winre.wim file missing - need help restoring

[hikerguy]

Hello, I'm currently fighting a problem related to Windows Update and the update named 0x80070643. While doing research on this problem, I discovered that winre is not only disabled, but the winre.wim file is missing.

Is there a straight-forward way to to rebuild/restore this file? I do not have the Windows ISO file (I was running Win10 for years and upgraded to Win10 Pro about a year ago through an online process). And, the only other computer I have access to is running just Windows 10. Here's output from a few commands showing that file is missing:

C:\Windows\system32>reagentc /info

Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration

Information:


Windows RE status: Disabled

Windows RE location:

Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 27db7897-6d09-11ed-9a93-fd234867ac9e

Recovery image location:

Recovery image index: 0

Custom image location:

Custom image index: 0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

C:\Windows\system32>reagentc /enable

REAGENTC.EXE: The Windows RE image was not found.

 

[ChatGPT]

Hello,

The issue you're encountering is often due to corruption or missing key files in your Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). The 'winre.wim' file is an essential part of this, so it's no surprise that you're running into trouble when it's missing. Don't worry, you can still recreate the 'winre.wim' file even if you don't have the Windows ISO file.

Here's a workaround on how you can do it:

1. **Creating a Windows 10 bootable USB:**

You would need another PC to create a bootable USB. Since you mentioned that you have access to another Windows 10 computer, you can utilize that. Download the 'Media Creation Tool' from the official Microsoft website. You’ll need a USB flash drive with at least 8GB of free space.

2. **Copying 'winre.wim':**

Using the other Windows 10 computer:

a. Plug the USB drive into the Windows 10 computer.

b. Boot your computer using the bootable USB.

c. Enter your language preferences and then click Next.

d. Click on “Repair your computer” and move to Troubleshoot > Advanced options. Here, select Command Prompt.

e. In Command Prompt, type the following commands:
```
X:
dir
```
This will allow you to locate the drive your USB is on. The drive letter changes in the Windows Preinstallation Environment. Repeat the above steps replacing "X" with another letter if your USB isn't found.

f. When located, switch to the drive that your USB is on and type the following commands:
```
cd sources
copy boot.wim X:\ (replace "X" with a drive letter of your choice)
```
This will copy the 'boot.wim' file to your chosen location. In most cases this will be the 'C' drive of your original computer.

g. After file is copied successfully, type:
```
exit
```
This will close the command prompt.

h. Now click on Turn off your PC.

3. **Renaming 'boot.wim' to 'winre.wim':**

After you've successfully copied the 'boot.wim' file to your original computer, you can now turn on that computer. Once it's up, navigate to the drive where you previously copied the 'boot.wim' file. Rename it to 'winre.wim'.

In most cases, you won't see the '.wim' extension. It will be visible if the option to 'Hide extensions for known file types' is unticked under visible items in your folder options.

4. **Enabling WinRE once again:**

a. Now, boot your PC back into Windows 10.

b. Open a command prompt with administrative privileges.

c. Type the command:
```
reagentc /setreimage /path X:\Sources\Recovery\WindowsRE
```
(replace "X" with the drive you copied file to)

d. Lastly, type:
```
reagentc /enable
```
You should now see the message "REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful".

Try this process and see if you can create a new 'winre.wim' file. That should hopefully sort out the issue and you'll be able to use your Windows Recovery Environment once again.

Note: It can get complex and if you're not comfortable with the process, consider seeking help from a professional to avoid unforeseen complications.

 

[hikerguy]

Unfortunately, the other PC is not Win10 Pro. It's just Win10. So, any other workaround? This probably occurred as I was trying to extend the WinRE partition to fix a problem I'm having with running Windows Update right now.

 

[hikerguy]

FINALLY go Windows Update to run successfully. Here's what I ended up doing:


https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

Click "Download now" under the section titled "Creae Windows 10 installation media".

Scan the downloaded file with your antivirus program (I use Malwarebytes). If clean, click on it to run it.

The first thing that appears is a windows with the heading "Applicable notices and license terms". Click Accept.

Click the radio button titled "Create installation media".

This will download the ISO file (named windows.iso).

To make things easy, create a folder on your Desktop named WindowsISO.

Using 7Zip, extract all the folders/files to the folder you just created (in this example, the folder named "WindowsISO").

Use the process detailed at the link below to convert the install.esd file to install.wim:

How to Extract Install.ESD to Install.WIM (Windows 10/8) - WinTips.org

When I used the following command (from the URL above), I was initially getting an error 87 (after having replaced the IndexNumber with the IndexNumber of my OS. This will make sense when you read the info from the link above). After getting that error message a couple of times, I tried using the command from that link WITHOUT first replacing the IndexNumber variable. I pasted that into the cmd/DOS window, the used my arrow key to go back, erse the word "IndexNumber" and entered my indexnumber. THEN it worked:

dism /export-image /SourceImageFile:install.esd /SourceIndex:IndexNumber /DestinationImageFile:install.wim /Compress:max /CheckIntegrity

I then ran install.wim from the DOS window, went to the path:

C:\install.wim\Windows\System32\Recovery\

I then copied the winre.wim file from there and pasted it into the same directory on my PC. After doing that, I was able to successfully run Windows Update again (but this was after previously extending the WinRE partition using a program I already had named MiniTool Partition Wizard. Very good program for cloning and extending partitions by the way.

- - - Updated - - -

Go to:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

Click "Download now" under the section titled "Creae Windows 10 installation media".

Scan the downloaded file with your antivirus program (I use Malwarebytes). If clean, click on it to run it.

The first thing that appears is a windows with the heading "Applicable notices and license terms". Click Accept.

Click the radio button titled "Create installation media".

This will download the ISO file (named windows.iso).

To make things easy, create a folder on your Desktop named WindowsISO.

Using 7Zip, extract all the folders/files to the folder you just created (in this example, the folder named "WindowsISO").

Use the process detailed at the link below to convert the install.esd file to install.wim:

How to Extract Install.ESD to Install.WIM (Windows 10/8) - WinTips.org

When I used the following command (from the URL above), I was initially getting an error 87 (after having replaced the IndexNumber with the IndexNumber of my OS. This will make sense when you read the info from the link above). After getting that error message a couple of times, I tried using the command from that link WITHOUT first replacing the IndexNumber variable. I pasted that into the cmd/DOS window, the used my arrow key to go back, erse the word "IndexNumber" and entered my indexnumber. THEN it worked:

dism /export-image /SourceImageFile:install.esd /SourceIndex:IndexNumber /DestinationImageFile:install.wim /Compress:max /CheckIntegrity

I then ran install.wim from the DOS window, went to the path:

C:\install.wim\Windows\System32\Recovery\

I then copied the winre.wim file from there and pasted it into the same directory on my PC. After doing that, I was able to successfully run Windows Update again (but this was after previously extending the WinRE partition using a program I already had named MiniTool Partition Wizard. Very good program for cloning and extending partitions by the way.


You can see if Windows RE is enabled by running the following command:

reagentc /info

If it shows Disabled, run this command:

reagentc /enable