my other partitions will be left intact (I can live with it overriding the bootloader).
4. If I shrink the Windows 8 partition, can I still perform the recovery? (assuming that I have enough space for the installation).
I recover, my recover partition, to a usb 2.0 disc, i try to recover from there, but it only show me the blue screen options, to choose language and keyboard layout, then i choose again the same driver, and same thing again, i can't pass from here, i even try to boot from the usb disc, and same thing.
I purchased a Lenovo laptop with Windows 8 Pro preinstalled. It came with 500 GB HDD. I changed the DVD Rom with SSD/HDD tray to use for additional drive. I put an SSD in there and installed Windows 8 on it using a USB Recovery Drive, which I don't have anymore. So my current setup looks like this:
After upgrading to Windows 8.1, the license of some software I'm using got messed up and I couldn't manage fixing it, so the only option I've got left is to reinstall/reset Windows. But since the Recovery partition is on another drive, when I go about creating a Recovery Drive, the option "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive" is greyed out. I've got stuff on my HDD, which I can't currently backup so I don't wan't to format that drive. I'm perfectly fine with formatting the SSD, that's what I want.
How can I reinstall/reset my Windows? The only option I see is to install Windows on the Hard Drive (by doing a backup and formatting it first), and then create a usb recovery drive and reinstall again on the SSD, but that's a lot of hassle and I'd need to find an external hard drive for the backup.
I intentionally left the Hard Drive in the original bay (as Disk 0) because of the better protection against falling compared to the added bay in place of the DVD drive.
I built up a new PC featuring a brand new SSD (i.e fully unallocated). Then, I made a clean install of Windows 8.1 pro (64bits) using an ISO DVD. Using Windows disk management tool after the install, I can see that only two partitions have been created: one System partition in NTFS (350MB) and the remaining of the SSD is the C: partition while I was expecting a third one : a recovery partition. Of course, I do not remember a prompt during the install to ask whether I want a recovery parttion or not.
Is it normal ? Is a recovery partition useful knowing I have the install DVD ? If the recovery partition has some advantages, is there a way to create it after the install is completed ?
Alright, so my ASUS laptop has been getting a little slow lately, so I decided to reinstall. Now I know my PC has an ASUS recovery partition, which reinstall the pc with all the tools, drivers etc, since I've used it before. But now when I restart the computer and press F9 and reset, it doesn't work. This is what I do:
This is where it was supposed to give me the option to restore whole drive or just install windows to the primary partition. But now it asks for a CD, which I don't have. This PC never used to have a recovery CD, just a recovery partition.
Then, I read somewhere I could do the same from inside Windows 8, so I tried that as well by going to the charms bar, then Settings and then "Change PC settings". Then I selected "Update and recovery" from the left, and then went to Recovery, where I pressed the button to remove everything and reinstall windows. This is what I got:
So, I tried to see if EaseUs Partition manager showed the recovery partition. I started ASUS and these are the partitions it found:
I saw it found both a "Recovery" partition and a "Restore" partition. Now I assume the Recovery partition is the one Windows 8 boots into, and the Restore partition is the one created by ASUS. So, these are the contents of the Recovery partition:
And these are the contents of the Restore partition:
As you can see outlined in red, it does contain an install.wim file, so I know the recovery data is there. However the Windows 8 recovery environment just isn't able to find it.
How to make a clean install on my Samsung Series 5 550P5C, but I hear from here to there that when I do it I will delete my Recovery Partition (which I would like to have on the disc in some radical case). However I saw a thread when someone performed a clean install and didn't lost the recovery partition. Additionally I think it should not be able to remove it installing Windows on C partition, as this is another partition on the disc - than Recovery part.
