just upgraded to 8 from XP. I have a recovery drive for XP. Can I reformat this recovery drive so I can use it to install & recover Windows 8 instead if I have a problem in the future?
View 1 RepliesIf 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.
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
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 300 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Recovery 900 MB 301 MB
Partition 3 Primary 372 GB 1201 MB
Partition 4 Recovery 350 MB 373 GB
Partition 5 Recovery 20 GB 373 GB
I just purchased an Asus R510CC notebook with windows 8 and I bought a SSD drive to replace the current one.
I used Recovery Drive in Windows to create an USB boot drive with the recovery partition on it. I then installed the SSD and booted from the USB. When I get to the option to reset my computer I encounter an error with the following message: "Unable to reset PC. A required drive partition is missing". I already did a bit of research and BIOS tweaking but I can't install Windows onto my SSD.
My Acer Aspire A7600U-UR24 came with windows 8. I made a recovery drive by choosing "create recovery drive" in windows 8. After making the drive i installed windows 8.1 from DVD. Some time later I tried to restore it back to factory with my recovery usb. Every time I try I get "windows cannot find a system image on this computer" even though my flash drive is plugged in. I tried booting from the drive, doesn't seem to work. Not sure if my windows 8.1 version not being activated has anything to do with it (I installed 8.1 on 2 computers from the same dvd didn't realize i couldn't do that) . but I think I should still be able to boot from the drive.
I was thinking if the problem is my flash drive, can I somehow transfer the system image from one flash drive to another?
Here's the screens: at this point there should be an option for windows 8 but there's not.
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 have a brand new system with an OEM version of Windows 8 installed (Core not Pro)
ASUS CM 6870
2 TB HD
16 TB RAM
ASUS P8H77-M Pro Motherboard
The new system works well but I have also purchased an OCZ Vector 256GB SSD and intend to install it as my primary hard drive.
ASUS didn't and will not supply a recovery disk.
ASUS provides an activation key for a downloadable version of Acronis True image. I tried that but their version is not compatible with Windows 8. I managed to get a newer version but it didn't recognize that the SSD was installed.
Next, I used Win 8 to make a recovery drive USB drive thinking that I would be able to do a clean install of Win with it. I had the 2TB HD disconnected and the SSD installed but the recovery drive refused to install Win 8. I either got the message "The drive where windows is installed is locked. Unlock and try again." or "The drive is too small to format" (the wording on the last may not be exact)
I was able to "find" a Windows 8 ISO file. I burned it to a DVD and was able to install Win 8 but it was not a UEFI installation. There were only 2 SSD HD partitions: 1. System Reserved - 350 MB NTFS. 2. 238.13 GB NTFS Healthy.
I then deleted these volumes and followed the UEFI installation instructions in the thread:
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with
Windows installed but it was not a UEFI installation. I got the same partitions as above. At step 6, I only saw the 2 partitions. I tried this process twice with the same results.
The USB stick was prepared using the instructions in this thread:
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
I think that the USB drive should have had 4 partitions on it but it only has one:
7.47 GB FAT32 Healthy.
I purchased a new laptop with windows 8 and used the options in windows 8 to create recovery media and chose the usb drive option. I was wondering if I would be able to copy the files in the usb drive onto my external HD; then if I ever need them I could put them back onto a usb drive and reinstall windows 8. I took a screenshot of the files on the usb drive.
View 5 Replies View RelatedI need to delete a recovery partition off my second hard drive. I've seen this link: Delete and Remove to Unlock EISA Hidden Recovery or Diagnostic Partition in Vista - My Digital Life but it's for Vista and the final command "delete partition override" doesn't work in diskpart. It comes up saying "The specified command or parameters are not supported on this system"
Yes, I really do want to delete the recovery partition because it's on my secondary HDD, I still have the recovery partition on my C: so I'm really not losing anything ....
I bought a brand new Acer Aspire xc600 today and it had Windows 8 installed. First thing me and my husband did was to try to install win7 (as we dislike Windows 8 for many reasons)... When it didnt work with just putting in the cd and install, we (stupidly without making recovery discs as we thought we would never need it) formated the drive and made it completely clean before installing win7 (which works now). This means we have no Windows 8 recovery disc or E-recovery management program and therefor cant do factory reset and return this piece of crap pc... (We play world of warcraft and my 7year old pc has only been updated once when it comes to graphic card to geforce 9800 and still perform better outside the game).
The performance test of the whole system give the graphics a lousy 5.0 which is worse than my husbands 3yr old graphic card as well! Only numbers that have increased is the RAM and CPU.
I feel disappointed as the graphics card should be better than mine or my husbands and have better performance even if its the "laptop sized card".
So to the issue, is there a way we could restore/reinstall the computer to factory settings with Windows 8 and Acers drivers as it was when we started it up earlier today?
I have Windows 8 in my desktop PC and want to format my hard disk's partition where windows 8 is and install Windows 8.1.
For this, I have a bootable USB with Windows 8.1.
When I try to access BIOS to change the boot order of the PC, pressing DEL (as I always did without problem in previous versions of windows) sends me to a blank screen. The BIOS never load. I tried waiting more than 30 minutes. It wont load.
I also tried clicking RESTART while holding the SHIFT button to access the advance options, but it doesn't show the UEFI Firmware setting that it was supposed to.
Finally, I tried to enter through the PC SETTINGS in the charm bar, but it doesn't show the Update and recovery option I was looking for.
Bought a new HP Pavilion with 8 installed, no CD. New OS and have decided to go back to Windows 7. I bought a full OEM version of 7 and am instructed to format the hard drive before inserting the new OS CD. I am having problems formatting the hard drive with out a OS CD to use.
View 2 Replies View RelatedIm reinstalling windows 8 on my just formatted hard drives since I've filled up 1.5 terabyte with shit. (Not porn) and now I can't install it again?
View 9 Replies View RelatedYesterday, I clean-installed Windows 8 Pro x86 on an old Dell Vostro 1400 laptop which had been running Windows 7 Ultimate, and it activated and ran fine, without even a single exclamation point in Device Manager. I applied the update necessary to make the Store offer 8.1 and proceeded to install it as I've done on a couple other machines. After downloading the thing, it errored out with:
Couldn't install Windows 8.1
Contact your PC manufacturer to see if you can upgrade the System BIOS
When I clicked the OK button, it then gave me the informative and grammar-challenged error box:
Something happened and the Windows 8.1 couldn't be installed. Please try again. Error code: 0xc1900104
Try again Cancel
Ever the optimist, I clicked Try again, and of course, it proceeded to download all over again from scratch, only to error out in the same way. I then downloaded all the Windows 8 updates, although just the one had been necessary on my other machines that successfully upgraded to 8.1, and tried again, only to get the same result.
Today, I've discovered the Windows 8.1 Compatibility Assistant, which avoids the lengthy download of the upgrade every time (Microsoft, maybe you should run it implicitly before downloading 3 GB of transient data), and it tells me:
This PC doesn't meet system requirements
Contact your PC manufacturer to see if you can upgrade the System BIOS
Obviously, no BIOS updates are available, and what exactly is the problem here with my BIOS. The obvious googling turned up nothing except some people with Sony Vaios that had the same problem, which was corrected with a BIOS update, and of course, there is no information on what their BIOS update does to make the 8.1 upgrade possible.
I have 2 HDs that have the Windows 8 System Reserve partition. Can't use them as a system disk because no matter what I try it wants to repair the Windows 8 OS.
All I want is to re-format a HD to factory specs.
I am attempting to install Windows 8 (I currently have Vista) but Autorun doesn't work and when I attempt to access the disk in the CD ROM I am asked if I want to format the empty disk. I recently had to reformat the hard drive back to its factory settings (Vista O/S) for reasons I won't go into. The problem isn't limited to the installation disk.
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have windows 7 and bought windows 8 upgrade discs (still unopened), I have no SSD now but want to buy one. What should i Do install win 8 first then the SSD? Or the other way around? What's better What will my recovery options be if I get a nasty virus? Also once my ssd is in it can't fit everything so when i want to download things and programs to the old HDD that will be fine right i can still access them from the desktop.
View 7 Replies View RelatedI just got a new laptop, running Windows 8.1 SL. I wanted to connect it to the office Active Directory domain, just to find that it can't. Now I know I can go to Control Panel, to the "Add features to Windows 8.1", and purchase an 8.1 Pro key. But my company has a Windows 8.1 volume license key, and there are still a few available that I can use.
However, I already have everything set up pretty much the way I want it; I don't want to format and re-install Windows. I tried to do the Windows "Add features to Windows 8.1" ("Windows Anytime Upgrade" as it was called in Windows 7) using our Volume License key, but it doesn't want to accept the key.
So I was wondering if there is any way to do this upgrade without losing any data? For example, is there something I can do with slmgr? Or can I maybe just insert the 8.1 Pro disc and do an upgrade?
Is upgrading from Win 8 to Win 8.1 working ?
I used the downloaded .iso (MSDN), but it only offered to keep personal files, all applications were gone after install.
Is this the expected behavior ?
If yes, this will be difficult cause MS has stated that all 8 users must upgrade to 8.1
Do the same applies to Server 2012 R2 (upgrade from 2012 to 2012 R2) ?
It looks like this PC can't run Windows 8.1. This might be because the Users or Program Files Folder is being redirected to another partition.
Using the guide (User Profiles - Relocate to another Partition or Disk), I had relocated my user profiles to D: Drive, when I installed my windows 8 Pro. I was able to go Windows Store to download 8.1 but I get the above error ...
Can I use the same guide and move back all user profiles, including local admin to C: Drive? and then upgrade to 8.1?
Upon upgrading, can I change again the user profiles to D: Drive?
The upgrade from windows 8 to 8.1 stops after the stage "setting up for a few more things" and reverts to windows 8.
View 2 Replies View RelatedIs it possible not to have the partition "recovery"?
Because if you look at the two tutorials:
- UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums
- UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with
In the tutorial to install Windows 7 in UEFI, there is not that damn partition recovery, while in the tutorial for Windows 8, we can see it.
When I install Windows 7 (MBR mode), I avoid this partition "recovery" by creating a partition with a name before installation. I install the OS on it and everything is fine, no partition "recovery" But here, since one must delete all partitions, If I create a GPT disk with a partitioning tool before installing, is that it might be appropriate?
When i try to install 2. OS on my PC , I deleted to win 8 and recovery partitions. How can i install new win 8 ?
I couldn't install because serial problem happen. Although i have a serial i can't enter. Win 8 use embedded serial and so I can't enter another serial. What can I do ?
I run 3 HDS. 1 SSD, and 2 normal drives.
I just clean formatted my SSD and installed Windows 8 on it, which I always put on that drive.
However I am seeing a bunch of partitions, 4 recovery partitions. Are these normal? If not, how would I get rid of them?
After upgrading from 8.0 Pro to 8.1 Pro, the "Windows 7 Recovery" desktop app had disappeared. How can I recreate the "Windows 7 Recovery" in 8.1 Pro?
View 1 Replies View RelatedHaving previously upgraded to Windows 8 I restored the factory installation of Windows 7 prior to warranty repairs to my PC. Now that the repairs are satisfactorily completed what are my best options in upgrading again? On the one hand I could go ahead with the upgrade now or on the other should I wait until Microsoft have completed development of Windows 8.1?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI'm upgrading from Windows 8* After downloading 3 gig and then it installs automatically. THen it restart automatically and at 68% ("Getting Devices Ready: 68%" it crashed. Restarted it and it restored back to Windows 8..
An error code is:
0xC1900101, 0x30018
Don't want to download 3 gig again, where is the installation file saved?
What should I do now? Install it again?
I'm using Asus N53J Laptop.
I had a laptop running Windows XP. When Windows 8 came out, I downloaded Windows 8 Pro upgrade. I clean-installed it and also upgraded to WMC edition when Microsoft were giving this away for free.
Now that PC is kind of dying (it is about eight years old,) so I have bought myself a new one. The new one came running Windows 8 (not Pro, not WMC) OEM. I have no intention of ever using my old PC again, so my question is as follows:
How do I legally remove the Pro and WMC licences (and if required, Windows 8 itself) from the old PC and upgrade the new PC's Windows 8 to Pro WMC? I have a record of both the Pro and WMC product keys already. But how do I legally move them across to the new PC and upgrade the new PC's Windows 8 OEM to Pro WMC?
Currently, I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. I want to upgrade to Windows 8 then I got an error when booting Windows 8 from USB. It say something like this:
"Your PC needs to be repaired
.........
.........
Error code: 0xc0000001
.......
Press Enter to retry
.......
....."
It show that after the MSI logo.
Motherboard: MSI Z87 G45 Gaming
when the windows 8.1 upgrade came out I updated to it without any problems but a few weeks ago a driver update showed up in windows update thingy. I decided to update it but it went horribly wrong my screen went black and stayed black for a hour, that's when I decided to restart my computer after the logo I just got a black screen with a flashing mouse. I made a recovery stick with my sisters windows 8.1 laptop and renewed my windows to 8. I wanted to upgrade to windows 8.1 again but it didn't work after it rebooted it just went to windows 8 again and gave me an error message that said that it couldn't update to windows 8.1. I searched on Google for a few hour and what I got was that I need to update my video drivers. I tried the default drivers I got (v8.9) it didn't work I tried the newest beta one (v13.11) didn't work either. And because my laptop manufacturer is Toshiba i cant update to the latest release of catalyst control center so i have to use the old version of Toshiba or the beta version. Both didn't work BUT before the driver incident I successfully updated to windows 8.1 with v13.11 beta however now it doesn't want to work anymore.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI am interested in upgrading many computers to Windows 8.1 (from Windows 8). Ideally I would like to create an upgrade DVD, which is 'self running' and contains the required update files - Download Windows 8.1 Update for x64-based Systems (KB2919355) from Official Microsoft Download Center
According to Microsoft (previous link) it is necessary to download several update files, and install them in a particular order. I would like to do away with this tedious method...