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

Awesome work by PCR. 👍 Appreciate your keen eye for detail yet again.

@Lumince: WinRE is now located in the C: drive (which should also work fine) due to an alternate method/commands we used.

If you'd like to move WinRE to its own ("Recovery") partition, please let's know.

Answer 3

You are welcome, Lumince. And I thank Ramesh for his kind words. Things are clearly better than before. But this isn't a perfect outcome. It looks to me the Windows (C:) partition is now tripling as the System, Windows, & Recovery partitions!

(1) As Ramesh spotted, WinRE.wim is at **C:**Recovery\WindowsRE. That's OK, but it would better to be on the Recovery partition. Let's examine the logs to see why it didn't go there...

(a) Paste "C:\Windows\Logs\ReAgent\Reagent.log" into Search, then hit Enter.

(b) Copy out the bottom 3 command results & paste it here.

 That should be the latest /Disable, /Enable & /Info.

(2) At least now the system is not confusing your two BCDs. But I think it is the one that is at **C:**EFI\Microsoft\Boot that is in effect. Someday there might again arise a confusion with the one that is on EFI. Let's count your partitions 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 to Select & List Disks 2 through 7 ===

Exit <<<Leave DiskPart

Unless one of the disks 0-5 has no partitions, I think Disk 6 will enumerate like this...

If so, then HarddiskVolume8 in your BCD is referring to the Windows partition, & the BCD being used is the one that is on C. We will need to try again to get the system to use the EFI partition instead. EFI would be HarddiskVolume9 going by that count.

Let us see the BCD that is on the EFI partition...

DiskPart <<<Enter DiskPart

List Vol <<<Show the volume numbers & letters

Select Vol 7 <<<Focus on EFI (FAT32) -- IF it's still volume 7

Assign Letter=S <<<Give it letter S -- unless it's already there still

Exit <<<Leave DiskPart

BCDEdit /Store S:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD /Enum All

Answer 4

Hi PCR,

Regarding #1, WinRE now in the C: drive because of the "reagentc /setreimage" command I suggested earlier (REF: page 3 of this thread) for testing purposes. Thought we could move it back to Recovery once the other things are sorted.

Answer 5

This can get very confusing, which is why I recommended dumping the extra drives.

Disk Management or Diskpart, does not always agree with the listing in msinfo32.exe.

You might check the listings in msinfo32 - Components - Storage - Disks

The attachment is confusing, but it does illustrate the possible situation. There are PowerShell scripts available to show actual HardDiskVolume numbers.