Can't boot recovery partition

shogun · Nov 18, 2009

Also I opened up BCD in the boot folder in notepad (not sure if thats what u meant). Lots of grabled stuff but i can see other parts i can read. Is there something I should be looking for? Also I noticed that all instances of BCD on recovery partition, recovery dvd and boot.wim are all 256k, even the BCD.Backup.0001. the one in /boot on the recovery partition is only 20K. Don't know if that makes any difference.

OK i figured out what you meant at those links, you have to click on the tag at the bottom of the page to download it. The links that they label to download those files don't work but if u click on the tag with the file name it works. They dont make that very clear at all on the page

Addendum:

Also i did replace those 2 files and insert them into the boot.wim on the recovery partition. It didn't change anything.

Coolname007 · Nov 18, 2009

shogun said:
Also I opened up BCD in the boot folder in notepad (not sure if thats what u meant). Lots of grabled stuff but i can see other parts i can read. Is there something I should be looking for? Also I noticed that all instances of BCD on recovery partition, recovery dvd and boot.wim are all 256k, even the BCD.Backup.0001. the one in /boot on the recovery partition is only 20K. Don't know if that makes any difference.

No, don't open it in Notepad. You haft to open it with bcdedit.

OK i figured out what you meant at those links, you have to click on the tag at the bottom of the page to download it. The links that they label to download those files don't work but if u click on the tag with the file name it works. They dont make that very clear at all on the page

Addendum:

Also i did replace those 2 files and insert them into the boot.wim on the recovery partition. It didn't change anything.

Oh well, I suppose it was worth a try anyway.

shogun · Nov 18, 2009

OK here is the BCD contents

Code:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  partition=E:
path                    \bootmgr
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
default                 {68e17780-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
displayorder            {68e17780-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {68e17780-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered) 
locale                  en-US
recoverysequence        {68e17781-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {4252f84c-d2de-11de-a290-806e6f6e6963}

I see that the loader is pointing to c: and not e:

Coolname007 · Nov 18, 2009

Sure that's the BCD on the recovery partition?

shogun · Nov 18, 2009

ok this is right

Code:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  partition=C:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default                 {8cb2d9b1-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
resumeobject            {8cb2d9b0-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
displayorder            {8cb2d9b1-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
                        {8cb2d9b6-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {8cb2d9b1-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence        {8cb2d9b4-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {8cb2d9b0-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
nx                      OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {8cb2d9b6-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
device                  ramdisk=[E:]\sources\boot.wim,{ae5534e0-a924-466c-b836-758539a3ee3a}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Recovery Partition
osdevice                ramdisk=[E:]\sources\boot.wim,{ae5534e0-a924-466c-b836-758539a3ee3a}
systemroot              \windows
ems                     Yes

Coolname007 · Nov 18, 2009

shogun said:
I see that the loader is pointing to c: and not e:

Yes, but that is correct since that's a W7 entry, and its pointing at the W7 partition (which contains winload.exe).

Well, looks like you'll at least be able to boot normally into W7 if you change the "active" flag in Disk Management to the recovery partition. But I was hoping to see an entry for the recovery partition in that BCD, but unfortunately there is not one.
I suppose you could always add one again though with the commands I gave before, then change "active" to the recovery partition, and try booting the recovery partition entry, and who knows...maybe that will work.

Addendum:

shogun said:

ok this is right

Code:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  partition=C:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default                 {8cb2d9b1-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
resumeobject            {8cb2d9b0-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
displayorder            {8cb2d9b1-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
                        {8cb2d9b6-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {8cb2d9b1-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence        {8cb2d9b4-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {8cb2d9b0-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
nx                      OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
[B]identifier              {8cb2d9b6-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}[/B]
device                  ramdisk=[E:]\sources\boot.wim,{ae5534e0-a924-466c-b836-758539a3ee3a}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Recovery Partition
osdevice                ramdisk=[E:]\sources\boot.wim,{ae5534e0-a924-466c-b836-758539a3ee3a}
systemroot              \windows
ems                     Yes

No, I don't believe it is, since the identifier for the "Recovery Partition" entry is the same as the one you posted several posts ago (and that was the BCD on the "system" partition).

shogun said:
Also i noticed when looking at the overview in BCDedit i see this

Code:

Name: Recovery Partition BCD ID: [B] {8cb2d9b6-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}[/B] Drive: [E:]\sources\boot.wim Bootloader Path: \windows\system32\winload.exe Windows Directory: \windows

but there is no directory on the recovery partition called windows.

Addendum:

yes it did the same thing with EMS enabled

I believe the BCD on the recovery partition is the other one (the one that only has the W7 entry in it).

Addendum:

Ironically, changing the "active" flag was exactly what I advised NOT to do at the start of this thread.

I wasn't expecting there to be another BCD/bootmgr on the recovery partition.

shogun · Nov 18, 2009

Ok hold on something really whack is going on. The first bcd i posted that you question if was right was correct! when i double checked for you i had previously had my own bcd file open and when i rechecked the recovery one, i never refreshed! lol anyway yes this is the correct bcd contenets for the recovert /boot/BCD

Code:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  partition=E:
path                    \bootmgr
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
default                 {68e17780-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
displayorder            {68e17780-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {68e17780-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered) 
locale                  en-US
recoverysequence        {68e17781-d2f6-11de-818a-815c81bd1c90}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {4252f84c-d2de-11de-a290-806e6f6e6963}

Coolname007 · Nov 18, 2009

No, I didn't question if the first one was right. I knew it had to be.
The second one you posted, which you said was right, was the one on the "system" (C) partition, and I wanted to see the contents of the one on the recovery partition (E).

Anyway, try doing what I suggested above, and add a similar OSLoader/ramdiskoptions BCD entry to the one on the recovery partition, like the one you added to the "system" BCD with the commands I posted earlier. Then set the recovery partition to "active", and attempt to boot from the recovery partition entry. It may work booting that way. Anyway, its worth a try.

shogun · Nov 18, 2009

Ok so this would explain why in Grub suddenly the menu to load recovery started loading my normal windows because C: was the next active partition?

Addendum:

Sry for the mix up sometimes you post when im replying to your earlier post so maybe what i say isnt always coming out right.

Addendum:

OK i can do that again. So if i load the recovery bcd and then go to the command tool it will edit the recovery bcd instead of my system one?

Addendum:

Sry one more question. the recoery drive used to be hidden an labled as X. It now recently got labled e: because it was the next letter available. Could having it labled E on the recovery partition cause future problems?

I was thinking I could also hide the partition and use X: instead of E: in my bcd entry? Does that make sense or am i totally off?

Addendum:

hey i just opened up the BCD backup.00001 file in bcdedit and it looks like my old config.

Code:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default                 {7619dcc9-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
displayorder            {7619dcc9-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {7619dcc9-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
device                  ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path                    \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description             Windows Setup
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
osdevice                ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot              \windows
detecthal               Yes
winpe                   Yes
ems                     Yes

Coolname007 · Nov 18, 2009

shogun said:
Ok so this would explain why in Grub suddenly the menu to load recovery started loading my normal windows because C: was the next active partition? So if I just mark that partition and rebbot I should be OK?

Don't know. Grub will load whatever partition you point it at in its boot entries (which, btw, can be found in either the menu.lst or grub.cfg depending on which version of grub it is, whether grub legacy or grub2).

Addendum:

OK i can do that again. So if i load the recovery bcd and then go to the command tool it will edit the recovery bcd instead of my system one?

No, you can use the command tool to open that BCD, instead of the system one, with this command:

Code:

bcdedit /store E:/boot/bcd

Then all the following commands will be operating on that BCD, instead of the "system" one.

Addendum:

Sry one more question. the recoery drive used to be hidden an labled as X. It now recently got labled e: because it was the next letter available. Could having it labled E on the recovery partition cause future problems?

The recovery partition used to be hidden and had the drive letter X instead of E? That could be why you were having problems...
Yeah, you may want to change the drive letter back to X, and then run all the commands on X instead of E. No partition that is hidden though can have a drive letter, so obviously you must be talking about separate times.

I was thinking I could also hide the partition and use X: instead of E: in my bcd entry? Does that make sense or am i totally off?

You can't hide the partition (or shouldn't, anyway, because you wouldn't be able to boot from the partition), but yeah, you can use X instead of E in the BCD entry.

Addendum:

Interesting. That's probably how your recovery partition was originally booting. Apparently, you either replaced the old BCD (but still had that backup) or completely removed the recovery partition entry at some point though...

Maybe you should do the OSLoader commands like this:

bcdedit /set {yourrealGUID} device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
bcdedit /set {yourrealGUID} osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}

Addendum:

But still change the recovery partition to "active".

shogun · Nov 18, 2009

Ok tell me what you think of this, just want to make sure:

bcdedit /store E:/boot/bcd
bcdedit /create {ramdiskoptions} /d "Windows Setup"
bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdidevice partition=E:
bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath \boot\boot.sdi
bcdedit /create /d "Recovery Partition" /application OSLOADER

bcdedit /set {GUID} device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
bcdedit /set {GUID} path \windows\system32\winload.exe
bcdedit /set {GUID} osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
bcdedit /set {GUID} systemroot \windows
bcdedit /set {GUID} winpe yes
bcdedit /set {GUID} detecthal yes
bcdedit /ems {GUID} on
bcdedit /displayorder {GUID} /addlast

then activate the partition and reboot

I was unsure what to put in the second line for "ramdisksdidevice partition=E:" Should I make this X: and still change the drive letter to X:? Honestly im not 100% it used to be X: but pretty sure, I know it definitely wasn't E before the muck up.

Addendum:

also should i do the same here with adding the boot?
:
bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath [boot]\boot\boot.sdi

probably makes no difference...

Coolname007 · Nov 18, 2009

Actually, first activate the partition, then run those commands exactly as you posted them.
Forget changing the drive letter to X for now. First do the above, then reboot to test the "Windows Setup" entry, and find out if it works or not. If not, then yeah try changing the drive letter of both the recovery partition and the BCD entries back to X, and try again.

Oh, and omit these two commands:

bcdedit /set {GUID} winpe yes
bcdedit /set {GUID} detecthal yes

They're not needed.

Addendum:

shogun said:
Addendum:

also should i do the same here with adding the boot?
:
bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath [boot]\boot\boot.sdi

probably makes no difference...

Yes, I would do the /boot/boot.sdi one, though, like you said, it probably makes no difference since there's one in the /boot folder, and also one in the root of the recovery partition.

shogun · Nov 18, 2009

Ok ive done everything and am just about to reboot. I just noticed that since I switched the recovery to active that my C drive is no longer labeled "system" and is not active anymore. Is this right? Because if this doesn't work wouldn't that mean I wouldn't be able to boot windows on C: because it is not active? I don't have any live cd's handy to change it back if that's the case.

Coolname007 · Nov 19, 2009

shogun said:
Ok ive done everything and am just about to reboot. I just noticed that since I switched the recovery to active that my C drive is no longer labeled "system" and is not active anymore. Is this right? Because if this doesn't work wouldn't that mean I wouldn't be able to boot windows on C: because it is not active? I don't have any live cd's handy to change it back if that's the case.

Yes, don't worry. Your boot should still work, since there is a BCD and bootmgr on the recovery partition, and the BCD has an entry for W7 already. If the boot fails, its because there's no code in the boot sector to search for bootmgr, though I doubt this is the case. And anyway, if you're worried your boot will fail, run EasybCD, go to Manage Bootloader, and hit Write MBR with the Reinstall Vista/7 Bootloader option selected. This will write the boot code to the boot sector just in case there's none there already.

And then your W7 boot will definitely still work.

(You may want to look into finding your Ubuntu LiveCD though...)

If worse comes to worse, boot the W7 DVD, and run Startup Repair to fix the boot.

You can also change the "active" back to W7 through the Command Prompt on the W7 DVD:

Code:

diskpart
select disk 0
list volume
select volume x
active

where "x" is replaced with the volume number of the W7 partition.

shogun · Nov 19, 2009

well it didnt work. When i pressed windows setup i got the instant error page like we got when we were pointing to the wrong drive c: with boot.sdi, Windows still boots fine. Im going to try and take the [boot] away from bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath [boot]\boot\boot.sdi that we did last minute, see if that works.

Coolname007 · Nov 19, 2009

shogun said:
well it didnt work. When i pressed windows setup i got the instant error page like we got when we were pointing to the wrong drive c: with boot.sdi, Windows still boots fine. Im going to try and take the [boot] away from bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath [boot]\boot\boot.sdi that we did last minute, see if that works.

Did you set the "active" to recovery partition first before running the commands, or did you run the commands first, then set it to active?

shogun · Nov 19, 2009

awww crap, well what i changed was right, the windos setup started up but it blue screened again with the BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO

Addendum:

no i set it as active first.

Coolname007 · Nov 19, 2009

Damn...
All that for nothing.

Well, I'm out of ideas. Don't know why its not working.

shogun · Nov 19, 2009

Well Coolname007 you have gone well beyond the call of duty! I commend you and thank you for your time. I learned a lot.

quick question
How do I make windows default boot so i only see windows boot manager when i call for it with F9?

Coolname007 · Nov 19, 2009

shogun said:
Well Coolname007 you have gone well beyond the call of duty! I commend you and thank you for your time. I learned a lot.

Thanks for the compliment, and no problem. I learned a few things myself, about how recovery partitions work.

quick question
How do I make windows default boot so i only see windows boot manager when i call for it with F9?

You can use this command:

Code:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu /no

The W7 entry should already be default, and so it should boot with no menu (doubt the F9 key will do anything though).

Can't boot recovery partition

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member

Active Member

Distinguished Member