Restore MSI factory settings is not restoring anything

[coalessandr15dd02f1]

Dear forum,

A strange thing happens when I try to restore to factory settings my GF63 notebook

So long story short: reboot, F3, restore to factory, the procedure starts and after 3/5 seconds ends with a positive message: “operation successful, please reboot the pc”

After the reboot nothing is changed, all the files, the settings are still there!

Have you ever experienced that?
I didn’t modified any partition, haven’t deleted any recovery partition

Thanks

 

[Abel Lopez]

Have you ever created a restore point?
Maybe you should try it again...it is incorrect.
Which exact model do you have?

 

[coalessandr15dd02f1]

Dear Abel

It’s an MSI Thin GF63 12VF-291IT and no I never created a restore point, I just want to use the built it restore partition to have the system at factory settings (I already tried months ago and it worked) currently it isn’t but I never edited any partition settings. So I don’t understand why it’s failing. I would love to check the logs of MSI Recovery but I don’t know where they are stored

 

[Abel Lopez]

Try it again, since you didn't change anything and it worked last time, maybe it is just a little mistake at once.

 

[coalessandr15dd02f1]

I tried several times…nothing. It always ends with a “successfully restored” message. But then my files/configurations are still in place.

 

[Adrian the Saxon]

tried months ago

I tried several times…nothing. It always ends with a “successfully restored” message. But then my files/configurations are still in place.

Did you install a Service Release during this time? From 22H2 -> 23H2 or something?
Which Windows version is installed?

Do you know how to access the recovery partition? I guess it is "hidden" as usual but it is easy to make it shown.
I ask this because I want to know the dates of the files in the recovery partition.

It always ends with a “successfully restored” message.

And maybe this is true. It just uses the newest files.

 

[coalessandr15dd02f1]

Dear Adrian

currently I'm running W11 24H2 build 26100.3194 I did all the updates Microsoft provided since the beginnig (12/2023).
How can I access the recovery partition? Which sw to use?

I've been also told to remove the device encyption and retry, but it's taking ages to decrypt all the data....

 

[Adrian the Saxon]

I've been also told to remove the device encyption and retry, but it's taking ages to decrypt all the data....

Is your complete drive encrypted? With Bitlocker?

Which sw to use?

You caught me off guard.
You don't need external software. In the Windows Drive Manager (needed to google this name ) you should see the recovery partition. Assign a drive letter (like m) to it (leave the Drive Manager open), have a look on the partition m with the Explorer or whatever you use, go back and remove the drive letter. It should work without a reboot.

 

[coalessandr15dd02f1]

Dear Adrian

Thank you very much but it worked after I disabled the device encryption (yes bitlocker) as suggested by another kind user “Bsl K”

Thank you very much also to you for your help
Have a nice day
B R

 

[Adrian the Saxon]

Thank you very much but it worked after I disabled the device encryption

I thank you too. Learned something new.

But I guess it is now clear what happens.
For other users with the same problem. The system loaders resides in the EFI partition which is not encrypted. The Windows Loader can handle a Bitlocker encrypted drive. The MSI loader (which starts with F3) cannot access encrypted partitions. A possible workaround is to leave the Recovery partition unencrypted ...
Wrong tought. If the Recovery is not encrypted but the system drive is encrypted then the recovery will also fail.

I've been also told to remove the device encyption and retry, but it's taking ages to decrypt all the data....

But it is the only way.


Btw, my Linux is encrypted. The only Linux partition which is not encrypted is the swap partition (which is also used for Hibernation) because I am not sure if encrypted swap and Hibernation are a good combination.
My two Windows installations are not encrypted. If I need to encrypt Windows then Veracrypt would be the software to use not Bitlocker. Veracrypt is Open Source and audited. Bitlocker?
We don't know if it has back doors. And even if it has none up to day... The new US administration (say Trump) wants them.

 

[coalessandr15dd02f1]

wait wait I need to understand better.
Then let’s re-do the steps with me:
(With bitlocker On), reboot then F3 then the systems says: “driver encrypted use the bitlocker key to access the driver”, yes sir here’s the key, then the MSI system recovery loads and asks: do you want to restore? yes, again yes, working 5 secs: success (without touching any file)

Ok but they asked me to unlock the driver with the bitlocker key, which I did, then why it was failing?