Hacking W7 OS to tweak F11 behavior

[SIW2]

Doing so will free a Primary that I could assign to the RECOVERY partition !? yes ?

Not easily. The Recovery partition is a logical drive inside an extended partition.

You can have 3 primary and one extended. I can only see 2 mounted primary in your screenshot - the other has no drive letter and shows as 0mb

You would need to move that recovery logical drive to one end of the extended partition, before it can be converted to primary.

3rd party Partition managers can do this kind of thing, but it means moving a lot of data.

What is that top primary listed as 0mb with no drive letter?

You will have to provide a better screenshot - showing ALL partitions in bottom pane layout.

Also provide a screenshot using diskgenius or any other 3rd party partition manager.

 

[iBenny]

Error from the pitcher...

This is the correct partitions taken from inside the OS and not from the Live Hiren's USB stick :

Will convert the RECOVERY partition to 'primary' and we'll continue from there...

iBenny

 

[iBenny]

They don't want to convert the RECOVERY partition to 'primary' so I deleted the partition in order to recreate it as 'primary' but this also don't work... Does this structure makes it impossible to make it 'primary' ? hope not...

iBenny

 

[iBenny]

You would need to move that recovery logical drive to one end of the extended partition, before it can be converted to primary.

Ok... got'ya ! Will move it at EOD (end of disk) tomorrow. Going to bed now...

Best regards
iBenny

 

[iBenny]

Hi

Manage to push the RECOVERY partition at EOD BUT... now, when making it 'active', it don't boot anymore. All I can get is a black screen with a blinking cursor on top left.

The BCD of the RECOVERY partition is :

The BCD shown in post #12 is of the SYSTEM partition. Here is the BCD of the main Windows partition :

I tried to add a "Recovery" entry with not much success.

But failing to accessing the RECOVERY partition made 'active', is it the fault of the BCD ? of something else ?

Best regards
iBenny

 

[SIW2]

The bcd entries examples:


Ramdisk: (wim file)





Partition: (Operating system)

 

[iBenny]

Hi SIW2

I corrected the RECOVERY BCD to no avail. Still hitting the black screen with the blinking cursor. No boot process seams to even start (the sound of... silence!); we don't even get to the boot menu choice that should display. :shock:

And for your next suggestion for the Windows partition BCD, I don't understand what you mean ? The OS Title is 'Windows 7', not for 'Recovery' and the partition it relates to is partition #1; C:\; 100G ! Does not look like a Recovery partition to me ! I did thought that suggestion but pointing the partition to my RECOVERY partition and naming the entry 'Recovery' but that choice does not work. There is no bootfile info pointing anywhere into the RECOVERY partition...

Best regards
iBenny

 

[SIW2]

You need a RAMDISK entry for the recovery. It should point at the boot.sdi file on the recovery partition, and the bootable wim file on the recovery partition.

A Partition entry is for an already installed windows.

 

[SIW2]

On your other thread, you listed the contents of the recovery partition as follows:

"D:\Recovery\system32\Recovery\ReAgent.xml"
"D:\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim" (271M, 1 partition)
"D:\Recovery\WindowsRE\boot.sdi"
"D:\boot\BCD"..... the recovery boot file
"D:\boot\boot.sdi"
"D:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD"
"D:\EFI\Microsoft\Recovery\BCD"
"D:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi"
"D:\system.sav\preload\base.wim" (3.2G, 4 partitions)
"D:\system.sav\FactoryUpdate\boot.wim" (246M, 1 partition)
"D:\system.sav\FactoryUpdate\BOOT.SDI"

Now you have moved the recovery partition - you say it has letter H.

Now you have this:

"H:\Recovery\system32\Recovery\ReAgent.xml"
"H:\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim"
"H:\Recovery\WindowsRE\boot.sdi"
"H:\boot\BCD"
"H:\boot\boot.sdi"
"H:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD"
"H:\EFI\Microsoft\Recovery\BCD"
"H:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi"
"H:\system.sav\preload\base.wim"
"H:\system.sav\FactoryUpdate\boot.wim"
"H:\system.sav\FactoryUpdate\BOOT.SDI"


Is there a bootmgr on partition H ?

 

[SIW2]

If you want to use H as the Active, system partition - you need bootmgr on the root.

H:\bootmgr

bootmgr will try and read the entries from the bcd store on the Active, system partition

H:\boot\bcd

You will need bcd entries pointing at

1. Your windows partition ( so that you can boot into windows on partition C )

Type: Put a dot in Partition
Disk: Should be the Hard Disk in the top dropdown
Partition: Should be partition C in the next dropdown
File: nothing here
SDI File: nothing here

OS Title: Windows 7
Boot File: \windows\system32\winload.exe

Sys Root: \Windows
Language: fr-FR

Detect Hal should be ticked. Winpe should not be ticked

Click SAVE current system

AND

2. A ramdisk entry ( so you can start the recovery process)


Type: Put a dot in Ramdisk
Disk: Should be the Hard Disk in the top dropdown
Partition: Should be partition H in the next dropdown

FILE: \Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim
SDI FILE: \Recovery\WindowsRE\boot.sdi

TITLE: Whatever you want - HP Recovery is fine
Boot File: \Windows\System32\Boot\winload.exe
Sys Root: \Windows
Language: fr-FR

Detect Hal and Winpe should both be ticked

Click SAVE current system

View attachment BootIce.zip

 

[iBenny]

I have set up the ramdrive entry like this :

and wonder why it is different from this one that I don't remember how I got it :

there are more lines in the latter, but am dealing with the former with my Hiren BUSB stick. But bizzarely, when I was working with the latter, I was able to get into the RECOVERY partition. I think I remember where the latter came from : inside the Windows 7 OS when I could get into the RECOVERY partition that is now blocked by the HP warning message displayed in post #12.

And yes, I have H:\bootmgr in the RECOVERY partition !

Best regards
iBenny

 

[iBenny]

OK ! Just found how I got the latter BootICE display : using a boot CD made by a super Geek forum helper named 'sioux' or... SIW2 ; )

Will try to duplicate the entry above and report back soon...

iBenny

 

[iBenny]

The duplication failed to give results.

On more thing of interest is that the boot CD is detected before the freezing blinking cursor... and... the HP logo does show first with the option of triggering the Startup Menu with the 'ESC' key so... I mislead you a little bit earlier.

Something worth of considering (maybe) is that all GUID folders that dwelled into C:\recovery of the Windows OS partition (I think it was that folder) are gone.

Best regards
iBenny

 

[iBenny]

I think I missed your post #30 ! we were crosscommunicating at the same time. Will do it and report...

PS: as I understood, these two entries are for the RECOVERY partition BCD

Best regards
iBenny

 

[SIW2]

Yes, the entries should be in H:\boot\bcd.

That is the bcd store that will be live if H is marked active.

 

[iBenny]

Failed !!!

Best regards
iBenny

 

[SIW2]

Any error messages?

What are the bcd entries?

Check the PBR using bootice - make sure partition H has bootmgr boot record ( install it even if it says it is already there)

 

[iBenny]

In the Christmas and New Year Holidays, I understand that you (and I) might be unavailable for some times so, we will be patient for the replies to each other...

Going to sleep...

Best regards
iBenny

 

[iBenny]

BCD conforms to your post #30 (do you want to see it ?) and no... no error messages. Just the blinking cursor !

Best regards
iBenny

 

[SIW2]

Goodnight.