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

[Bsl K]

Disk Management shows them empty

Diskmanagement stopped showing the real value of recovery partitions after windows 10.

BIOS_RVY but it is indeed empty.

How did you end up with this partitions? seems like you dont have original partitions.

how to populate my BIOS_RVY again

You can try recovery software like recuva to check if the deleted recovery image is still on you drive. if not then you cannot do that. you have to follow the tutoial and create your own backup, if you want to.

 

[AmericanPsycho]

Sorry to start this trend again, but I'm having issues. I wanted to do a factory reset on my MSI GF63 Thin 10SC and I've had nothing but issues. About a year ago I was able to do the F3_UPGRADE_USB method outline in this youtube video:

, upon completion of the video I was able to restore my computer. Windows 10 installed and all factory setting, I created a brand new backup and locked it away for a later day.

That takes us to today. I went the destructive route thinking I could just plug in my USB backup that I created after the 1st restore and get it to work. Once the USB Backup is entered I get the options (1: System Partition Recovery) and (2: Hard Disk Recovery), if I chose option 1 I get the screen that starts the timer with Windows 10 at the bottom. 42 seconds in I get an error dvdrecovery2 " The recovery procedure has not been successfully finished. If you wish to recover it again, please re-boot from USB flash Disk later." If I select option 2, I'm taken to a screen that has my HDD, I chose my DISK0: 500gb M.2 (Restore both Windows OS and recovery partitions to). It then goes to the clock screen with Operation system: windows 10 displayed at the bottom. At 43 seconds I get the error "The recovery procedure has not been successfully finished. If you wish to recover it again, please re-boot from USB flash Disk later."

If I use the F3_UPGRADE_USB I get the options (1: System Partition Recovery, 2: Exit). The recovery fails with the error Recovery2 "The recovery procedure from RecoveryDVD has not been successfully finished..."

If I use the F3_RECOVERY_USB I get the options (1: System Partition Recovery, 2: Exit). The recovery fails with the error Recovery2 "The recovery procedure from RecoveryDVD has not been successfully finished..."

There is no operation system, without the USB's I get sent to Bios, I was using a 16gb USB and I tried a 32gb stick as well. As far as I can tell there is no way to get into windows.

I'm on Bios 16R5EMS1.102, Build Date: 08/30/2021

 

[AmericanPsycho]

Should I install a clean copy of Windows 11 or 10? The laptop came with Windos 10.

 

[Bsl K]

if I chose option 1 I get the screen that starts the timer with Windows 10 at the bottom

it happens if you try on windows 11, i guess your last os was win 11 but your recovery was win 10. and your bitlocker is on.

 

[Bsl K]

If I select option 2, I'm taken to a screen that has my HDD,

This should not have happened. for this i have to look at the files on your usb, show me the screenshot of the files inside recovery_dvd. make sure there are files life ufdr, disknum, crepart_gpt and the install files aswell.

 

[AmericanPsycho]

This should not have happened. for this i have to look at the files on your usb, show me the screenshot of the files inside recovery_dvd. make sure there are files life ufdr, disknum, crepart_gpt and the install files aswell.

I'll send a screenshot shot of everything when I get home. I was able to do things the long way, but after I set up the 300mb, windows, 600mb WinRe, and 20gb Recovey, I was still unable to enter f11 mode. I did get windows installed pre your guide.

Yes windows 11 was my current operating system, but I did create the USB back up with the box factory settings which happens to be windows 10.

 

[AmericanPsycho]

This should not have happened. for this i have to look at the files on your usb, show me the screenshot of the files inside recovery_dvd. make sure there are files life ufdr, disknum, crepart_gpt and the install files aswell.

Here's the info you were asking about, I also included what I see in CMD and Dick management.

As far as I can tell I don't even have Bitlocker installed on my computer.

 

[Bsl K]

Here's the info you were asking about, I also included what I see in CMD and Dick management.

As far as I can tell I don't even have Bitlocker installed on my computer.

Did you manually create the partitions? Your MSR partition is missing i.e. 2nd partition. By default, windows will create 16MB msr partition, MSI requires 128 MB MSR partition.

Your USB seems ok. It should work. Was this usb crated by MSI backup or did you manually create it?

 

[AmericanPsycho]

Did you manually create the partitions? Your MSR partition is missing i.e. 2nd partition. By default, windows will create 16MB msr partition, MSI requires 128 MB MSR partition.

Your USB seems ok. It should work. Was this usb crated by MSI backup or did you manually create it?

Yes, I manually created the partitions, I believe there was another one that I may have gotten rid of because it was different from what you had posted.

So if I recreate the partitions and it creates the 16mb partition should I just increase that to 128mb?

As for the USB, I'm was running windows 11 Home and as far as I can tell I couldn't find anything that had BitLocker. So if there is, I have no idea how to unlock it. As for the USB, should I try rebooting with the USB in and try to reinstall windows 10?

 

[Bsl K]

Yes, I manually created the partitions, I believe there was another one that I may have gotten rid of because it was different from what you had posted.

So if I recreate the partitions and it creates the 16mb partition should I just increase that to 128mb?

As for the USB, I'm was running windows 11 Home and as far as I can tell I couldn't find anything that had BitLocker. So if there is, I have no idea how to unlock it. As for the USB, should I try rebooting with the USB in and try to reinstall windows 10?

What exactly are you trying to get? Do you want factory version of windows or f3 recovery option or what?
If you want factory version, try using that recovery usb again, it should work with 2nd option ie hardisk recovery one.
If you are trying to get f3 recovery then follow tutorial and create your own win 11 recovery backup. Go though comments section as well, you might find your answer through cooments too.

But the process depends on what exactly do you want to achieve.

 

[AmericanPsycho]

I would like to go back to factory recovery, get the partitions that come stock with the computer, uninstall all the junk not needed then update to Windows 11 and then make a backup of a windows 11 with all updated drivers and software.

 

[AmericanPsycho]

When trying to run the USB recovery here's the screen shot I get.


My son happens to have the same laptop make and model, would it be possible le to make a backup of his? I believe he's on windows 11 as well.

The only thing I can think of is the USB recovery has some sort of issue.


The 2nd screen shot is after I did the F3 recovery and F3 upgrade. Computer won't boot, so I put in windows 11 USB to install windows.

 

[AmericanPsycho]

Hell at this point, I would be happy with the MSI partition structures and just install windows 11/drivers and go from there.

 

[Bsl K]

I would like to go back to factory recovery, get the partitions that come stock with the computer, uninstall all the junk not needed then update to Windows 11 and then make a backup of a windows 11 with all updated drivers and software.

How are you thinking of making the backup of windows 11? if you are thinking of using windows recovery backup then ok, but if you are thinking of using MSI backup, then it won't backup windows 11, but the windows 10 image that gets saved on last hidden recovery partition during usb recovery.

 

[Bsl K]

My son happens to have the same laptop make and model, would it be possible le to make a backup of his? I believe he's on windows 11 as well.

yeah sure, but if you use MSI backup, it will be of windows 10.

 

[Bsl K]

Hell at this point, I would be happy with the MSI partition structures and just install windows 11/drivers and go from there.

Yeah, you could do that. As it seems you don't want f3 recovery, just basic backup of your windows 11. Then that will a simple way to achieve it.

 

[AmericanPsycho]

Yeah, you could do that. As it seems you don't want f3 recovery, just basic backup of your windows 11. Then that will a simple way to achieve it.

So do I need the MSI structure? Or can I just do the 300mb, C drive, WinRE, Recovery? Instead of using MSI dragon center to do the backup, would i need to use windows 11? That way I have a fresh windows 11 install with drivers?

As for Winre, I tried fixing the drive with all the files but I don't think I did it right. Online is very vague and I feel like I was missing some files.

 

[Bsl K]

So do I need the MSI structure? Or can I just do the 300mb, C drive, WinRE, Recovery? Instead of using MSI dragon center to do the backup, would i need to use windows 11? That way I have a fresh windows 11 install with drivers?

As for Winre, I tried fixing the drive with all the files but I don't think I did it right. Online is very vague and I feel like I was missing some files.

Look, as far I have understood your requirements, you are not looking or MSI f3 recovery. just want to back up your pc for bad times, right? So, this thread is not for you. This threat is only if you are looking for MSI f3 factory recovery.

So best thing for you to do is just clean install windows 11. Don't worry about the size of partitions, let windows create default partitions since you don't want MSI recovery, you don't have to worry about partitions style and size. Clean install will probably create 100MB system, 16MB MSR , c drive and last 600MB or so for winre.

After install, let windows update the drivers itself, it will install most of the common drivers for you. Install the remaining drivers from your MSI model website or use MSI center to install remaining drivers. And then backup your pc using windows 11 recovery tool.

 

[synxza156b02de]

so my problem is something like user AmericanPsycho above
I'm missing the MSR partition
so the sequence is system-windows-Winre tools-BIOS_RVY
and the winre tools partition already get formatted by msi recovery tools, good thing that I have backup from another MSI laptop for that winre partition
so I recovered that winre partition, and using windows installation media to delete windows partition and create MSR partition (which is 128MB)
and the partition sequence is good right now (system-MSR-windows-Winre tools-BIOS_RVY)
so I boot from MSI F3_Recovery_USB and it's successfully recovered the system
but it's not stop there, after I recovered the system, I can't boot to windows
it gives me 0xc0000034 error
I still don't understand what went wrong, I don't delete system partition, just Windows partition to create MSR partition

edit: the original recovery image is Windows 10 and current OS is Windows 11 24H2

 

[Adrian the Saxon]

it gives me 0xc0000034 error

You can try this:
Boot from a Windows installation USB and open Command Prompt (Shift + F10 at setup screen):

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

If this fails come back.