Solved WinRE - Advice on How to move to Boot (System Reserved) Partition?

[Brds7t7]

OK, so I've extended the System Reserved drive (mine is labelled WinRE) to 350mb. I may extend this later if needed though.



I just need a bit of advice on:

a) How to copy the C:\Recovery folder to SysReserved? I've tried it within windows and seemed to copy ok.

b) Once I've copied the Recovery folder should I remove security permissions to all except admin? As I've noticed that when I copied it over to Sysreserved it gave the Recovery folder permissions for Admin, My account, SYSTEM and Authenticated Users but on C:\ it only has permissions for Admin account.

Then I'll attempt the BCD entries. I'm taking it one step at a time but I appreciate the patience you guys have!

 

[Brds7t7]

Just to let everyone know that all went well and WinRE is now running fine from the System Reserved partition.

I assigned Sysreserved the Drive letter R: and copied the C:\Recovery folder onto the Sysreserved partition (decided to leave the security permissions as they are as I didn't want to start altering them and end up messing things up).

Then I changed the BCD entries using Visual BCD Editor.

Enclosed a couple of screenshots to show how the BCD entries look now.

Thanks for the help guys!!

 

[gregrocker]

You have the boot menu option for WinRE every time you boot now?

How is this preferable to having WinRE on the F8 menu where Win7 installer places it?

 

[Brds7t7]

Yes, it still shows up on the F8 menu. I've placed WinRE on the boot partition just as a precaution in case anything did happen to my windows partition. Originally I was going to delete the recovery folder from the Windows partition but I've decided to keep it on there too. So if one of my partitions did get damaged I would still have the option to boot to WinRE.

There are quite a few guides including a few on TechNet which say it's advisable to place WINRE on the system partition and that it would be better if windows set it up that way.

One thing I have noticed is that the Windows 8 System Reserved partition is 350mb so I'm wondering if it gets installed to that automatically during windows 8 installation.

 

[gregrocker]

I would test if WinRe still works from F8 since you moved it and the hotkey will no longer be mapped to C which is where WinRE resides by default. The normal SysReserved partition 100mb is too small to house it, so it may be included on the enlarged one in Win8.

Rather than having a Windows Dual Boot menu interrupt startup just to be able to access WinRE once in a great while, I'd remap the F8 key to trigger it from its new location now that it's moved. SIW2 is an expert on doing this.

 

[Brds7t7]

Sorry Gregrocker I misread your last post.

It isn't on the boot menu no but it still works from F8. I've tested it and all is working fine.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, well done.

As I said earlier, just copy it over and change the bcd entries to point at it.

Using an app. of some sort to edit the bcd entries is easier for most than using the commands.

There are other ways of doing it - but that is quite simple.

The problem with booting any kind of recovery/rescue environment is that it depends on the boot mechanism ( in this case windows boot management ) still functioning.

External boot media is still required for times when it won't work.

 

[gregrocker]

So is there any advantage to having WinRe on SysReserved partition instead of in C as by default?

 

[SIW2]

There is a feeling it is a bit safer to keep it separate.

Not sure it really matters very much.

You are still using bootmgr and bcd - which will be on the system partition anyway.

You need external boot media as a backup, whatever you do.

 

[Brds7t7]

Yeah, the BCD editor made it really easy. I didn't realise there were apps that made it that easy. I was thinking I would have to type in commands (which I'm not that great at!).

I've made sure I have a couple of System Repair Discs too as a last resort. I know a lot of people delete the SysReserved partition but I personally think it's a great idea having the boot files on a seperate partition.

I suppose the only advantage of having the WinRE files on the boot partition is in case anything happens to the windows partition (virus, etc). Or maybe I just like tweaking too much

Here are some links on the some of the forums, articles I have read.

Windows 7, "Repair your computer" F8 boot option not working (SOLVED) | Knowledge Base

Windows 7 Boot Partition. | Knowledge Base

Windows 7 recovery installation - windows-7

F8 Repair your computer option missing after image deployment

 

[Brds7t7]

Also SIW2 is there any way of moving the BCD and bootmgr to System Reserved too or would it cause problems?
Or should I start a new thread on that?

Sorry for asking a lot of questions!

 

[SIW2]

They should already be on the system reserved partition.

 

[Brds7t7]

Sorry I had a dumb moment there!