Solutions to majority of problems related to Restore/ Recovery / MSI F3 factory Reset

Hey so i clicked on that.. And it was factory resetting my laptop.. The progress bar was like on half and now it's showing Reagentc.exe set RE image false.. What should I do? Can you please help me
 
@Bsl K hey, I need a little help.. Probably you remember I used that Msi GF65 recovery usb.. And that worked and I Factory resetted my laptop.. But i faced some issues in that so i thought to install using your recovery usb media.. And i downloaded it and copied it to my USB pendrive, Now when I click on the (recovery usb) partition on the boot menu.. It shows RecoveryDVD Manager for some time and then restart and boot back to windows
Can you please help me 🙏
 
that worked and I Factory resetted my laptop.. But i faced some issues
what do you mean by that? were you able to restore or not?
It shows RecoveryDVD Manager for some time and then restart and boot back to windows
check the disknum text file inside recoverydvd folder, does the number matches the number of install.swm inside it or not? Also there should be ufdr text file inside the same folder with ufdr written in it.
 
what do you mean by that? were you able to restore or not?
Yes I was able to restore, the problem I was facing was whenever I try to restart my laptop for windows feature update it runs into some disk problem everytime and then I have to try to fix it which takes a lot of time
 
check the disknum text file inside recoverydvd folder, does the number matches the number of install.swm inside it or not? Also there should be ufdr text file inside the same folder with ufdr written in it.
I checked the disknum text file, the number matches the number of install.swm files. I also checked the ufdr text file, it has UFDR written in it. But still it's not working
 
I checked the disknum text file, the number matches the number of install.swm files. I also checked the ufdr text file, it has UFDR written in it. But still it's not working
if you have already recovered the laptop, then why do you need the recovery usb again? after windows update, whatever problem you have, take a snap of it and share. then may be i will be able to help you better.
 
if you have already recovered the laptop, then why do you need the recovery usb again? after windows update, whatever problem you have, take a snap of it and share. then may be i will be able to help you better.
It was like I was facing that disk problem when I try to update my windows to a newer version.. And because of that I installed windows 11 by windows media creation update tool.. But my system was too slow on Windows 11 so I shifted back to windows 10 my doing the factory restore.. But when I went to the recovery environment again I saw that it was showing "Continue to Windows 11" Even when I had windows 10.. Then I checked my system specifications and it was also showing windows 11 there but I had windows 10 as my OS. So that was the whole problem, and because of that what I did was used a windows 10 bootable pendrive and cleaned my disk and manually created my partitions because I was thinking that Windows 11 problem was with my Recovery partition.. So after creating the partitions and installing windows by bootable pendrive, I made the recovery usb by using your files (I don't want to copy and paste the install.swm files into BIOS_RVY partition because if I do it by usb then I will get a "Hard Disk Restore" Option which restores my whole hard disk.. And the copy paste thing to bios_rvy just gives the "system partitions restore" Option) and now that recovery usb is giving me that problem which told you on my first comment.. Please can you help me to make my recovery usb work 🙏
 
I was facing that disk problem
what exactly do you mean by disk problem?
system was too slow on Windows 11
windows 11 is not heavy at all, modern laptop can easily run win 11, may be it was sluggish because of the default bitlocker, try disabling that.
it was showing "Continue to Windows 11" Even when I had windows 10..
that is nothing to worry about. its because of winre of win 11, and certain files inside efi partition i.e. 1st partition. that normal when reverting back to 10 from 11. dont worry about it. os will be 10 but recovery will show 11. its normal.
because of that what I did was used a windows 10 bootable pendrive and cleaned my disk
no need to do that.
I don't want to copy and paste the install.swm files into BIOS_RVY partition because if I do it by usb then I will get a "Hard Disk Restore" Option which restores my whole hard disk.. And the copy paste thing to bios_rvy just gives the "system partitions restore" Option)
why do you want to restore the whole disk, using usb will wipe your whole drive, you know that already, then why do you want to use usb if you have already manually created the partitions.
recovery usb is giving me that problem which told you on my first comment.. Please can you help me to make my recovery usb work
recopy the file of the image that you used last time from internet to usb. if thats what you want. i dont see why the same recovery usb worked earlier and won't work this time.
 
why do you want to restore the whole disk, using usb will wipe your whole drive, you know that already, then why do you want to use usb if you have already manually created the partitions.
Because I think that it will factory restore my laptop more perfectly and freshly.. I think that but I am not sure
 
recopy the file of the image that you used last time from internet to usb. if thats what you want. i dont see why the same recovery usb worked earlier and won't work this time.
I used the same Msi GF65 files also.. But that didn't worked too :(
 
I resorted to factory settings by manually copying the and winre files to WinRE tools partition and install.swm files to RecoveryImage folder in BIOS_RVY partition.
Now the problem that I am facing in my system is the update problem.. It's been stuck on this installing on 30% from last 2 hours.. Now what should I do?.. Should I update it by media creation tool or you have any other solution?
Screenshot_20250509-152403.png
 
I resorted to factory settings by manually copying the and winre files to WinRE tools partition and install.swm files to RecoveryImage folder in BIOS_RVY partition.
Now the problem that I am facing in my system is the update problem.. It's been stuck on this installing on 30% from last 2 hours.. Now what should I do?.. Should I update it by media creation tool or you have any other solution? View attachment 201779
@Bsl K
 
@Bsl K This is the problem I am getting now after updating my system by windows media creation tool tool..and whenever i restarts my laptop for scan,the scan stops in between and restarts to the window again and the same error pops up.. and when i try to go into cmd from recovery mode to fix it by chkdsk scan..the cmd asks to enter password..and i have tried using every password i knew..but it says incorrect password and even when I click the enter button without writing any password it still says incorrect password.. 😭 am so fed up with this.. can you please help me
Screenshot_20250510-183136.png
 
@Bsl K This is the problem I am getting now after updating my system by windows media creation tool tool..and whenever i restarts my laptop for scan,the scan stops in between and restarts to the window again and the same error pops up.. and when i try to go into cmd from recovery mode to fix it by chkdsk scan..the cmd asks to enter password..and i have tried using every password i knew..but it says incorrect password and even when I click the enter button without writing any password it still says incorrect password.. 😭 am so fed up with this.. can you please help meView attachment 201829
never had this problem, so you better google about it.
 
never had this problem, so you better google about it.
I am so fed up with this so now I am just installing windows from a bootable usb and then install the drivers and softwares of msi in it and use it.. Because I can't find my specific model recovery media.. And other one have these problems
 
If you're facing issues with Restore, Recovery, or the MSI F3 Factory Reset, here are some reliable solutions that address most common problems:




1. MSI F3 Recovery Not Working


  • Solution: Make sure the recovery partition is still intact. If it’s missing or corrupted, the F3 function won’t work. You may need to:
    • Use a recovery USB/DVD created earlier.
    • Download the recovery image from the official MSI support site for your model.



2. System Restore Fails


  • Solution: Try these steps:
    • Boot into Safe Mode and run System Restore from there.
    • Disable antivirus temporarily — some AV tools interfere with restore processes.
    • Use sfc /scannow in Command Prompt to repair corrupt system files.



3. Recovery Drive Not Detected


  • Solution:
    • Check BIOS to ensure the recovery drive is enabled.
    • Reconnect or test the drive using another port or system.
    • If using external media, ensure it's properly formatted and created with official tools.



4. Can't Reset PC via Settings


  • Solution:
    • Use the Advanced Startup options: Hold Shift while clicking “Restart” → Troubleshoot → Reset this PC.
    • Run DISM tool:
      bash
      CopyEdit
      DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth



5. Recovery Requires Admin Access


  • Solution:
    • Ensure you are logged in as an administrator.
    • Reset the admin password if necessary via Safe Mode or recovery tools.



Still Having Trouble?


If none of the above work, MSI’s customer support can provide the correct recovery files or further instructions based on your model.
 
Hi all,

My new Raider 18 HX AI A2XW has just arrived, though it'll be a couple of days before I get around to setting it up.
Quick question in the meantime:

Am I okay to leave the recovery partition intact and simply install a fresh copy of Windows onto the main partition?
If I do this, will I still be able to revert to the original factory-installed Windows version using the recovery tools at a later date, should I need to?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!
 
Hi all,

My new Raider 18 HX AI A2XW has just arrived, though it'll be a couple of days before I get around to setting it up.
Quick question in the meantime:

Am I okay to leave the recovery partition intact and simply install a fresh copy of Windows onto the main partition?
If I do this, will I still be able to revert to the original factory-installed Windows version using the recovery tools at a later date, should I need to?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!
Do you mean you want to clean install windows??
Well if thats the case then make sure not to format any partition, and just install on 3rd partition and later after setting up ur device, you may use diskclean utility to get rid of old windows.

If you do not break the partitions and especially the last partition named Bios_rvy, then in future you will be able to factory reset your pc..

By the way for any new msi user, or any pc users, i strongly recommend to backup the recovery folder of their c drive to archive.org so that they or any other folk with same model will be able to factory reset their pc.

So if you have fast internet, make a backup of the recovery image from Bios_rvy to archive.org or atleast recovery folder of c drive. Then you can proceed with your clean install as mentioned above.
 
This is what mine looks like, as far as I can see it all looks normal. However, I can't factory restore my laptop, can you tell me what I need to please? Also, I noticed when I assigned a letter to the each of the partitions I noticed they are empty, there should be a few install.wim files in the BIOS_RVY partition right, and what should be in the remaining partitions? And I downloaded that new F3 USB Recovery from MSI but is that why it didn't work? Why would installing Windows 11 clear them out?:

View attachment 159643View attachment 159643View attachment 159644
Hello there, 3 years later I am hoping you will see this message. I have exactly the same problem, with the same partitions as you have, also showing empty. Exactly the same. My partitions are also called Recovery Partition. Were you able to have this fixed? Do you still remember what you did back in 2022?
 
Hey MSI Enthusiast. Greetings..
Today, i am going to share the working solutions to the common problems faced by MSI users when it comes to MSI Factory reset/ Recovery. Since this post tries to address multiple problems, this going to be a little long post. bear with me..
I have MSI Prestige 15 A10SC, it had chinese windows 10 Home edition when i bought it. But now i have win 11 pro. I have changed the msi recovery image to latest win 11 manually. And MSI Factory Reset is still working with latest recovery image of win 11. Follow this post to learn on how to do it.

If you have one of these common problems then this post might help you
  1. 1. Accidently deleted Recovery partition (BIOS_RVY)
  2. 2. Get error " The recovery procedure from RecoveryDVD has not been successfully finished..."
  3. 2. F3 MSI factory reset option missing.
  4. 3. Multiple recovery partitions present like 900MB, 500MB, 300MB...
  5. 3. Want to use F3 msi factory reset but afraid that recovery files are old windows
Even if you are one who prefers clean install by windows bootable USB, rather than MSI F3 Factory reset because you think that factory reset will take you to older bloated windows, then i believe this post will be also helpful to you, because i am going to show you on how to manually change the factory reset files to latest windows so that you can get the latest reset of windows 11 rather than old windows 10. I think its better to have recovery on the go rather than USB, because it fast, only takes 4 minutes to reset. USB is for last resort only.

Don't underestimate MSI recovery software, its really useful. It is like "the power of sun in palm of your hand".

I am going to give you probable explanations and logic, and show how to do it. This is going to be a little long post so bear with me please.

PROBABLE CAUSE
-If you have accidently deleted Bios_Rvy partition, then don't worry. you don't need old backup files because i will show you how to manually create recovery partition and add latest image of your current windows which can be restored by f3 msi factory reset.
-If you get 2nd error, even if your recovery partition is intact then the most probable cause is the location of BIOS_RVY partition on your ssd.
-If f3 recovery option is missing, and has multiple small recovery partitions, most probably this is because you probably have clean installed windows by old traditional DESTRUCTIVE method from USB by formatting C drive and installing. Never do that, Please understand the logic behind it.

LEARN LOGIC
A/C to Microsoft, for GPT disk partition, it should be in following order. ( i am talking about partitions, not volume)
-[system-MSR-windows-winre], and then you can have other partitions like D, E ,F... See UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions

When we first buy MSI laptop, its in the same order.[system-MSR-windows-Winre tools-BIOS_RVY] check the attached image.
View attachment 157856

But as most of us like to shrink single C drive and create other partitions, this mess up the order and now your new partitions order will be like [system-MSR-windows-D-E....-Winre tools-BIOS_RVY]
View attachment 157857

Now this causes problem, when there is a major feature update, windows will create new winre partition next to C drive and orphan the older "Winre tool", where older recovery file was that contains f3 MSI factory reset option, resulting in loosing the F3 factory reset option. why windows does that? check MICROSOFT GPT PARTITION
So make sure that winre/ winre tool partition is just next to C. if not then manually do that. google it and you can do it yourself.

If you get the error " The recovery procedure from RecoveryDVD has not been successfully finished...", then its probably because BIOS_RVY partition is not the last partition. I had this problem, i made my partitions in order [system-MSR-windows-Winre tools-BIOS_RVY- D-E-F] which resulted in that error. Later i realized that BIOS_RVY partition should be the last one for MSI recovery dvd software to detect it. later i manually changed it which made it work again.
View attachment 157858


MANUALLY CREATE BIOS_RVY IF DELETED (and update it to latest image)
If you already have BIOS_RVY partition, then you don't have to follow this step.
If you have deleted that partition then, no worries, you can create a partition yourself. And apply the latest image of current updated windows .SWM file. you don't need older bloated files.
you can use mini tool or other partition tool or CMD if you are comfortable with it.

  • Shrink the end partition, e.g. mine was F partition. shrink it and created 15GB partition. Name that partition "BIOS_RVY"
  • create a folder named "RecoveryImage"
View attachment 157859
  • Now you have to put the image of the system which you want to set as recovery image. Follow next chapter.
(I clean installed win 11 by mounting iso file, then running setup file and remove everything. This way i was able to retain my MSI factory reset option from that win 10. [ Non destructive method to clean install windows]
Installed drivers and few basic software. Ran ccleaner and windows default cleaner, deleted unwanted files. [ to make the captured image smaller as possible]
Now when i thought the best state of my pc. i did following ..)


REPLACE FACTORY IMAGE WITH LATEST ONE
If you already have BIOS_RVY partition, then follow this chapter to update the image to the latest one, or you can use the existing one if you like. You should assign a letter to access that partition from cmd, it will loose its letter when restarted, so its safe to assign a letter for temporary access.

Use "DISM++" software, its portable and small in size, to capture the image. ( you can use cmd if you want)
it will capture in .wim format (system backup)
convert that wim file into .SWM using same software. (SD/WIM Conversion)
View attachment 157861

when executing the conversion, it will ask for the size, select 4GB, it will break that .wim file into multiple .swm files.
The file should be named "install". you will get multiple files like install.swm, install1.swm, install2.swm..
Copy all those files to "RecoveryImage" folder in BIOS_RVY Partition.
View attachment 157860

If you already have BIOS_RVY, just assign a letter, it will be temporary, and delete/backup to another location all the install.swm files there and paste/replace the newly created files.
you don't have to follow next step. Next step are for those who are manually creating BIOS_RVY partition.

Now either use diskpart command or use partition software to change the partition to recovery partition.
if you use cmd, diskpart, use
set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001

if you prefer partition software, google it on how to do it.
Thats it.

F3 RECOVERY OPTION
This step is very important, it will further save you from loosing the current f3 msi factory reset option, if you already have it, and prohibit windows from further creating useless smaller multiple recovery partitions for winre.
first check if your winre is in 4th partition or not by running command "reagentc /info" in cmd. If not then change it. How? Either google it or ask me in comments, i will try to assist you.
View attachment 157862

If you still have MSI factory reset option intact from windows 10, it will not work even if its there. you have to use F3_Recovery_USB by MSI once to update the current f3 option to make it workable in win 11.
If you don't have recovery option then you have to use that F3_Recovery_USB files from F3_Recovery_USB website to proceed with recovery option.

Aslo don't forget to rename C drive to "Windows".
THATS IT. IT will work..

But make sure that your partitions are in order. Check the image to see my partition order. it should be in order for it to work.
View attachment 157863

I have tried myself so i am sharing this experience here.

Please BACKUP YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM in case something goes wrong.
But i am sure it will work ,if your first four partitions i.e. [system-MSR-windows-winre] are together and last partition is BIOS_RVY.

I hope this will help you. If you find it helpful. Please share it with others in need. Sharing is caring.
Hello,

I came to your post since I am having a problem with the F3 on my MSI. I do need some advise on how to move the partitions. Disk Management shows them empty, but the Minitool shows content on the WinRE partition. Based on what I have been checking, it looks like my 23.25GB partition should be the BIOS_RVY but it is indeed empty. My 900MB partition is the WinRE Tools. They are not in order at all. I need advise on how to place them in order, and how to populate my BIOS_RVY again please. Here are screenshots of Disk Management and MiniTool.
1747342091213.png


1747342132616.png

Thanks!!!
Ruben.
 
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