Windows – Restore deleted Windows 8.1 recovery partition

recovery-partitionwindows 8.1

I selected the option to create a recovery drive in Windows and then deleted the recovery partition using the option provided (see screenshot). Now I want to restore the partition exactly as it was before so it is automatically used if I want to Refresh or Reset. How can I do this?

Deleting recovery partition in Windows 8.1

Best Answer

Taken from this Microsoft TechNet blog article.

  1. Download the Windows 8.1 Enterprise evaluation kit ( if you don’t have installation media ) Note: Be sure to download the version of the evaluation kit ( 32-bit vs 64-bit ) that matches your Windows 8.1 operating system installation. If you are unsure which version you’ve installed, you can do a quick check using the Control Panel | System tool.

  2. After downloading the ISO image above, double-click on the ISO image to mount it as a new temporary drive letter.

  3. Use File Explorer to browse the folder structure of the newly mounted ISO image. Double-click on the Sources folder in the root of the mounted volume to browse the contents of that folder.

  4. Inside the Sources folder, locate the INSTALL.WIM file. Right-click on this file and select Copy from the pop-up menu.

  5. Use File Explorer to navigate to the C: drive on your PC. Create a new folder inside the root folder of your C: drive named C:\Win81-Recovery.

  6. Use File Explorer to navigate into the new C:\Win81-Recovery folder. Right-click inside the folder window and select Paste from the pop-up menu to copy the INSTALL.WIM file from the mounted ISO image to this new folder location.

  7. Right-click on the Start button tip and select Command Prompt (Admin) to open a new elevated Command Prompt window.

  8. Inside the Command Prompt window, run the following command line to register the copied INSTALL.WIM file as the Recovery Image on your PC: REAGENTC /SetOSImage /Path C:\Win81-Recovery\INSTALL.WIM /Index 1

  9. If the command-line above completed successfully, you should now see a registered location for the Recovery Image on your PC: REAGENTC /Info

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