REAGENTC.EXE: Unable to update Boot Configuration Data.

Question

I am unable to enable WindowsRE?

Answer 1

(1) You've got two System partitions each with its own BCD. C partition is doubling as a System partition, & EFI is a System partition...

That is likely what is confusing ReagentC. It needs to find the BCD in order to enable the Recovery partition. We need to tell Windows that EFI is to be used -- not C. Let's try this...

DiskPart<<<Enter DiskPart

List  Vol<<<List the volumes & letters

Select  Vol  7           <<<Select EFI -- I guess it's still Volume 7

Assign  Letter=S     <<<Give it letter S -- unless List Vol shows it's already there

Exit<<<Exit Diskpart

BCDBoot  C:\Windows  /s  S:  /f  UEFI <<< **** Rebuild the BCD in EFI & all other boot files.

A reboot will be necessary to inform the rest of Windows of the change.

(a) I'm unsure that actually tells Windows to use EFI.

(b) I'm unsure whether that will also remove the System attribute from C.

(c) I'm unsure exactly what would remove it.

(d) So, maybe try this before the reboot...

REN C:\EFI EFI_unwanted <<<Rename the folder

..........................................................................

Then -- if it turns out it can't reboot -- you'll have to rename it back in the recovery environment, thus...

(a) At the Choose an Option screen, click "Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt".

(b) Enter the following commands...

DiskPart

List Vol

Exit

The Windows partition may have a different letter here. Use it instead of C in the following command...

REN C:\EFI_unwanted EFI <<<Rename it back

......................................................................

(2) After the reboot (presuming it did)...

Does BCDEdit /Enum {fwbootmgr} now show {bootmgr} on top?

Does BCDEdit /Enum {Bootmgr} name either HarddiskVolume9 or S: as the Device?

If so, try again...

ReagentC /Disable <<<Moves WinRE.wim to staging area

ReagentC /Enable <<<Moves it to the Recovery partition

ReagentC /Info <<<Show whether it is enabled

If it isn't enabled, let's see C:\Windows\Logs\ReAgent\Reagent.log. Just copy/paste the output of those three commands from the bottom of the log.

(3) A volume is a partition that has a file system on it. The Volume numbers enumerated by DiskPart are not the same as the HarddiskVolume numbers enumerated in the BCD. The BCD counts all partitions (with or without a file system) starting from Disk 0. Disk Management won't show them all. DiskPart will show them, this way...

DiskPart <<<Enter DiskPart

List Disk <<<List your 8 disks

Select Disk 0 <<<Focus on Disk 0

List Part <<<List its partitions

Select Disk 1

List Part

=== Continue with Disks 2 through 7 ===

Exit <<<Leave DiskPart

Looking at your prior listings, I now think the 8th partition down will be C. And EFI will be partition 9. Disks 0-5 will have 1 partition each, then Disk 6 shows...

So -- HarddiskVolume8 is the Windows partition. (EFI is HarddiskVolume9). Yep, the BCD that is on C (shown with /Store) shows the letter...

The one that is on EFI (S:) shows...

We want the one on EFI (S:) to be the only one. Windows gets confused when there is more than one System partition.

Answer 2

Vol 8 is a recovery partition from what this says

Answer 3

It appears to me you have run the commands necessary to repair the situation. If the Winre.wim file was present and usable, it should have been seen and the path for the image set. If they did not succeed, why is now the question.

We know you are using an install that has been converted from Legacy to UEFI. Do we know how long your Recovery tools have been broken?

This is a site containing many of the commands you have already seen.

Deploy Windows RE | Microsoft Learn

I am going to suggest, for testing purposes, you disconnect all non-essential drives you show, especially the Dynamic drive. and any external.

---

The following is just for demonstration purposes.

C:\Windows\System32>reagentc /info

Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration

Information:

Windows RE status:         Enabled 

Windows RE location:       \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk1\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE 

Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: **a2261769-baf4-11ed-b39f-861e8bfa3876** 

Recovery image location: 

Recovery image index:      0 

Custom image location: 

Custom image index:        0 

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

C:\Windows\System32>bcdedit /enum osloader

Windows Boot Loader

---

identifier {current}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winload.efi

description Windows 11

locale en-US

inherit {bootloadersettings}

recoverysequence {a2261769-baf4-11ed-b39f-861e8bfa3876}

displaymessageoverride Recovery

recoveryenabled Yes

isolatedcontext Yes

allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075

osdevice partition=C:

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {a2261767-baf4-11ed-b39f-861e8bfa3876}

nx OptIn

bootmenupolicy Standard

Windows Boot Loader

---

identifier {a2261769-baf4-11ed-b39f-861e8bfa3876}

device ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume4]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{a226176a-baf4-11ed-b39f-861e8bfa3876}

path \windows\system32\winload.efi

description Windows Recovery Environment

locale en-us

inherit {bootloadersettings}

displaymessage Recovery

osdevice ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume4]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{a226176a-baf4-11ed-b39f-861e8bfa3876}

systemroot \windows

nx OptIn

bootmenupolicy Standard

winpe Yes

Answer 4

That's really strange, Lumince. I wonder why BCD couldn't be located by the OS.

Is it possible to disable all other disks (in UEFI settings) except the one where the OS partition resides, and try to enable WinRE?

Pls try the above and lets know how it goes. The HDD model numbers are in the reagent setupact.log, by the way. Error 0×1 could be caused by that dynamic drive. I'm travelling since y'day and shall be back in town tmw. Sorry for the delay. PCR came in per my request, so thanks to him.

Answer 5

I'll try my best, Ramesh. Thanks for the confidence in me. I think we've got to get rid of that System attribute that is on C. And the BCD that is there must go too. Definitely, have a safe trip.