Windows 10: We can’t create the recovery drive on this PC – USB drive error on Windows 10

If when you attempt to create a recovery drive using a USB drive on your Windows 10 computer but receive the error message; We can’t […]

This article We can’t create the recovery drive on this PC – USB drive error on Windows 10 first appeared on TheWindowsClub.com.

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Windows 10 Recovery drive error - Can't create a recovery drive on this PC

I inserted a new USB drive into my laptop, started drive recovery and after a
while it found the drive. However, on proceeding with the process I was then getting the error message “We can’t create a recovery drive on this PC”.

The steps I took to resolved this were:

• Create a new partition on the USB drive.
• Reformat the USB drive as NTFS
• Make it bootable
• Re-run the Windows 10 Create Recovery Drive utility

I am not sure that steps 2 & 3 are required as the utility will reformat the drive anyway but I haven’t tested this process omitting them.



Detailed instructions are as follows (thanks to
www.indestructables.com for pointing me in the right direction here)

• Insert your USB flash drive to your running computer. As the first step, we need to run Command Prompt as administrator. To do this, we need to find cmd by typing 'cmd' in the search box on Windows Start Menu. After search result for 'cmd' appears,
  right click on it and select "Run as administrator".
• Type 'diskpart' on Command Prompt (without quotes) and hit Enter. Wait for a while until the DISKPART program run.
• Type 'list disk' to view active disks on your computer and hit Enter. There would be seen that the active disks shown as Disk 0 for hard drive and Disk 1 for your USB flashdrive with its total capacity.
• Type 'select disk 1' to determine that disk 1 would be processed in the next step then hit Enter.
• Type 'clean' and hit Enter to remove all of data in the drive.
• Type 'create partition primary' and hit Enter. Creating a primary partition and further recognized by Windows as 'partition 1'.
• Type 'select partition 1' an hit Enter. Choosing the 'partition 1' for setting up it as an active partition.
• Type 'active' and hit Enter. Activating current partition.
• Type 'format fs=ntfs quick' and hit Enter. Formatting current partition as NTFS file system quickly.
• Type 'exit' and hit Enter. Leaving DISKPART program but don't close the Command Prompt.
• Type 'bootsect /nt60 d:' and hit Enter. Creating boot sector on D: drive (USB flash drive)

 

Windows 10 Recovery drive error - Can't create a recovery drive on this PC

Hi Andy,

Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community. I am glad to assist you on this.

• Do you have enough space in your external drive or disk?
• Did you make any changes to the computer prior to this issue?
• Have you created a recovery media previously on the computer?

As per the issue description, it seems like you are unable to create a system image recovery driver using a USB drive on the computer as it prompts an error message “We cannot create a recovery drive on this PC. Some required files are missing.

I would suggest you to follow the below steps and try to create a recovery drive and check if it helps.

• From the taskbar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice.
• 
  When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive is selected and then select Next.
  
• 
  Connect a USB drive to your PC, select it, and then select Next > Create. A lot of files need to be copied to the recovery drive, so this might take a while.
  
• 
  When it’s done, you might see a Delete the recovery partition from your PC link on the final screen. If you want to free up drive space on your PC, select the link and then select Delete. If
  not, select Finish.
  

You can also use Windows 10 media creation tool to troubleshoot problems when your PC can't start.

Here is the link:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10

Kindly let us know if you need any further assistance with Windows. We are glad to assist you.

Thank you.

 

Not able to create Windows 10 Recovery drive getting error message "We cant create a recovery drive on this PC"

Hi Derek,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.

I see that you are facing issues with the creation of Recovery drive in Windows 10.

I suggest you to refer the link on “windows 10 creating recovery drive error "We can't create the recovery drive" " A problem occurred while creating the recovery drive."
and perform the troubleshooting steps provided by ThofikhAhamad
replied on November 14, 2015.

windows 10 creating recovery drive error "We can't create the recovery drive" " A problem occurred while creating the recovery drive."

Hope this helps. If the issue remains unresolved, please get back to us and we would be happy to help.