Both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 offer a new tool for creating recovery drives on all kinds of devices, from USB flash drives, to external hard disks to partitions on your computer's internal hard disk. This is a big step forward from the manual and error prone procedure you had to go through in Windows 7. In this tutorial I will show how to use the new Recovery Media Creator to create a recovery drive on a USB memory stick.
How to Start the Recovery Media Creator in Windows 8 & Windows 8.1
Before you start, plug in the USB memory stick or the external hard drive on which you want to create a recovery drive. After Windows detects it correctly, go to the Start screen and type recovery.
In Windows 8, filter by Settings and click or tap the "Create a recovery drive" search result.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
In Windows 8.1 there is no need to filter the results. Type recovery and click or tap the "Create a recovery drive" search result.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
A UAC (User Account Control) prompt is shown, asking whether you allow the Recovery Media Creator to make changes to your computer.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
Click or tap Yes and the Recovery Media Creator is started.
How to Use the Recovery Media Creator to Create a Recovery Drive
First, you are shown information about the Recovery Media Creator and what it does. Also, there's an option that says "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive".
If you have a computer that was sold with Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 preinstalled, it may have a special recovery partition, with custom recovery tools created by its manufacturer. If that is the case for your PC, you will be able to check this option and have that partition copied to the recovery drive you are about to create. If you don't want to copy this partition and you want to create a drive only with the recovery tools available for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, do not check this option.
Then, click or tap Next.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
You are asked to select the USB flash drive where you want to store the recovery tools. It must have at least 256MB in size. Be careful - all the data existing on it will be wiped out!
Select the drive you want to use and click or tap Next.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
You are warned that everything on the selected drive will be deleted. This is your last opportunity to back up the data found on it. When ready to go ahead, click or tap Create.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
The selected drive is formatted and all the system recovery utilities are copied on it. The process will take a minute or two, depending on the drive you selected.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
When the recovery drive is created, you are informed. Click or tap Finish.
System Recovery, USB Memory Stick, Flash Drive, Recovery Media Creator, Windows 8, Windows 8.1
Recovery Media Creator is closed and you can use the USB flash drive to repair malfunctioning Windows installations on your computer or other computers.
Conclusion
As you can see from this tutorial, the Recovery Media Creator is a great tool, that's fast and easy to use. My only complaint is that it is hidden in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Unless you know of its existence and you search for it, there is not visible shortcut in the All Apps list, nor in the Control Panel.
The article is grossly incomplete in the sense that with a non booting Windows OS there is no explanation where to find that utility/tool in order to create the recovery drive using another computer and then attempt to recover the corrupt installation.
Binh Nguyen ·
You safe my dạy I was not able to boot Win 8.1 in the safe mode since I had only the blue screen and the start button on the lower side of my screen. I followed your instruction and my computer is now good to go again.
Kerry ·
I cannot make a recovery drive in 8.1 (upgraded from 8.0). It says one has already been created and does not allow a second. Trouble is, I never created one. Any thoughts? I’ve tried everything I can think of. Also have never gotten the Win 10 upgrade. It keeps saying “Validating Win 10 for your computer.” Weird….hubby’s is a Win 7 and his update is there.
mentsh ·
“Create a recovery drive” IS accessible through Control Panel. It’s on the Recovery window:
Control Panel > Large icons view > Recovery > Create a recovery drive.
ZuZu_Beans ·
yup exactly, i have 8.1 single lang with Bing i could not find via search instead get to control panel and > Recovery>Advanced Recovery Tools, in there is create a recovery drive and you need minimum 8 GB flash drive to start recovering
sage ·
cool
Bruce ·
I am having trouble with my home laptop, running 8.1, not booting. I have not previously created a recovery disk for that machine. Can I create a recovery disk on another machine that will work on my home laptop? I’m running Windows 7 on my work desktop. I guess that won’t help.
Any thoughts?
Todd ·
I had forgotten the user account password also had tried the reboot option using USB drive, still my notebook won’t read my USB drive. How may i refix it. In advance i would like to thanks for the instruction. I am using windows 8.1.
Adrian ·
I’ve lost access to admin rights in windows 8.1. As a result I can’t find a way to enter safe mode. This was my latest hope until I clicked on “Create a recovery drive” which brought up the dreaded UAC message “To continue, type an administrator password, then click Yes” – the problem is that there isn’t a field available to type in the password.
Bazo ·
I need to backup windows 8 and all my software, like I could in windows 7, but how do I do that so that I can reformat my hard drive and re-install all my software. The only Windows 8 option is to back up windows 7 (I installed win8 from an upgrade from win 7)
Thanks
Discussion (11)
The article is grossly incomplete in the sense that with a non booting Windows OS there is no explanation where to find that utility/tool in order to create the recovery drive using another computer and then attempt to recover the corrupt installation.
You safe my dạy I was not able to boot Win 8.1 in the safe mode since I had only the blue screen and the start button on the lower side of my screen. I followed your instruction and my computer is now good to go again.
I cannot make a recovery drive in 8.1 (upgraded from 8.0). It says one has already been created and does not allow a second. Trouble is, I never created one. Any thoughts? I’ve tried everything I can think of. Also have never gotten the Win 10 upgrade. It keeps saying “Validating Win 10 for your computer.” Weird….hubby’s is a Win 7 and his update is there.
“Create a recovery drive” IS accessible through Control Panel. It’s on the Recovery window:
Control Panel > Large icons view > Recovery > Create a recovery drive.
yup exactly, i have 8.1 single lang with Bing i could not find via search instead get to control panel and > Recovery>Advanced Recovery Tools, in there is create a recovery drive and you need minimum 8 GB flash drive to start recovering
cool
I am having trouble with my home laptop, running 8.1, not booting. I have not previously created a recovery disk for that machine. Can I create a recovery disk on another machine that will work on my home laptop? I’m running Windows 7 on my work desktop. I guess that won’t help.
Any thoughts?
I had forgotten the user account password also had tried the reboot option using USB drive, still my notebook won’t read my USB drive. How may i refix it. In advance i would like to thanks for the instruction. I am using windows 8.1.
I’ve lost access to admin rights in windows 8.1. As a result I can’t find a way to enter safe mode. This was my latest hope until I clicked on “Create a recovery drive” which brought up the dreaded UAC message “To continue, type an administrator password, then click Yes” – the problem is that there isn’t a field available to type in the password.
I need to backup windows 8 and all my software, like I could in windows 7, but how do I do that so that I can reformat my hard drive and re-install all my software. The only Windows 8 option is to back up windows 7 (I installed win8 from an upgrade from win 7)
Thanks
In Windows 8, search for “Windows 7 Backup” and then read this tutorial to learn how to use the backup tool: https://www.digitalcitizen.life/windows-backup-how-it-works-and-how-create-system-image
This tool works the same as in Windows 7.