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

Bsl K said:
From windows iso, mount iso and head over to this location.
sources\install.wim
use 7.zip to open install.wim and go to \1\Windows\System32\Recovery\
Here you will find it.
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I got the files, where do I place them? In C:/ or the same location as the ISO?
 
Screenshot 2022-05-11 155008.png

Put it in System32/Recovery and I have some good news! Let's try the MSI recovery again.
 
chupimskulib152202d3 said:
Removed BitLocker, booted from F3 MSI USB Files, and still no luck. Same two errors saying drive layout is incorrect...
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chupimskulib152202d3 said:
View attachment 159686
Put it in System32/Recovery and I have some good news! Let's try the MSI recovery again.
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First congratulations, 2nd don't do MSI recovery yet, you just managed to pull off the F3 Win PE recovery, meaning you can now access recovery menu when you press f3 at boot.
You have to move this to 600MB recovery partition that is your 4th partition. This is because during MSI recovery C drives gets formatted which will make you loose your F3 recovery.
Another thing you don't have recovery files. So, recovery won't work. You don't have files to recover from. So, only thing you can do is that you can make recovery files of current system using the tutorial and use it for future..
 
Bsl K said:
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.
Click to expand...
MINOR UPGRADE TO THE POST,
This the F3 upgrade zip by MSI to update the F3 MSI FACTORY RESET to make it work on win 11 if your preinstalled OS was win 10. This will work on both win 10 and win 11.
FILE
PDF
 
Is there a way for someone to walk me through this I bought the 35$ usb thinking it would solve all my problems because im not very tech savvy but I still get this error
IMG_3620(1).jpg
 
Yeah the msi recovery one for my laptop they actually gave me an extra one because I kept getting the error and thought the usb was the problem
 
mmrangel4159d02df said:
Yeah the msi recovery one for my laptop they actually gave me an extra one because I kept getting the error and thought the usb was the problem
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Since you already have paid for the recovery usb, you better contact MSI.
This problem is because your probably downgrading from win 11 to win 10, i faced the same issues once and later i used the latest msi f3 recovery provided by MSI on their website. It worked because i had my recovery partition intact.
But again, you already have invested in buying the recovery from MSI, its better to contact them. They will guide you better..
 
My recovery partition isn't intact that probably the reason if not I'll probably have someone look into it thanks for the advice man appreciate it
 
can someone help me?
I still have F3 recovery option, intact bios rvy and all that win re partition
but when I choose MSI Recovery, it just format my C drive and do nothing
now I can't boot into windows (obviously), and just went straight to recovery
is it something that I can fix? I can't use reagentc command anymore (from recovery cmd)
 
synxza156b02de said:
can someone help me?
I still have F3 recovery option, intact bios rvy and all that win re partition
but when I choose MSI Recovery, it just format my C drive and do nothing
now I can't boot into windows (obviously), and just went straight to recovery
is it something that I can fix? I can't use reagentc command anymore (from recovery cmd)
Click to expand...
Try thisMsi f3 upgrade
 
I think Im almost set to go just cant find how to change the partitions can someone help so I can put partition 4 as the windows RE location.

Screenshot (52).png
 
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Thanks to this post, I made sure to backup the BIOS_RVY files on my MSI laptops. I made a Macrium Reflect backup image of the partition, and also gave the partition a drive letter and manually copied the files over to a backup drive. The thing is, the files are 16GB in size so take a long time to make a backup image, and takes up 16GB of drive space.
 
detakuro said:
Thanks to this post, I made sure to backup the BIOS_RVY files on my MSI laptops. I made a Macrium Reflect backup image of the partition, and also gave the partition a drive letter and manually copied the files over to a backup drive. The thing is, the files are 16GB in size so take a long time to make a backup image, and takes up 16GB of drive space.
Click to expand...
I don't see any mention of Macrium Reflect in the tutorial. It was never meant to use Macrium. May be i didn't get your gist what exactly you wanted to do. so could you explain more..
 
Hi All, I had the same problem with MSI CREATOR Z16, after update it to Win11, I tried to recover it to factory defaults, more over, I do a 3passes wipe data (secure delete) of main partition, and deleted Windows partition. All of these, did that I had "lost" my recovery partition, after a lot of searches, and thanks (in part of this post) I found a solution, here I post my solution:

Quick Summary:

1. I tried "http://download.msi.com/uti_exe/nb/F3_Recovery_USB.zip" (https://storage-asset.msi.com/global/picture/faq/10018812@2021-1014-1144-033323@kb_05211_en.pdf) but I cannot recover my RecoveryPartition due to the program said me:

1) Please make sure the disk partition’s layout is factory default setting
2) please make sure current OS HDD is in the master HDD place”

Then my problem was that I had not partitions properly.

2. Understand GPT Partitions: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...rue&view=windows-10#-createpartitions-uefitxt

F3_Recovery_USB necesito que todas las particiones sean exactamente del mismo tamaño y posiciones que cuando compré mi laptop, después de investigar mucho, encontré los tamaños y posiciones correctos.
1. Partition 1: EFI (300MB)
2. Partition 2: MSR (128MB)
3. Partition 3: Windows
4. Partition 4: Recovery (MSI)

3. The easy way to recreate correctly these partitions, is using DISKPART, and here I give you all commands, but before to do this, you have to DELETE all partitions that you have before MSI recovery partition (this will delete ALL YOUR DATA). And once you have this done, I used a Windows Media Tool (used to install a clean Windows10) and once I have to create all partitions, we can presh "SHIFT+F10", and we will an MSDOS window, when we could create all partitions.

(all sizes explained here, are for MSI Creator Z16, I don't know if in other laptops the Sizes are the same or not)

c:\diskpart
select disk 0
create partition efi size=300
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
assign letter="S"
create partition msr size=128
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="W"
exit
exit

4. Once created all partitions, we have to continue Installing the CLEAN WINDOWS 10.

5. Once Windows 10 has installed, we will use again "F3_Recovery_USB" and now it will works!!

6. Restart laptop and your recovery we will start!

7. Enjoy your Recoverted OS with ALL drivers and applications ;)
 
I did all of the following, but when I go to the F3 USB, it said "please make sure your disk partition layout is factory default setting", I had WINRE enabled and the layout is correct
 
nguyenhoangthienquan030152e02ce said:
I did all of the following, but when I go to the F3 USB, it said "please make sure your disk partition layout is factory default setting", I had WINRE enabled and the layout is correct
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nguyenhoangthienquan030152e02ce said:
I did all of the following, but when I go to the F3 USB, it said "please make sure your disk partition layout is factory default setting", I had WINRE enabled and the layout is correct
Click to expand...
Show me your partition layout.
both from cmd and disk management.
 
Good job bro , now i can use msi recovery options after i lost it from al long time my device msi ge76 10ug
Processes successfully
 
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