Windows 10: Create Recovery Drive in Windows 10

Thanks very much. So it depends on the edition? Awesome! So I only need two USB sticks instead of three.

 

It depends on both the edition and version.

 

Gotcha! Cheers.

 

I was wondering, in case of HDD failure and replacement, how is the licensing been handled when I use the recovery drive that was created on another machine? I upgraded both my laptop and my media server from Windows 7 Home to Windows 10 Home. I created a recovery drive from my media server. Let's say I need to replace the HDD in the laptop, how does Windows 10 know that I have a valid license, as we don't get a key and it can't know that the laptop was upgraded.

 

Hello nuk3meister,

The activation for the free offer of Windows 10 is registered on the Microsoft activation servers, and is referenced by the hardware (motherboard/CPU/graphics card serial numbers) of the PC it was upgraded on.

 

I made a repair disk for 10 yesterday so I tested it to see if it worked. It sort of works but when I boot from it, all of my USB ports shut down right when the "Choose your keyboard layout" screen comes up. As a result, my USB keyboard and mouse don't work.
Naturally I got rid of my antique keyboards so I cant test if the PS/2 port is also disabled.

After checking all USB ports and pounding on the keyboard (even though the NL light is off indicating it is disconnected) I have to turn off the computer by holding down the power button for six seconds to get out of that screen. For me the Repair Disc is useless.

The USB Recovery Drive I made using Brink's great instructions works just fine.

 

Something I noticed in earlier builds but have come across again in the Released version of Windows 10.

If the Create Recovery Drive process fails, it's worth trying again, without changing anything.

When I tried it last night, it worked on the second try, although I did have an experience with an earlier build where it worked on the third try.

 

Hi, no matter what i try to create a recovery drive is just fail, ive tried 3 different 1TB drives and 2 SSD drives, i just keep getting
we cant create the recovery drive a problem occurred while creating the recovery drive
some times files are written some times not, then message pops up, ive tried 5+ times on all drive, just a no go for me, the further down the line i'm getting Win 10 is breaking more and more

 

Hello DR3WST3R,

If you like, you could also just create a Windows 10 installation USB that you can use for recovery as well. *Smile

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

 

Hi, thanks for reply, just noticed also, every drive (external USB) keeps telling me


so i have to use minitool to delete/convert back to NTFS then i get full drive again, not the bloomin 31.9 of 31.9

 

the recovery media is created in Fat32 format - FAT32 only supports up to 32GB drive
Use a usb stick -

 

thanks for reply, dont have a usb stick big enough, so ive been trying to use media creation tool, alls fine till 75% then thing stops, so i try creating a system image to no avail, been stuck at same spot for last hour, very off here





every thing i try, its just so many problems

 

... but on another computer, I tried several times and it just wouldn't work. I also tried a Reset on the computer and that failed too.

This computer was upgraded through some of the Insider builds, so I'm wondering if that process left something behind that's breaking the Recovery Drive and Reset.

I'm hoping a clean install is the answer.

 

I just did an in-place upgrade (from 10 Pro to 10 Pro) using the standard ISO. It worked well for me and all my programs (Office etc) were unaffected. You may want to consider trying that first. It fixed a lot of issues upgrading from 7 for me (USB3 not working, mail app not working etc).

At the moment I can only get the Windows 10 USB to boot - not any recovery drive (including Macrium PE).

Run Setup.exe from the ISO - it may help.

 

Thanks for that. I'd already wiped it by the time I read that. *Wink

I think I had previously installed from the 10240 ESD to ISO though (when 10240 was in Insiders only), running Setup on the ISO rather than letting it upgrade automatically, so I'm not sure installing another build 10240 would have improved it.

I can report that after the clean-install, the Recovery Drive created OK though.