Windows 10: Why do I have an "Invalid Partition Table"?

Just saw your last DM screen print.
I can't see all info, fields are not maximized and resized to show all info.
I don't know if/where you have a System partition.

What i would do:
Disconnect Disk 2 while trouble shooting.
Disconnect Disk 1 and see if the PC will boot and Windows will start.

 

he is using Slartybart's custom view of Disk Management , you can use it too , it is attached in post 2

 

So the custom view doesn't show all info the normal DM view shows ?

 

Here is the tutorial explaining how to post a DM screen print:
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of - Windows 10 Forums

I like to start trouble shooting with the most basic, simplest things i can do.

 

I think I have your disk schema in my head, but ....
Please download an run the complementary Disk Management (Volume & Graphical)

dmDskmgr-vg.zip

Grab a Windowed screenshot as before, and post it - thanks.

I'm going to recommend a Clean install, mainly because it is superior to an upgrade. But also because it's faser and easier for both of us.

A perfect install requires some planning - All of the information is in the tutorial

1) backup your personal data

2) gather your license keys for 3rd party programs that you purchased
Belarc Advisor is what I use

3) Remove all devices that did not come with the machine
If the machine came with 2 HDDs, disconnect the 2nd one
- Only have the one drive you'll install Win10 on connected

4) When you boot the Win10 install media (USB or DVD)
Press Shift+F10 to launch Command
Launch Diskpart and enter the following commands
sel dis 0
clean
exit
Exit Command

Do a Custom install to the currently raw drive

Let Windows Update do it's job - you might want to run it manually
Make an image of the Clean system

Install your favorite programs
--Download new install pkgs if available.

Update the UWP Apps thru the MS store

Check for any flagged devices in Device Manager - visit the OEM for the driver
Make an Image of your Base System

Do your customization
Make a 3rd image if you want.

Now your machine is squeaky clean and you have good images.

What about the 2nd HDD? Your call ... it's a clone of Win??
If it's your previous OS, then let it remain unconnected and serve as a backup.
If it's a clone of Win10 ... well not anymore it isn't. I do not recommend cloning - Macrium Reflect Free images are what I suggest instead and you already made a few images. So that drive can be cleaned, formatted and returned to service as a Data Drive

What about the USB drive?
Now that you Clean installed, see if the problem still exists. If it does, then scrap the 128 MB Reserved part on the USB drive, reboot and see how it operates.

OR.......
You can try it backwards, testign a boot between each

Disk 2 (USB): scrap the 128 MB

Disk 1 (HDD): clean & format

Disk 0 (SSD)
scrap the Part 1 and 2 on Disk 0
Create a System Reserved part size=500 MB
Fix the boot
Expand C:
Those are very terse instructions - somethigns to think about

I take great caution when I manage my machine ... helping members in a forum doesn't allow for but I thought you meant errors.

Don't take any action without conferring with members on this side of your monitor.

 

Slartybart, thanks for the stand-alone -- W10 seems to want to obscure Disk Management, making it hard to find, and I appreciate having something to click. Here's the screen shot, which gives the same info as in my post 12 (but I un-scrunched the status column):





I will contemplate a clean install, and there is no way I would just go do it. The deal is that re-installing and setting things up from scratch last time took about a month -- every program seems to hide crucial data in some obscure location. I'll see if there are tools that would facilitate the process.

(The second drive, the HDD as opposed to the SSD which is first, is just a data drive, but it is the drive that originally came with the system, and actually I used Macrium to clone the HDD onto the SSD -- unfortunately, I didn't understand that you actually have to use a USB drive attachment as opposed to the internal second drive bay for the process, so there was a minor meltdown when the system found two exactly identical HDs. After that, I took the spinning drive out, stuck it in an enclosure, plugged it in after bootup, and reformatted it to be just a data drive, then re-installed it inside the box. I cannot remember the full details of how I "reformatted" the original drive. But initially, the HDD in the USB enclosure was invisible, rendered offline because of a signature collision. Using Disk Management I made that drive be online and reformatted it, and everything was smooth thereafter).

 

The partition scheme from disk management is not standard Windows 10 and you are correct that the partition ID is set to 27 which is specific to DELL: an OEM and a Recovery partition containing the original factory image (set to 27). The reason is to allow user to recover the WinOS back to the original state using a function key. However, you've already upgrade to Windows 10, you probably won't need it, beside, you also had a backup copy on the 2nd HD.

A normal Windows 10 partition scheme for MBR disk type is:

• 500MB System Reserved (set to 07) which contains BCD and WinRE.wim
• C drive.

It is easy to fix the problem without re-install Windows and apps. If you wish, I can give you step by step instruction.

 

Yessir, that would be very helpful.

 

(Red above) That is what I thought too , till last week , after a fresh install , WinRE.wim was not on the 500mb partition , nor was there a Recovery Folder on C: or in c:\windows\system32\recovery , so I followed a guide or two here and have a C:\recovery now after extracting Install.wim but nothing on the 500mb drive , just an empty recovery folder now.

Edit : I have now followed Kyhi's post in your thread last week about this and moved the Recovery image to the 500mb partition, (partition 1) in my case

reagentc /disable
Reagentc /setreimage /path L: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Recovery\WindowsRE
reagentc /enable

reagentc /info

does this look right? it's enabled but image location and index are empty though.





Kyhi's full post here:
https://www.tenforums.com/installatio...tml#post700523

 

@Kbird
Sorry but you are wrong. Because the 500MB System Reserved is hidden, it will appear empty so either you unhide it or use a Partition Manager to view the content of this partition. What you did above is redundant. See screen shot:

 

@ David .....sorry didn't mean to hog your Thread.

@ Topgun I do have MiniTool but actually I simply assigned the Partition with the Drive Letter B: then looked at it in Explorer, there was no Recovery Folder, just Boot , but I have now forced it onto B: (partition 1) using kyhi's instructions . I had previously followed another Tutorials Online (below) to extract wim.re after not finding it on my HD.

TeraByte Unlimited Knowledge Base
or
https://www.winhelp.us/restore-windows-re.html

 

@topgundcp,
From what i see in all the previous DM screen prints for DavidOdden, the File System is blank for some partitions.
It's not NTFS (or anything).
I don't know if hidden / protected is a problem, until the partition is something readable ???

Is that why DM can't help, and Windows (file) Explorer can't see this partition/data ?

tyia

 

This is not enough because the Recovery folder is hidden, you'd need to set the folder option to show "Hidden files" and also uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" or use Mini Tool Partition to explore then you'll see everything.
@DavidE
Yes, this is not standard as I said above. The partition is set to "OEM" and "Recovery". Use diskpart to explore those partitions instead. HTH

 

Thanks topgun,

I would appreciate it if you took lead on this. I offered the Clean install because I'm having problems focusing. This is the sort of thing you need to pay attention to detail - not difficult just getting the right partitions on the right drive.

DavidOdden, you're in good hands with topgun.

I'll watch from the sidelines

Bill
.

 

Yes, I guess I didn't explain enough , sorry, .....I always have those two options on in Windows , always have for many years

@ DO.....Sorry DavidOdden , I'll let Topgun get back to helping you , I was just hoping for some insight into why the Recovery environment wasn't being setup properly on a Clean install..