Windows Recovery Environment

re: Windows Recovery Environment

Mobile — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:38:37 GMT

well jimall you have shared a very vital info with us! i appreciate it.

re: Windows Recovery Environment

smokeman — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:57:30 GMT

It would be nice to see windows recovery environment be able to use truecrypt encrypted system partitions. I installed the recovery environment as an f8 option(which boots after the truecrypt pre-boot authentication bootloader), and the recovery environment is not able to see truecrypt system partitions. The load drivers is no good, since truecrypt is a program that must run, and mount the partitions in an un-encrypted form. I also tested using the recovery environment with a vistape boot disk. I was able to load truecrypt this way, and mount my c: partition, and my recovery partition...

however windows recovery environment does not see these truecrypt mounted partitions.

re: Windows Recovery Environment

sibersong — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:41:11 GMT

I downloaded and installed SP1 for Vista on the mistaken belief it would fix all the bugginess in Vista. Silly me for believing that. Now the pc won't boot at all. I can get as far as "Normal boot" or "Repair"...neither selections work. Is there a "safe mode" in Vista?

re: Windows Recovery Environment

djrobx — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:05:02 GMT

I don't think the new RE is "one of the best" new features of Vista, it IS the by far best improvement over XP. Allowing mass storage drivers to be loaded from USB would be a distant second. I will not miss the Recovery Console dinosaur one bit, and the smarter repair routine is a very welcome addition. Big thanks to the Vista team for getting this part right!

re: Windows Recovery Environment

rwizard — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:53:19 GMT

During the past two weeks I have purchased two new laptops both running Vista Home Premium.

After running Disk Cleanup on the first one, an HP laptop, on reboot I got a OS not found, boot configuration database corrupt. HP did not include the tools to fix this and in fact the bcd was not corrupt, it just was missing the field that named the operating system.

Returned the laptop to BestBuy - at the time blaiming the machine.

Then I bought a Lenovo laptop. About a week after getting it I ran Disc Cleanup and again on reboot I got a OS Not Found.

In both instances I accepted the default checked boxes in Disc Cleanup.

Fortunately Lenovo provides a method to restore the machine from dvd.

I also have a Vista Home Preminum desktop machine, Acer, where Disc Cleanup runs without trashing the OS / BCD.

To be honest, I find it difficult to understand how an operating system can be released with this kind of an issue - some googling showed I'm not alone.

The four different methods of restoring the BCD on the Msoft site did not work on the HP for lack of tools and the fact that the BCD was not corrupt.

Personally, it would seem to me that a simple backup copy of the text file that is the BCD which could be renamed would be a fairly easy temporary solution. Of course the idea that what used to be the boot.ini now having a fancy name and xml tags seems to have more entertainment value than necessity.

In the meantime, since I oversee a number of machines, I am advising that, especially for laptops, no purchases should be made until this issue is resolved.

re: Windows Recovery Environment

mark0101 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:15:44 GMT

"One very cool thing about the Windows Recovery Environment is that the computer manufacturer or IT administrator will be able to store a "base" configuration on the recovery partition."

This is a cool feature, till OEM manufacturers start including it on the hardisk in place of a Vista OEM DVD in the box. Then when your hard-drive crashes, or the recovery partition is deleted; your S.O.L.

re: Windows Recovery Environment

pminuk — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:48:07 GMT

Dear Sirs;

Please provide removal instructions for Vista,

I want my XP back. (My mobile machines still have it or my office would be crippled)

I was tasked with setting up an office for my company, this required acquisition of computers and various peripherals(like printers!!). Unfortunately due to your monopoly position you have forced retailers to only sell "vista" machines. These machines do not work with my (most- not just mine) peripherals and the most obvious solution is to use XP.

I am told that removing vista is not as simple as a "format" or partition wipe, so I require your instructions on how to remove vista so I can bring my office back to life. Please provide the instructions required to remove vista as my office can not function without its peripherals.

Peter m

re: Windows Recovery Environment

patfreel — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 01:54:04 GMT

Several improvements to backup in Vista would be:

1. Ability to restore files from the image.

2. Ability to choose which drive(s) to backup and/or restore.

Building a More Intelligent Windows

Windows Vista Team Blog — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 01:59:46 GMT

Many people share the dream that the various electronic devices they use should do what they want without

Five Things Vista can do ...

Richard G. Harper - Microsoft Windows Support and More — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 20:09:32 GMT

For what will likely be my final post for 2006, I wanted to make an opportunity to respond to those who

re: Windows Recovery Environment

Nick White — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:20:38 GMT

Hey mxsevilla: I'm not sure you want to do that given the premise under which RE works. However, the answer is probably better provided to you via the folks over at the Windows RE Team blog.

re: Windows Recovery Environment

mxsevilla — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:45:40 GMT

how to install WinRE to the local drive?

re: Windows Recovery Environment

Michael_Moor — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:26:11 GMT

I like the system recovery and it works very well!

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http://www.dl4all.com

re: Windows Recovery Environment

newscientist2000 — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 04:21:22 GMT

The ability to store a "base" configuration sounds like a useful feature. Although does this have to be created after the first boot or at any time? I guess Ill read the link.

Thanks Nick that information is useful to know as thats the sort of error Im highly likely to create that would make my wife mad, its nice to know theres an easy fix for it.

re: Windows Recovery Environment

Nick White — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 02:44:17 GMT

Hey PowerHouse: the Windows RE feature was part of Build 5600, launchable from the install media. And yes, the feature can repair missing Windows Vista boot loader files.

A collague who worked on this feature has passed along the following; we hope it's of help:

Based on your one-line statement, my best guess of the scenario is:

1) You have XP installed on the first (active) partition

2) You've clean-installed Windows Vista onto second (non-active) partition

3) If you delete the XP partition, then

4) Windows Vista fails to boot because boot loader files were on the XP partition.

If the above is correct, then running Startup Repair from Windows RE would fix your system by:

1) Recreating the active partition and related disk metadata

2) Recreating the boot loader files (bootmgr.exe)

3) Recreating the boot configuration data (BCD) store