Setup Installation :: Windows 8.1 Refresh / Recovery - Some System Files Missing
Nov 28, 2013
I recently did an update of my machine from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. The update process did not show any errors or warnings and by the time it finished I was under the impression that everything went smooth.
After the update I was testing the environment and discovered that one of my desktop applications stopped working, I went to the developer's website and indeed I found there is a known issue with their software on 8.1 and to solve it, I had to completely uninstall the software and then install it once more. So I went to Programs and Features in order to do so and to my surprise the Uninstall button was missing from the interface. Right-clicking an item and selecting uninstall from the menu gives a warning message suggesting that the application might have already been uninstalled and asks if I wanted to remove the application from the Programs list. However, clicking OK or Cancel just closes the message box and nothing happens.
So I went and tried to Refresh My PC; Once I clicked Refresh My PC the verification process started and indeed it told my that some system files are missing and that it should take care of it provided I insert my Windows disc. Now since its an OTA update from Win 8 to 8.1 I thought that MS knows that some people will not have a physical copy of 8.1 and so I inserted my Windows 8 Pro System Builder disc hoping it would work, but sadly as you might have guessed, it did not. It told me that I needed the 8.1 recovery disc.
Now I have been looking everywhere for a recovery image to download and use to fix my problem, everywhere I go it suggests that I make my own copy. But how am I supposed to do that if my Windows is faulty and has missing files. I really don't wanna go back to Windows 8 and re-upgrade to 8.1. I have a monitored internet bandwidth and I cannot go and download the 3 GB 8.1 update once more.
How can I repair my 8.1 machine?
I came across this article describing how to get an ISO image for 8.1 with a Windows 8 product Key. However, entering my Windows 8 Pro System Builder (OEM) key in the box fails and tells me that the key I entered is not for this product.
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Nov 30, 2013
While I was messing around with my laptop, I decided to add on a fourth operating system, Arch Linux. I suppose I was pushing my luck a bit . Anyways, during the installation, I accidentally deleted the EFI system partition from my laptop, which contained the Windows Boot Manager and necessary files to boot. Great. I only made things worse by trying to troubleshoot, and broke grub as well.
I have a Windows 8 repair disk I made using the Windows 8 built in utility, but it does not boot: the computer turns on, and just hangs at the Toshiba splash screen.
I also can obviously not access the Toshiba recovery partitions, as they are booted into just like Windows itself.
I found a bootx64.efi file on one of my system's recovery partitions (Toshiba seems to have some really complex system going on) and placed it in EFIootootx64.efi. According to this site, FGA: The EFI boot process., I need to place the bkpbootmgfw.efi (on my system, that was what it was called, but I suspect boot-repair (ubuntu tool) messed something up when I was first setting up grub and the ESP and the bkp stands for backup) back onto the EFI System Partition.
Where to look for in the various Windows Imaging Format .wim and .swm files I have laying around my recovery partition(s) in order to extract the necessary EFI files. Any Windows Repair iso that works.
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Jun 15, 2014
what do I do if the refresh install on Windows 8.1 says that I'm missing files?
I installed Windows 8 from a retail disc and upgraded to 8.1 via Windows Update. I can't use the Windows 8 disc, it says invalid media.
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Jun 24, 2013
I got windows 8 online and I went to try and use the re install feature but its prompting me with this "Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files" But since i got it online I don't have the CD but I do have the product key
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May 14, 2014
I have an Asus gaming laptop that I got off of Craigslist awhile back. It did not come with any factory disks. I'm trying to do a factory reset and it says "Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files." But I don't have any recovery media.
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Mar 19, 2013
I've had a lot of trouble with my samsung laptop. The HDD has been replaced but I now cannot do a refresh or reset. I get the message"Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files". The laptop came with Windows 8 installed so I do not have the installation discs. I can do a factory restore by pressing f4 on start up successfully but still shows the above message trying to refresh. What caused this and what can I do about it?
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Jul 13, 2013
I will need to do a complete system recovery. My computer originally came with windows 7 and then downloaded and installed windows 8. I have my product key. When I downloaded windows 8 it gave me the option of burning a copy of windows 8 to a dvd, however I did not do that. Whenever I do a system recovery will I be able to get windows 8 back without having to pay for another download?
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Feb 24, 2014
when I upgraded to Win 8.1 it was online. I have a win 8 disk but its not recognised. How can I reinstall win 8.1 and not lose anything as it reports missing files.
My daughter plugged in her ipad which normally opened in a setting which no longer works, instead opening in windows which it should not. I opened a file this morning and it opened in the wrong directory??
How do I do am 8.1 repair???
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Jul 26, 2013
I have made a System Image & a Custom Recovery Image on my Asus Vivotab but I cannot get the system to recognize them on a USB Hard Drive.
I got into this by testing the Refresh Custom Recovery Image. The system did not find the image as the system allocated a different drive letter so I have basic Refresh. I have found my way to the Administrator Command but cannot find RECIMG on either the x: or C: drives. Do I need a Path Command from System32?
I also have a System image on a USB Hard Drive but cannot get the system to find it. I have tried putting the files folders in the root directory but the system still does not recognise them.
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Jun 22, 2013
Not sure if it's Lenovos only, but trying to migrate Windows 8 OEM to an SSD has been a huge pain in the ass. This process should not be as difficult as Lenovo/Microsoft has made it.
I purchased a Y400 along with a 256G SSD. I'd like to clean install Windows onto the SSD, I did not want to copy image. I went through forums for hours trying to put a recovery system on a usb with no luck (even with the instructions given by a Lenovo moderator on their website), I kept getting "missing partition drive". I broke down and paid Lenovo the ridiculous "shipping charge" of $59 for the recovery disks.
These are my steps so far:
-My SSD is installed and I removed the HDD (until Windows 8 was installed, I'd then format it)
-Put Disk 1 into the optical drive (Disk 1 states it's the format sequence and starting point for restore, Windows 8 actually on disk 2, I believe)
-Pressed the "Novo" button on the left side of the machine (gives options of Normal Startup, BIOS Setup, Boot Manager and System Recovery)
*FYI - Boot Manager lists: Windows Boot Manager and 2 EFI volumes (when HDD is plugged in, just the EFI's when uninstalled)
System Recovery only works with the HDD installed and it's Lenovo's One Key Recovery which just restores to a restoration point.*
Went into BIOS setup
Tabbed over to "Security"
Disabled the "Secure Boot"
Tabbed over to "Boot"
Changed the Boot Mode to "Legacy Support"
Changed Boot Priority to "Legacy First"
Saved then exited.
Pressed the "Novo" button once more, went into BIOS setup
Tabbed back to "Boot"
Boot device priority was now displayed with SATA ODD, SSD and Network Boot.
I reordered to boot from SATA ODD
Saved and exited
Upon restart, I pressed F12 (select boot device), and chose the SATA ODD
It went into a DOS looking screen and gives "No Bootable Device - Insert boot disk and press a key"
I've also tried variations of the above procedures for a few hours with no luck.
I have not tried to boot from "Lenovo Recovery System" (which is only available with the HDD installed), I figured it would default to the HDD and not let me chose to install onto SSD.
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Feb 18, 2013
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.
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Dec 23, 2013
I'm trying to do a complete recovery of my Windows 8.1 laptop (The "Remove everything and reinstall Windows" option). A few seconds after I try to initiate the recovery, I am stopped by a message that says:
"Some Media Files are Missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files"
After this message appears I am prompted to cancel the restoration. How can I bypass this message to continue with the recovery? My laptop is 4 years old and is ready for a recovery.
My laptop was purchased running Windows 7 64bit, from which I upgraded to Win 8 64bit Pro through a free download from my school. I have my Windows 8 installation key, but not the download files. I upgraded to 8.1 through the Windows Store free download.
Acer Aspire 5742
Intel Core i5 2.53 GHz (original gen)
4.0 GB RAM
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Dec 29, 2013
I built my own PC last year and I've done several OS upgrades in that time frame. First I started with windows 7 basic which I then promptly upgraded to 7 ultimate because my university offered upgrades for $7. I then upgraded to 8 when it first came out and then 8.1 too. I put a new SSD in my PC and copied all my 8.1 data on to it I then turned the old SSD in to a second boot drive for OS X. I'm having problems with 8.1. I wanted to create a repair drive to hopefully root out and fix whatever is causing windows explorer to crash. It's not a virus I've made sure of that. I have a feeling whatever caused this happened when I upgraded to 8.1 and then copied over the SSD. What my product key is for 8.1 pro i just found the email microsoft sent me with my windows 8 key but i have no disc.
when i followed the instructions to make a recovery drive it told me that some of the required files are missing and to use a windows installation disc or media which is a problem because all my windows 8 upgrades have been done online.
also my PC currently doesn't have a disc drive i removed it because i only ever used it to install windows 7 basic.
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Jan 14, 2013
How to clean up the windows containing hard drive from everything but the system files, because I upgraded my windows and not installed it to a clean hard drive. I have a lot of unneeded files. How to do it, without reinstalling windows.
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Aug 7, 2014
I upgraded Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 via the Windows store and so. Do not have a DVD or any media to do a refresh or recovery ... I need to refresh Windows 8.1 as many of my apps do not open.
I tried this from this site here. All went fine but when i went to refresh windows cannot find any media again.
How to: REFRESH your Windows 8.1 installation without installation media.
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Nov 17, 2013
i have recently installed windows 8.1 and i just realized that i have a folder of system recovery files which was o windows 7. i have tried to delete them through disk clean up but no luck.
i have tried to delete them but it tells me that i need adminstrator permission which i am the adminstrator.
they use a lot of space on my pc about 30gb.
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Jun 20, 2014
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.
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Jan 8, 2013
I have a new Sony vaio duo 11 running (or not) Windows 8 64 bit. I was away when it arrived. Number one son decided to set it up for me so that it would be working on my return. I now need to refresh or recover but am being told that some Windows files are missing. I have no media disk or backup. So how do I go about getting the missing files?
Every web site tells me to stick the Windows 8 media in. This doesn't seem to be a rare problem so why don't Microsoft make them available online? Alternatively, if I was to buy a Windows 8 64bit pro upgrade and install over, would this provide me with the missing files?
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Jul 21, 2013
Does not show up anywhere, device mgr etc. The only way I can see it is to adapt it to a usb connection.
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Aug 14, 2014
My PC started off on Win 8 and I upgraded to Win 8.1 .
I want to do a completely fresh installation. I do not mind going back to Win 8 and redownloading Win 8.1 afterwards.
My problem is that when I go to PC Settings > "Remove everything and reinstall Windows", I get the error: "Insert media. Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files."
I have a partition on my computer "HP_RECOVERY (F:)". It states 1.24 GB free of 10.6 GB. When I open it, it contains a folder called "Recovery" and "HP_WSD.dat" -- the .dat file is 1 KB. When I open the folder, it says that it is empty (hidden folders and files are set to be shown). If I look at the folder properties, it states that it contains 1 file, 2 folders. The size is 69 bytes.
I have not touched this recovery partition ever since I got this PC. I have, however, run a partition software before because I split my (C:) into (C: and D:). I do not know if this may have somehow corrupted my recovery partition.
What is the best way for me to quickly and cleanly format my PC without losing my registration key? I do not have a copy of Win 8 or Win 8.1 on a CD or USB.
I opened up cmd as admin and typed in "reagentc /info" and it output this:
Code: C:WINDOWSsystem32>reagentc /info Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configurationInformation: Windows RE status: Enabled Windows RE location: ?GLOBALROOTdeviceharddisk0partition3RecoveryWindowsRE Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 8fc8db37-7d80-11e3-91ec-faa553f3f5b4 Recovery image location: Recovery image index: 0 Custom image location: Custom image index: 0REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.
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Sep 1, 2013
I did a PC Refresh and Reset and it's stuck at 1%
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Feb 12, 2013
New Windows 8 Pro with WMC install to a new Intel SSD on an old Dell Inspiron 530. I got everything activated and working fine, and then I swapped the SSD for the old HDD to finish getting all my data. But when I swapped the SSD back in, I can no longer get Windows 8 to boot--it goes into automatic repair, but none of the options are available to me. Refresh won't work, reset won't work, I can't even get system restore to work (it shows me two restore points available, but it won't let me select them.)
This was a clean install, so it has the 350MB recovery partition. I believe the RAID is set properly (I have no straight up AHCI option in BIOS, but I installed Windows 8 under RAID [it shows "AHCI Bios enabled!" during POST], and remembered to change to IDE mode to boot the HDD, and back to RAID before trying to boot the SSD).
I've always been able to troubleshoot these sorts of problems under XP or 7, but I'm just not familiar with these Windows 8 processes (or SSDs/AHCI/RAID stuff) yet. I've got all the linux tools, Hirens, etc. available, and can verify that the files on the SSD appear to be fine. I could reinstall if necessary, but really don't want to have to deal with the upgrade and re-activating--and even if I do have to reinstall.
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May 29, 2014
I pay a used laptop Sony Vaio SVF 143100c from china , they install windows 8 Enterbrise and no other software or drivers
when I check I found a recovery volume on the hard disk I assign this volume and copy all the recovery content to external Hard disk, size is 18 GB
and the product key is valid for Win 8 RTM CoreCountrySpecific OEMM,
I don't have a Recovery Media disk or usb to return to Factory condition, how to create a recovery disk to access tis image and re install tis laptop to Factory condition
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Jul 24, 2014
I had been using my Dell Inspiron 15R 5521 with the factory installed Windows 8 Single Language version with a 1 TB Hard Drive. Its been over an year, i have been using it.
I used to install my programs in the C: Drive and separate my project related files, mp3s, etc in the D: drive so should their be any virus attack or anything unexpected, i could just format the C: Drive and have all my applications re-installed, which is no big deal for me.
Yesterday I had a very unexpected thing go down. My laptop started acting funny, it started restarted on its own over and over again and goes to the big blue screen notifiying me that the laptop had to be restarted.
Since i was under notion my D: Drive is safe, and the worse thing that could happen would a virus attack on the C: drive, i decided to refresh my PC because it was doing all sorts of weird stuff.
After refreshing my PC, I lost the entire D: drive.
Right now, my D: drive is my DVD drive. I can't figure out how to recover the other drive and its files. My Refreshing i had taken a backup as requested by the wizard but i couldnt view what all files are being taken as backup.
Looks like, it has only taken the backup of my C: Drive.
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Jun 21, 2014
Have decided to take the plunge to reset my computer (because Windows Store would not open). Booted from the installation disk but cannot Reset or Refresh, I get "The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."
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Jul 17, 2013
Can not do factory setting or refresh it says error 0x80073bc3 and also i have to press 0 when booting then it goes to the windows. In bios Hdd is the first line.
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Jun 7, 2014
My PC fails to boot into Windows and launches Automatic Repair to attempt to repair Windows. When i try to refresh or reset alway get msg " there is a problem resetting your pc, no changes are made" My PC is preinstalled so no I don't have recovery CD/DVD Here pics
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Aug 4, 2013
You have Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro installed on your PC. Your PC fails to boot into Windows and launches Automatic Repair to attempt to repair Windows.
Automatic Repair is unable to repair your PC and you select "Advanced options". After selecting "Troubleshoot", you choose to either "Refresh your PC" or "Reset your PC".
In this scenario, recovery may fail and you are returned back to the main WinRE screen. This issue may occur if the System or Software registry hives have become damaged or corrupted.
To attempt to resolve this issue, follow the steps below. Following these steps should only be used if you are attempting to use the "Refresh your PC" or "Reset your PC" options in Windows RE because your system is in a non-bootable state.
-After Automatic Repair fails to repair your PC, select "Advanced options" and then "Troubleshoot".
-Select "Advanced options" and then select "Command Prompt".
-If prompted, enter in the password for the user name.
-At the Command Prompt, go to the windowssystem32config folder by typing the following command: cd %windir%system32config.
-Rename the System and Software registry hives to System.001 and Software.001 by using the following commands:
ren system system.001
ren software software.001
I did all that but when I tried to rename the Software.001 file the system responds: "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process" ...
I tried to create a Ubuntu start up usb key so that i could maybe get in and rename the file but that presented more problems.
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Sep 15, 2014
I bought an Asus Vivobook S551LB. Paying around 1150 for it, the specs seemed good and I thought it'd be a fairly quick laptop.
Turns out... It's really slow, and freezes a lot.
It was preinstalled with Windows 8, then I updated to 8.1. I'm fairly new to anything past Windows 7 so, 8 I'm completely lost.
I deleted all the bloatware that came with the laptop but it still freezes, so my last resort is to reinstall windows.
I can't because I updated to Windows 8.1 and when I try to reset it says I'm missing a partition.
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Dec 8, 2012
I have read the tutorial (Refresh Windows 8 - Create and Use Custom Recovery Image) . Would I not get the same result if I created a Disk and Partition Backup using a program like Acronis or Easeus? That way I hope to keep all my initial system, personal files and third party applications.
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Jun 17, 2014
I did a factory reset on my windows 8, and it messed up, not completing. so it is now stuck on a cycle of 'preparing automatic repair' and 'diagnosing your pc'.
And I today recieved the windows 8 cd to reinstall the os.
But after I've chosen language, I get error message saying I'm missing 1 of the media drivers.
Computer: alienware m14x r2 laptop
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