By JasonUK - 7 September 2023 10:49 AM
On latest version of Macrium Home (v8.1.7638) I'm getting following error when trying to boot using USB Windows RE rescue media:
The PC is latest build of Windows 10. USB PE rescue media & PE Boot Menu option both work fine. RE rescue media on previous versions of Macrium booted without an issue so puzzled why this is now showing. SFC & DISM commands dont find any system file corruption.
Any suggestions welcome.
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By JoeA - 7 September 2023 10:58 AM
Hi @JasonUK,
We are aware of this issue and are looking into it. Can you please boot back into Windows and rebuild the rescue media as WinPE 10/11
https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW80/Change+PE+Version
Once rebuilt can you please try and boot back into the rescue media.
EDIT: Marking this response as the answer while we look further into this in the event someone is looking for a resolution.
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By JasonUK - 7 September 2023 11:06 AM
Thanks for prompt response. PE rescue build works fine.
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By DanDanz - 7 September 2023 2:22 PM
@JasonUK I'm seeing the same thing and have ticket #246201 open with support. Same conditions, I think. Let us know if there's anything different for you.
Rescue Media Builder for WRBM (boot menu) for the versions that failed with 8.1.7638 previously worked with 8.1.7544, and all show Windows 10 RE version 2004 (64-bit) while the OS is Windows 10 Pro 22H2 build 19045.3324,
I suspected that Windows Update might have done something to the Recovery Partition for the recent spate of very complicated Security fixes, so I repeated the testing with Secure Boot turned off, but the results were the same ... error code 0xc000A004 and complaints that \Windows\System 32\ntoskernel.exe was missing or had errors. It's not missing in the Wim in the staging area on the PC, which is where WRBM boots form.
Rebuilding RM with Win PE 10 worked for me, as did resurrecting the ISO file from the previous version of RM with Win RE 10 built under 8.1.7455 and booting it via flash drive.
The system that failed is the second one here to get 8.1.7638; the first was my guinea pig laptop running Reflect v8.1.7638+ on Windows 11 Home 22H2 22621.2215+ , and it works. It uses WinRE 11 build 22621 from the Recovery partition.
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By DanDanz - 7 September 2023 10:06 PM
I've narrowed the source of this problem down to a Windows Update install of KB5029331 (OS Build 19045.3393) Preview that I installed on 09/02/2023 on the problem system \\hopi running Windows 10 19045.3324 after I had tested the preview update with no problems on my guinea pig Windows 11 laptop \\apache. The big clue was a third system, \\thimbles running Win 10 19045.3324 never had KB5029331 applied to it, and I was able to build WRBM using MR 8.1.7638 with WinRE 10 Build 2004 that successfully ran when booted.
Steps I took to recover the problem system \\hopi.
- I used DISM to remove the package for the preview update from the online 19045.3393 installation, and that reverted the online image to 19045.3324
- Rebuilt WRBM from WinRE 10 but removing the package from the OS apparently did not undo any changes to the recovery partition, because the rebuilt WRBM still failed to boot.
- Rebuit WRBM from WinPE 10 and rebooted using the resulting WRBM.
- Restored just the Recovery Partition from a backup taken prior to 09/02/2023 while the system was running 19045.3324.
I could have just restored the whole enchilada, but didn't want to lose other activity on the system, which includes the Reflect repository for all four systems in the house. A partial restore of C:\ and D:\ still remains an option if anything else is broken, omitting the repository from the restoration.
- Rebooted this hybrid system, and rebuilt WRBM from WinRE 10 build 2004 (using that restored Recovery Partition).
- Tested WRBM boot. The initial try hung Analyzing Disk 4 partition 1 -- that disk is an old 80 GB SSD that used to be the main disk on this system, but when I migrated to a 500GB SSD as the main disk, I relegated the old disk to be used forTEMP files, paging file, swapfile, etc. It does not get backed up. Partition 1 on that disk GPT disk is not used and is not formatted with any file system. All files are on an NTFS volume in partition 2. I think I remember a report on this forum of a similar hang, but I'm not sure it was ever fixed. I suspect Reflect is thrown off by a raw partition that has no file system.
- Rebooted and restarted the WRBM boot. No hang, and everything worked this time.
- Changed the retention rules on the repository to retain 3 full backups (1 more than usual) so I could capture a full backup of this system without losing any the previous backups, including ones that had the bad system patch applied, and also the previous full and diff backups from 19045.3324.
- Started a full backup on the hybrid system that resulted from steps 1-5.
- In a day or two, I'll destroy the backups that contain the contaminated results of applying KB5029331 19045.3393.
I'll update the support ticket with these results.
Edited to add: I confess that I failed to take my usual quick incremental backup of \\hopi before applying the KB5029331 patch, especially since it was a preview patch. I was lulled into eschewing the safety backup because the patch had already been tested on my laptop. Unfortunately testing on Windows 11 does nothing to discover how it will run on a Win 10 system. Lesson learned the hard way.
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By DanDanz - 17 September 2023 9:52 PM
Update: This week Windows update published a collection of updates to Win 10 and Win 11 but the cause of my troubles was not among them. I was able to update all the systems to the levels as shown in my signature without incident. I don't know if support has been able to reproduce the original problem. Perhaps I'll hear from them after the weekend.
Edited to correct the versions shown in my signature.
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By fpefpe - 20 September 2023 1:22 AM
Hello –
Thanks again for the road map on how to fix the issue — it seems that macrium support will not address this issue on their end —
Looking over your 10 steps — would a simpler process be to restore the system just before kb5029331 was applied
Then let windows do updates from that point. Reflect 8.1.7638 came out around 9/4 so this patch would have to be applied
At this point the recovery environment can be built with 7638 and Win RE — would this work?
Thanks
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By DanDanz - 20 September 2023 12:36 PM
Yes - you're on the right track. But .... How were you planning on doing the restore? You don't have a working standalone RM which is needed to restore your system drive. You can't stage the restore from live MR because the drive is in use, so that will cause a Reflect to reboot to your current (broken) WRBM or require a working standalone RM to do the restore. Or you could start the restore from RM if you had a working RM. .
There is another way to achieve a goal of always having a working standalone RM (not WRBM) -- On your current buggy system, rebuild RM with WinPE instead of WinRE. That's what I used to restore the backup. After you reboot with the WinPE version of RM and successfully do the restore, then update MR and rebuild RM with the new MR and WinRE and everything up to the latest. By the way, don't clear the live drive before doing the in-place restore to it, because doing the restore with Rapid Delta Restore enabled will save you hours of restoring time.
Hopefully, you'll be back in business without ever being without a working standalone RM.
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By fpefpe - 20 September 2023 1:42 PM
Again, thanks for the info --- BTW since Macrum support noted that this is a MS issue could future MS updates fix this issue?
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By DanDanz - 20 September 2023 4:58 PM
+xAgain, thanks for the info --- BTW since Macrum support noted that this is a MS issue could future MS updates fix this issue? You're welcome !!!
I haven't seen any sign of it -- and got no response to my feedback reporting the issue we had. I have not heard what support has heard from M$S.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 27 September 2023 2:32 PM
Hi @JoeA
I am having the same issue reported in the first post of this thread creating Reflect Rescue Media using Windows RE on my 64-bit Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3448 build. Today, I just upgraded to from 8.1.7544 to 8.1.7638 version and tested trying to boot from the Reflect Rescue Media DVD I created from 8.1.7638 version which fails with the same BSOD as shown in the first post of this thread.
I am not interested in the workaround of using Win PE 10.
Any update of when this issue will be fixed?
I noticed that my DVD size after creation from the 8.1.7638 Reflect Home edition was a smaller size of 892 MB used space verses 1.17 GB used on the 8.1.7544 version.
@DanDanz
FYI. Looking at Windows > Settings > Update & Security > View update history, I do not find any installation of the KB5029331 on my PC.
EDIT: Not all users of Reflect test their recreated Rescue Media after an upgrade. This means users can be facing a dire moment scenario to restore their system with no way to use the Reflect Rescue Media they depend on to work.
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By fpefpe - 27 September 2023 4:02 PM
Greetings --
Thanks for posting your issue --- It seem that KB5029331 was the "preview" the regular monthly patch KB5030211 and my guess that KB5030211 would update the same files
that KB5029331 would have updated if it was applied. Like you I did notice a sharp size reduction when I too created the ISO for reflect 7638.
@DanDanz posted that he submitted a ticket to support and said he would post their reply, but I have not seen any such post
I did get a reply to a message I sent to @JoeA which he noted that this is a Microsoft issue due to KB5030211
It is not clear to me if reflect support posted this issue to Microsoft for their comment on the issue, so untill there is some resolution to the issue
only Win PE will work
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By Reflecting Mirror - 27 September 2023 4:18 PM
Hi @fpefpe
Thank you for sharing your update and analysis.
Has Macrium support or a Reflect user tried the September 26, 2023—KB5030300 (OS Build 19045.3516) Preview to see if this resolves the issue?
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By fpefpe - 27 September 2023 4:25 PM
+x
I posted this issue about KB5029331. on askwoody.com --- 2 replies were to take note of ---
1) it is not recommended to apply "preview" patches
2) remove KB5029331
So, at this point I am not going to apply KB5030300
and it is not clear to me what issues I could have by uninstalling KB5029331 so I did not attempt to do that
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By Reflecting Mirror - 27 September 2023 4:39 PM
I used to apply Windows OS Preview patches until I got burned by one of them. I can't remember the issue, but I decided to avoid installing the MS Preview patches.
I did notice in the past when I did apply the Preview patch that when I applied the production patch that occurred on Microsoft's patch Tuesday (second Tuesday of every month), went a lot faster for the production patch. Likely just the production patch delta being applied from the more time consuming Preview patch.
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By DanDanz - 27 September 2023 7:25 PM
I have applied September 26, 2023—KB5030310 (OS Build 22621.2361) Preview to my Windows 11 Laptop (guinea pig) system -- and like the earlier preview patch 2023-09 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5030219) -- no problems were ever noted ON WINDOWS 11.
On the Windows 10 system that had the major problems that required restoring to recover it has been updated without drama to the next Patch Tuesday update -- September 12, 2023—KB5030211 (OS Build 19045.3448), and I have suspended Updates for 7 days -- I HAVE NOT INSTALLED September 26, 2023—KB5030300 (OS Build 19045.3516) Preview on it. I believe it will be applied when I resume updates and I have ensured adequate backups have been taken. .
I have never seen any indication (or acknowledgement of my Feedback report) from Microsoft that there has been either a fix for KB5020219, or inclusion of its fixes in Patch Tuesday updates. But now I'm paranoid, hence the suspension of Windows Updates on the Win 10 system(s)
AFAIK, the support folks were not able to reproduce the problem. Because other users have reported similar problems after applying KB5030219 with wildly varying experiences and symptoms (including one whose problems appeared on RM builds with WinPE10 but was able to successfully rebuild RM with WinRE 10, the exact opposite of my experience), I don't believe the problem is in Reflect, but rather in Windows patches. Therefore I concur with their decision to close my original ticket. We don't know the exact cause or the exact environment that produced the problem.
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By DanDanz - 27 September 2023 7:31 PM
+xI did notice in the past when I did apply the Preview patch that when I applied the production patch that occurred on Microsoft's patch Tuesday (second Tuesday of every month), went a lot faster for the production patch. Likely just the production patch delta being applied from the more time consuming Preview patch. @Reflecting Mirror I wonder if the difference is in the system restore point they could create when installing preview patches. I don't depend on those to uninstall patches anyway, preferring to use Reflect backups instead.
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By DanDanz - 3 October 2023 6:58 PM
+xI have applied September 26, 2023—KB5030310 (OS Build 22621.2361) Preview to my Windows 11 Laptop (guinea pig) system -- and like the earlier preview patch 2023-09 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5030219) -- no problems were ever noted ON WINDOWS 11. On the Windows 10 system that had the major problems that required restoring to recover it has been updated without drama to the next Patch Tuesday update -- September 12, 2023—KB5030211 (OS Build 19045.3448), and I have suspended Updates for 7 days -- I HAVE NOT INSTALLED September 26, 2023—KB5030300 (OS Build 19045.3516) Preview on it. I believe it will be applied when I resume updates and I have ensured adequate backups have been taken. . I have never seen any indication (or acknowledgement of my Feedback report) from Microsoft that there has been either a fix for KB5020219, or inclusion of its fixes in Patch Tuesday updates. But now I'm paranoid, hence the suspension of Windows Updates on the Win 10 system(s) AFAIK, the support folks were not able to reproduce the problem. Because other users have reported similar problems after applying KB5030219 with wildly varying experiences and symptoms (including one whose problems appeared on RM builds with WinPE10 but was able to successfully rebuild RM with WinRE 10, the exact opposite of my experience), I don't believe the problem is in Reflect, but rather in Windows patches. Therefore I concur with their decision to close my original ticket. We don't know the exact cause or the exact environment that produced the problem.
Well, now I can report that the latest PREVIEW update KB5030300 for Windows 10 repeats the same problem of not being able to create a working Rescue Media using WinRE 10. The error message about a missing NTOSKERNEL.exe is the same when you boot the RM, including the error code 0xC000A004.
I tried uninstalling KB5030300 once, and it worked - I was able to create the WRBM version and the USB Flash version of Rescue Media.
Then, just to be sure, I let Windows Update install the PREVIEW again, and it failed in the same way. This time, I tried restoring the Recovery Partition from the backup rather than C:\ and Recovery Volumes. Didn't fix it.
So I restored all paritions on the System Disk from a backup created the same day at 00:30. All traces of the problem are gone. And I'm leaving it that way -- with the preview patch now waiting for approval to install it from Windows Update. I haven't looked, but I'm sure it will be pending as an optional patch on my 2 other Windows 10 systems. I'll have to be alert for it showing up as a non-preview update. @JoeA Please advise the team that worked on the earlier ticket. I'm not going to reopen it or a new ticket. I'd love to know what it is about this patch that causes bad RM builds by Reflect.
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By fpefpe - 3 October 2023 11:01 PM
thanks for the update
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By jimrf97 - 8 October 2023 3:56 AM
Just FYI I have that update, tried a WinRE in Windows 10 and booted fine. I didn't try a WinPE however.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 8 October 2023 6:50 PM
+xJust FYI I have that update, tried a WinRE in Windows 10 and booted fine. I didn't try a WinPE however.
Did you rebuild the WIM in the Reflect Rescue Media verses just recreate a Rescue Media without rebuilding the WIM?
You can force a rebuild by holding the Ctrl key and click on the down arrow on the Build button to select force rebuild.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 9 October 2023 4:33 PM
FYI: The latest release of Reflect Home 8.1.7675 version did not fix this issue.
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By fpefpe - 9 October 2023 5:54 PM
+xFYI: The latest release of Reflect Home 8.1.7675 version did not fix this issue.
Hello --- thanks for the update, just to confirm that building the recovery environment with win RE 10 and reflect 7675 is still broken?
So Unti confirmed we still need to just use win PE 10 to build the reflect recovery environment?
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By Pawel Orl - 9 October 2023 6:07 PM
Windows RE 8.1.7675 unfortunately, it got to me too - blue screen...error code 0xc000A004
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By Reflecting Mirror - 9 October 2023 6:34 PM
+x+xFYI: The latest release of Reflect Home 8.1.7675 version did not fix this issue. Hello --- thanks for the update, just to confirm that building the recovery environment with win RE 10 and reflect 7675 is still broken? So Unti confirmed we still need to just use win PE 10 to build the reflect recovery environment?
RE 10 still broken.
I did not test PE 10.
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By dbminter - 9 October 2023 8:04 PM
I can attest that WinPE 11 works with the latest update. Didn't try WinPE 10.
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By DanDanz - 9 October 2023 9:14 PM
@jimrf97 @Reflecting Mirror @Pawel Orl
It doesn't matter what version of MR that you are using. What matters is the Windows Build Version, and whether or not you have applied a either of two PREVIEW Windows Update patch to Windows 10 Version 22H2. AND then -- to encounter the problem -- you must rebuild Rescue Media (WRBM or Flash or CD) AFTER installing the Windows Update patch, Until you rebuild your current version of Rescue Media and try to boot from that RM, you will not be affected by it. If you have not updated your version of Reflect since building RM, Rescue Media Builder won't detect that you need to rebuild the Wim in the staging area, so you need to Force Build (hold the shift key to get a drop-down list off the Build button). See the relevant Windows 10 Build Versions in the TWO quoted posts below and take note: Everything works on Windows 11 22H2 with the preview patch applied or not.
+x+xI've narrowed the source of this problem down to a Windows Update install of KB5029331 (OS Build 19045.3393) Preview that I installed on 09/02/2023 on the problem system \\hopi running Windows 10 19045.3324 after I had tested the preview update with no problems on my guinea pig Windows 11 laptop \\apache. The big clue was a third system, \\thimbles running Win 10 19045.3324 never had KB5029331 applied to it, and I was able to build WRBM using MR 8.1.7638 with WinRE 10 Build 2004 that successfully ran when booted. Well, now I can report that the latest PREVIEW update KB5030300 for Windows 10 repeats the same problem of not being able to create a working Rescue Media using WinRE 10. The error message about a missing NTOSKERNEL.exe is the same when you boot the RM, including the error code 0xC000A004. I tried uninstalling KB5030300 once, and it worked - I was able to create the WRBM version and the USB Flash version of Rescue Media. Then, just to be sure, I let Windows Update install the PREVIEW again, and it failed in the same way. This time, I tried restoring the Recovery Partition from the backup rather than C:\ and Recovery Volumes. Didn't fix it. So I restored all paritions on the System Disk from a backup created the same day at 00:30. All traces of the problem are gone. And I'm leaving it that way -- with the preview patch now waiting for approval to install it from Windows Update. I haven't looked, but I'm sure it will be pending as an optional patch on my 2 other Windows 10 systems. I'll have to be alert for it showing up as a non-preview update. Good luck. I'm going to be out of touch for 2-3 days
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By fpefpe - 9 October 2023 10:02 PM
Hello —
I took the advice of the folks over at askwoody.com and skipped applying 2023-09 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5030300)
Does it pay to way for the October Patch (2023-10-10) to be applied or is it the forcing to rebuilding the RM that will get reflect’s recovery environment to work with Win 10 RE?
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By Reflecting Mirror - 9 October 2023 10:39 PM
+xHello — I took the advice of the folks over at askwoody.com and skipped applying 2023-09 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5030300) Does it pay to way for the October Patch (2023-10-10) to be applied or is it the forcing to rebuilding the RM that will get reflect’s recovery environment to work with Win 10 RE?
It is unknown at this time if the Microsoft patches on October 10th and/or Macrium have a fix for the issue being reported from post # 1 on the Windows 10 platforms using WinRE 10 in Reflect's Rescue Builder.
FYI: I never applied any of the preview Windows patches on my Windows 10 system. I only applied the once a month on the second Tuesday Microsoft patches.
After I upgraded Reflect on September 27, I encountered the Reflect RE Rescue Media bug reported in post #1 by creating a new Reflect Rescue Media that Reflect automatically performed a WIM rebuild due to the Reflect media versions being different which caused the BSOD when booting from the Reflect WinRE 10 Rescue Media.
As Dan posted, once you rebuild the WIM in Reflect due to the automatic rebuild after a Reflect upgrade or you force the rebuild of the WIM will cause you to encounter the BSOD using the WinRE 10 for Windows 10 systems.
PS: Based on Dan's posts, this WinRE 10 issue is only effecting Windows 10 OS. I do not have a Windows 11 PC to confirm Dan's results using WinRE 11.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 10 October 2023 7:29 PM
The October 10th Windows 10 OS patches along with force rebuilding the Reflect WIM works when using WinRE 10.
No BSOD when booting the Rescue Media.
There are size differences.
Previous successful Reflect Rescue Media took 1.17 GB of space.
Current successful Reflect Rescue Media took 948 MB of space using the October 10th Windows 10 patches.
Failed Reflect Rescue Media took 892 MB of space.
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By fpefpe - 10 October 2023 10:56 PM
Thanks for t the info --- that is really good news
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By JL Arranz - 11 October 2023 9:42 PM
I'm having this problem with v8.1.7675 but not with v8.1.7638 or previous versions. I prefer myself to not do complicated things, as staying at v7638 is acceptable for me. I'm up-to-date in MS patches.
Partial incompatibility: this system has Rivatuner v2.24 (a 2009 version) to get color control (more/less brightness/gamma/etc, I like dim screens for reading but I need lighter settings for photos and videos) through hotkeys, and Rivatuner Statistics Server (a 2021 version) to get OSD in games (in combination with MSI Afterburner and HWiNFO64, I have yet to write down how to get all this...). If Reflect v8.1.7675 is installed, an error message from one of the two Rivatuners is displayed during bootup (I don't recall which one but I'm sure it's one of the two, as I saw this message quite frequently while I was adjusting these things one year and a half ago; the message says something about missing D3D v9 files iirc, although the color hotkeys keep on working I believe, I have not tried games to see the OSD).
Besides this semi-incompatibility, the 7675 Rescue Media BSODs while booting like in the first post. 7638 and previous versions work fine here.
PS (after reading Dan Danz posted 9 October 2023 11:14 PM): then it seems that v7638 works here because, after failing with v7675, I returned to v7638 reusing the previously built Rescue Media iso (I use to build to iso files and conserve them quite a bit).
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By Reflecting Mirror - 11 October 2023 11:49 PM
+xI'm having this problem with v8.1.7675 but not with v8.1.7638 or previous versions. I prefer myself to not do complicated things, as staying at v7638 is acceptable for me. I'm up-to-date in MS patches. Partial incompatibility: this system has Rivatuner v2.24 (a 2009 version) to get color control (more/less brightness/gamma/etc, I like dim screens for reading but I need lighter settings for photos and videos) through hotkeys, and Rivatuner Statistics Server (a 2021 version) to get OSD in games (in combination with MSI Afterburner and HWiNFO64, I have yet to write down how to get all this...). If Reflect v8.1.7675 is installed, an error message from one of the two Rivatuners is displayed during bootup (I don't recall which one but I'm sure it's one of the two, as I saw this message quite frequently while I was adjusting these things one year and a half ago; the message says something about missing D3D v9 files iirc, although the color hotkeys keep on working I believe, I have not tried games to see the OSD). Besides this semi-incompatibility, the 7675 Rescue Media BSODs while booting like in the first post. 7638 and previous versions work fine here. PS (after reading Dan Danz posted 9 October 2023 11:14 PM): then it seems that v7638 works here because, after failing with v7675, I returned to v7638 reusing the previously built Rescue Media iso (I use to build to iso files and conserve them quite a bit).
As I discovered the hard way, the problem was not the version of Reflect software per se. The problem was Microsoft OS patches caused the problem with WinRE 10 on Windows 10 platforms for the Reflect Rescue Media builder.
For example, when I encountered the BSOD using the new Reflect Rescue Media when I upgraded from 8.1.7544 to 8.1.7638 on September 27th, I restored back to the working 8.1.7544 version using the old working Reflect Rescue Media.
The issue as others stated in this thread said that the problem was with Microsoft OS patches and not the newer Reflect versions.
Based on that knowledge, I experimented by performing a force rebuild of the WIM in the Reflect Rescue Media builder while using the "working version" of 8.1.7544 and I tested the new Rescue Media. I received the BSOD on the "working version" of Reflect.
The reason you encountered the problem after upgrading Reflect is that when you went to create a new Rescue Media, the Rescue Media builder automatically rebuilds the WIM due to you are using a newer version of Reflect that uses the flawed Microsoft OS changes from previous OS patching.
To summarize, I am guessing the Microsoft OS patches that broke Reflect Rescue Media WinRE 10 for Windows 10 platforms occurred sometime in August. You would only encounter this problem by performing one of the following:- You performed a force rebuild by holding down the Ctrl key and click on the down arrow on the Build button to select Force Rebuild in the Reflect Rescue Media builder of the WIM using WinRE 10 on Windows 10 platforms.
- You upgraded your Reflect installation and built a new Rescue Media using WinRE 10 on Windows 10 platforms.
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By JL Arranz - 12 October 2023 8:58 AM
+x
My v7638 Rescue Media iso was built in September 6th and it's a good iso as said, but I believe I delayed some MS patches so I cannot assure that all August patches were already installed. Some time this summer I got the HATEFUL "installing patches and shutting down" when shutting down (sometimes you simply have to pull the plug at once if at all!!! such as if you're hurried to go out or the computer is in the bedroom and you already have to sleep), so I went to Settings -> Windows Update several "idle" times and I caught some patches that way, one or two from previous month, but I only semi-read what the patches are for (you are forced to install them sooner or later anyway).
PS This is my W10 patches history:
07-13 kb5028937 (2023-07)
07-13 kb5028166 (2023-07)
08-10 kb5028244 (2023-07)
08-11 kb5029244 (2023-08)
08-31 kb5029331 (2023-08)
09-01 kb5029847 (2023-08)
09-03 kb5029649 (2023-08)
09-06 ------------------------------------------------> v8.1.7638 Rescue Media iso that works
09-07 kb4023057 (2023-08) (it is kb "4" 023057)
09-13 kb5030180 (2023-09)
09-13 kb5030211 (2023-09)
10-08 kb5030300 (2023-09)
10-11 kb5031224 (2023-10)
10-11 kb5031356 (2023-10)
10-11 ------------------------------------------------> v8.1.7675 Rescue Media iso that does not work (*)
10-12 kb5001716 (2023-10)
(*) I have deleted this file, I believe it was built after kb5031224 and kb5031356, but not 100% sure. I'm sure yesterday (10-11) I installed 2 patches plus KB890830, so Idk how did kb5001716 install, for instance if it was "yesterday" after 0:00 or if it's been this morning, or under which pattern/option/setting/rule. I'm not sure which eligible by user automatic updates options do I have selected, or where to look. In Windows 7 and before I like seeing the systray icon when new patches are available, although I know MS prefers uniform Windows installs since Windows 10, so Windows Update settings are less flexible and (afaik) all patches are installed sooner or later and one or other way (you can for instance delay updates 7 days and extend it somewhat I believe, but not 7 years :p ).
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By Reflecting Mirror - 12 October 2023 2:54 PM
My Windows 10 OS patches from October 10th that fixed the Rescue Media BSOD are shown below. I included the KB5001716 which installed on my system on 10/4/2023.
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By JL Arranz - 12 October 2023 11:12 PM
Fail here, even after kb5001716 (that had not been installed here before October 12th), same BSOD. I did 2 attempts with and without checking "prompt for key press to continue boot sequence", because I noticed that the prompt really appeared this time (take as 90% sure it wasn't appearing in v8.1.7638 and previous ones although I was building with the option checked, the rescue medias I tried worked all anyway) and that pressing the key sends the boot to the UEFI circuitry to say it so, instead of the BIOS circuitry that should be used with my configuration (this is an ancient computer with FX8350 on 970 chipset).
A positive difference is that Rivatuner isn't showing the error message of my first attempt with v8.1.7675, but I'll return to v7638 unless a fix appears.
Does WinPE 10 fix this? This rig is connected through WiFi (it's in an awkward place for a cable from the router), although I have never needed or used net to work with images.
PS: I've done the new attempts forcing the WIM rebuild with the Ctrl key etc, in my Windows 11 computer Reflect was keeping the v7675 iso even after a travel for v7638 to check things.
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By DanDanz - 13 October 2023 1:50 PM
@JL Arranz I've never been able to provoke the RM build problem IFF for Win 10 22H2 I either don't install either of two PREVIEW patches: KB5030310 and KB5030219 KB503300 and KB5029331 or if I uninstalled those patches. I have never been able to fix the problem with changing the version of MR. Nor do I know of anybody who has been able to fix it any other way. {Corrected 2023-10-14 by Dan Danz}
HOWEVER some users reported experiences that were different from mine -- e.g., rebuilding with WIN PE 10 always worked,for me but building with WIN RE 10 always failed (with one of the bad patches present). Others reported the problem with WIN PE 10, but could bypass it by using WIN RE 10 (the exact opposite of my expereinces).
If you never installed any of the Preview patchs mentioned in the first paragraph above, then I'm stumped.
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By DanDanz - 13 October 2023 2:06 PM
NEW UPDATE FOR EVERYBODY FOLLOWING THIS TOPIC.
While I was hospitalized, Windows Update installed a "patch Tuesday" NON-PREVIEW patch on my problem Win 10 system. Since it was NON-Preview, I got no chance to refuse it. Also NONE of the troublesome PREVIEW patches remained on the system.
October 10, 2023—KB5031356 (OS Builds 19044.3570 and 19045.3570)
Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, version 21H2 More...
Release Date:10/10/2023
Version: OS Builds 19044.3570 and 19045.3570
Fearing ithat it contained the bad fix from the preview updates, when I got home I Installed MR v8.1.7675 and rebuilt WRBM. Test booting WRBM was successful.
I've seen this with other NON-PREVIEW patchs released after I had the problem involving the preview patches. Since we never learned what the exact cause of the RM build failure was, I don't think we can breathe easy.. It sure would be nice IF Reflect Support could pin down what was wrong with the problem builds.
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By JoeA - 13 October 2023 2:11 PM
Hi All,
I'm going to run my tests again locally in the event I have missed something.
We pull WinRE through the Windows installation itself. Windows initially places the WinRE image file (winre.wim) in the Windows partition, in the \Windows\System32\Recovery folder.
I will report back to this forum thread on either Monday or Tuesday.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 13 October 2023 2:32 PM
Just to add another data point in case it is relevant for Joe Allen's investigation, my PC is currently running after the October 10 Microsoft patches:
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit 22H2 OS Build 19045.3570 using Reflect Home Edition 8.1.7675 version and Rescue Media built from WinRE.
@DanDanz
I wish you a speedy recovery. 
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By JL Arranz - 13 October 2023 8:20 PM
+x@JL Arranz [...] KB5030310 and KB5030219 [...] If you never installed any of the Preview patchs mentioned in the first paragraph above, then I'm stumped.
I hope you get well soon.
I believe those KBs belong to Windows 11 and you mean kb5030300 (not 310) and possibly kb5029331, mentioned by you before. I installed the latter in August 31th, before my RM v7638 that works, and the former in October 8th, after my good RM but before my v7675 bad one. Hence in my case the culprit would be kb5030300.
I'm starting to think that WinPE is more reliable if you don't need WiFi. In a foreseeable future my images will be in internal disks or in USB drives (so USB3 matters, but WinPE has it).
I have just tried WinPE, the iso is smaller (about one half) and the processor doesn't get as hot: after trying with WinRE lately it started at over 80ºC in Windows (I hadn't noticed this "in previous times"), then it cooled down gradually to normal temps, in part because I use SpeedFan to accelerate the fans (both, the CPU and the exhaust one, that are quite close) depending on the CPU temp (if you cannot do this, the exhaust fan will only accelerate in summer because the "system temp" remains cool enough despite the processor being really hot). On the other hand, after this proof with WinPE, the CPU started at about 50ºC in Windows, normal for this computer and weather.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 13 October 2023 10:23 PM
+xHi All, I'm going to run my tests again locally in the event I have missed something. We pull WinRE through the Windows installation itself. Windows initially places the WinRE image file (winre.wim) in the Windows partition, in the \Windows\System32\Recovery folder. I will report back to this forum thread on either Monday or Tuesday.
Hi @JoeA
Since I perform daily full backups, I mounted the Reflect backup files to explore the hidden Recovery Tool partition for changes to the winre.wim file located in the Recovery/WindowsRE directory.
NOTE 1: I perform only daily full backups of my entire system drive.
NOTE 2: Currently my PC is running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit 22H2 OS Build 19045.3570 using Reflect Home Edition 8.1.7675 and Rescue Media built using WinRE.
NOTE 3: I do NOT install the monthly Microsoft Preview OS patches.
NOTE 4: During my spot checking the winre.wim file in the hidden Recovery Tool partition, various versions of Reflect Home editions are used starting with 8.1.7469 going up to the current version 8.1.7675 version.
NOTE 5: To see the hidden system files, you have to set the Windows Explorer to View > Options > View to disable various hidden options and enable seeing hidden files, folders and drives.
I started with the June full backup both before and after the Microsoft OS patch Tuesdays. Then proceeded to July and August and the same winre.wim file is dated 7/12/2022 with size 1,029,811 KB. The year 2022 is not a typo.
The September 12th Microsoft Patch Tuesday changes the winre.wim in the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE and the new winre.wim file is dated 9/12/2023 with size 706,900 KB.
- My Reflect Home edition at the time that Microsoft changed the winre.wim is using the 8.1.7544 version.
- Later, I upgraded to 8.1.7638 on September 27th and due to the automatic rebuild of the Reflect WIM when building the new Rescue Media using WinRE, I encounter the BSOD issue when I booted from the new Reflect Rescue Media.
- October 9th I upgraded to the current 8.1.7675 version and I still encountered the BSOD issue when I booted from the new Reflect Rescue Media.
The October 10th Microsoft Patch Tuesday changes the winre.wim in the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE and the new winre.wim file is dated 10/10/2023 with size 747,904 KB.
On my PC, the October 10th Microsoft Patch Tuesday fixed the issue reported in post #1 of BSOD when booting from the Rescue Media built using WinRE on the Windows 10 platform after I performed a force rebuild of the Reflect WIM since I was already on the latest version of Reflect.
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By DanDanz - 14 October 2023 6:44 PM
That makes WRONG my insistence that the Recovery Partition from the backup of a system release that had never been patched by a Preview. When my recovery methods successfully recovered and RM ran without a problem, I even RE-APPLIED one Preview patch and got the BSOD. I also took the October and November Patch Tuesday updates and didn't have anytrouble with them but you had trouble when the October update was on your system. I don't mind that you disproved my theories -- I just don't know what further proof I could've offered.
There's some artifact somewhere that I hope support can find. There's an area I never investigated: Where is the missing ntoskernel.exe supposed to be? And another: WRBM boots from the staging area, What's different about the expanded Wim found there when WRBM fails and when WRBM boots.
Anyway, Godspeed @JoeA. I'll be watching this topic closely for your analysis of the real cause. .
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By DanDanz - 14 October 2023 7:34 PM
+x+x@JL Arranz [...] KB5030310 and KB5030219 KB503300 and KB5029331 [...] If you never installed any of the Preview patchs mentioned in the first paragraph above, then I'm stumped. {Corrected 2023-10-14 by Dan Danz} I believe those KBs belong to Windows 11 and you mean kb5030300 (not 310) and possibly kb5029331, mentioned by you before. I installed the latter in August 31th, before my RM v7638 that works, and the former in October 8th, after my good RM but before my v7675 bad one. Hence in my case the culprit would be kb5030300. @JL Arranz You are 100% correct ... the bad preview updates for Win 22H2 systems are KB5030300 and KB5029331 -- I have corrected my original post, and the quote of it in this post.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 14 October 2023 8:09 PM
Hi @DanDanz
I think you meant September and October instead of October and November in your post.
EDIT:
On my Windows 10 Pro PC, I am finding the ntoskrnl.exe file in the C:\Windows\System32 directory along with three other directories that appear to be Windows patch backups of the file.
END EDIT.
I upgraded Reflect on September 27th when I encountered the BSOD problem which was after the Microsoft patch Tuesday on September 12th which changed the winre.wim file and due to I created a new Reflect Rescue Media causing the Media builder to automatically rebuild the Reflect WIM.
Actually, I was not trying to disprove anything you observed in your posts. I was posting my investigation based on Joe Allen's post.
Joe Allen said:
We pull WinRE through the Windows installation itself. Windows initially places the WinRE image file (winre.wim) in the Windows partition, in the \Windows\System32\Recovery folder.
On my Windows 10 PC, the winre.wim did not exist in the C partition when I searched for the winre.wim file and the only file in the directory Joe Allen posted has a XML definition. I decided that Microsoft would place the winre.wim in the Recovery partition so you can boot the PC.
I hope you are feeling better.
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By fpefpe - 14 October 2023 10:27 PM
Just to confirm ---
I built recovery env for 7638 on 9/4 which was after I applied the preview patch for Sept 2023 for win 10 22H2 / Win 10 RE 2004
When discovered that it did not work I rebuilt 7638 using win PE and -- that worked
After the oct2023 patch was applied and I update reflect to 7675 I rebuilt the recovery env with Win 10 RE 2004
and that works now
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By JoeA - 17 October 2023 3:15 PM
An update to this thread:
I have been busier than I thought I would be and have not made as much progress as I would have liked to.
I will have an update shortly. I apologise for this delay
We hope everything is okay and for a speedy recovery @DanDanz
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By Caledon Ken - 27 October 2023 8:29 PM
So I'm having this same issue with two Asus laptops with the latest purchase release of the Home product.
Went to implement the workaround and downloaded the Windows 10 PE. Created and tested the rescue media, all good on one machine. That was yesterday.
Today I went to do the same thing on the second laptop but I can't download the Windows 10 PE. It starts normally but then takes for ever to download and this is on a computer that is wired to router. Eventually it fails and I get the same message box that it needs to download the components, . Click download and the process kicks off. Can take fifteen minutes to download 100MB. Eventually it times out.
Tried downloading Win 11 PE. Process kicks off great, 300 MB downloaded in a flash then it stops. Downloads 20 MB, then stops and finally times out and says I need to download again.
Does anyone know where these files are coming from, is it a MS server or a Macrium server? Is there a way to check server status?
Can I copy files from one computer to the other? Is there an alternate source I can get just the PE environment without downloading the whole ADK (I think it is a component with ADK, been wrong lots of times.)
Other ideas.
Thanks
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By dbminter - 27 October 2023 9:03 PM
The source is most likely a Microsoft server. If you download the Reflect Download Agent, you can choose to just download the WinPE package. However, since that most likely just downloads the files from the same Microsoft server, you're probably going to have similar problems.
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By Caledon Ken - 28 October 2023 2:15 PM
So I used the reflect download agent on another machine and got win 10 pe as a zip file.
Could anyone recommend how I would use this file to create the rescue media.
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By dbminter - 28 October 2023 2:40 PM
There is a way to use .ZIP files, but I only know of one kind of around the bend way to do it. I know you can do it more easily, but I don't know what the steps are and I couldn't find anything in the knowledge base searching for winpe zip.
If the ZIP file is in the same directory as the Reflect installer .EXE when you run it, the installer will import the WinPE ZIP contents automatically. So, if you ran the installer EXE again with the ZIP file in the same folder, it should import those files. However, if the WinPE files are already preexisting from an older installation of Reflect, I don't know if running the installer this way will update them.
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By Caledon Ken - 28 October 2023 3:09 PM
Thanks.
This is a bit of a mess given this issue has been present for almost two months.
I'll have to see if I can find the installer exe.
Appreciate the help.
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By Caledon Ken - 28 October 2023 3:12 PM
I should mention this copy of Reflect still has support so I'm going back to person I help and ask that they get them involved.
Thank you again.
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By DanDanz - 28 October 2023 4:20 PM
@Caledon Ken - Reviewing your problem and comparing to the original topic - YOU DO NOT HAVE the Same Problem. The original problem involves two Preview Windows updates which broke building Rescue Media using WinRE. It results in a blue screen when booting the Rescue Media, which is NOT your symptom. Yours is a problem that you can't download the files to build Rescue Media with WinPE. I suggest you open a new topic in this Rescue Media forum. You might also look in the UserGuide/KnowledgeBase for more information about downloading the needed files.
I found one possibility looking for troubleshooting tips: The error "Not all files have been retrieved" when downloading Windows PE - caused by BitDefender Antivirus.
I should also note that you may but do not have to pre-download the WinPE files. They can be downloaded at the time you build Rescue Media and select the proper version of Win PE to use from the Advanced Options tab of Rescue Media Builder. You can then specify which drive to install the WinPE base files. Details are in this article in the KnowledgeBase.
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By Caledon Ken - 28 October 2023 5:53 PM
Sorry but my problem starts out exactly as per this thread.
I create rescue media using windows RE and on two Asus laptops they fail with the exact file missing and the exact same error code. I followed the workaround and on one machine PE downloads and the rescue media is created successfully. That is the rescue nedia now boots without the blue screen.
It is the second machine that can't get the PE download.
Sure I'll open a new thread but my issue starts with this Blue Screen using Windows RE to create media.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 28 October 2023 6:53 PM
+xSorry but my problem starts out exactly as per this thread. I create rescue media using windows RE and on two Asus laptops they fail with the exact file missing and the exact same error code. I followed the workaround and on one machine PE downloads and the rescue media is created successfully. That is the rescue nedia now boots without the blue screen. It is the second machine that can't get the PE download. Sure I'll open a new thread but my issue starts with this Blue Screen using Windows RE to create media.
See my post below for the WinRE solution for the Reflect Media BSOD issue on Windows 10.
Dan, Frank and myself are able to successfully boot the Reflect Rescue Media once we force recreate Reflect Media Builder of the WIM and then create a new Rescue Media.
You performed a force rebuild by holding down the Ctrl key and click on the down arrow on the Build button to select Force Rebuild in the Reflect Rescue Media builder of the WIM using WinRE 10 on Windows 10 platforms.
EDIT:
Do not install the October Preview patches released on 10/26/23.
https://forum.macrium.com/post/74334
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By Caledon Ken - 28 October 2023 7:05 PM
Thanks for suggestion. I will try it again but I have done this already.
When this first happen I thought I had goofed up.
I did the force rebuild, tested, then I tried erasing thumbdrive, build and test, then I tried formatting thumbdrive, not quick, tested. Ensured it was FAT32. I didn't change the allocation, just removed the check mark in quick.
Even tried a different USB thumbdrive.
As per Dan's suggestion I opened new thread in the Rescue Media section.
When I get back on this machine I will try rebuild. Formal support answer is try PE. Haven't raised issued with them yet as to why I can't download PE or how to use zip.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 28 October 2023 7:09 PM
Have you verified that you have the Windows October 10th patches installed on your PCs as show in my post?
PS: Do not install the October 26 Preview patches in case Microsoft breaks the winre.wim in the Windows Recovery partition.
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By Caledon Ken - 28 October 2023 7:15 PM
Thanks I'll check that as well. Very sure they are there but I need to check. Every suggestion helps.
Hope to get on machine this afternoon.
I never install the preview releases. If MS wants to pay me to test their stuff that would be one thing. There are enough seasoned pro's out there that can blaze a trail for us Muggles to follow.
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By Caledon Ken - 29 October 2023 3:14 PM
Thank you for the response.
The person I was helping tried, without me, to download PE again. This time it downloaded everything with only one short stall. With the completed download Macrium proceeded to created USB Boot media. He did this Saturday evening.
We tried the PE based media today and the media boots successfully.
Since we have a ticket open with support he is going to report back to Macrium that PE works on both systems. He told me that he already reported the issues he was having with the download as part of this ticket yesterday.
Since it worked, and as it is his wife machine, there was no desire to continue testing the creation of media with RE. ( we've already spent hours fiddling)
I suggested that he ask Macrium what they plan on doing regarding the error in creating media with RE. I told him we may have to collect data for them to resolve the issue or they may just report back they know what the issue is and will have fix in a future release.
Windows is up to date and the Optional Updates were installed. I explained we don't test for MS so leave those patches alone. SFC /scannow found integrity issues and repaired them.
If Macrium reports back with anything that might be of interest I will post on both threads.
Thank you again for your post(s). Great to have such a knowledgeable forum.
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By RayG - 30 October 2023 3:29 PM
Hmmm... I have read most of the above, but I would like to make the following comment:
For a totally unrelated reason I had to do a restore from a backup and suffered the above issue. Windows was still running so I created a bootable CD image from the v8.1.7638 ISO that I had. This booted as expected and I was able to do the restore back to the 8th of October,
This restore took Macrium back to v8.1.7638 at the same time. As I restored ALL the partitions the Macrium Boot and Recovery partition were also back to v8.1.7638. After the system was restored, I quickly turned off windows update and then rebooted the system to see if the RE version that was installed worked, it did.
After a reboot back into windows, the system was now missing the update to v8.1.7675 I then let Macrium do the update and then decided just to see if, after updating the boot menu it would work. It did not, it suffered from the same issue as above.
So, I find it interesting the MS is being blamed for the problem.as it seems just updating from v8.1.7638 to v8.1.7675 creates the problem without any of the October patches installed.
The PE version works just fine for the moment.
So If I have missed something please let me know.
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By fpefpe - 30 October 2023 3:45 PM
I think the issue was with the September patch and preview patch to the September patch ----
In my case I skipped the October preview patch and let the 10/10 patch get applied
At that point I rebuiltthe recoveryy env with 7675 and force the build to make sure that the win 10 RE was update
recovery env now works with reflect 7675 and win 10 RE
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By RayG - 30 October 2023 4:19 PM
+xI think the issue was with the September patch and preview patch to the September patch ---- In my case I skipped the October preview patch and let the 10/10 patch get applied At that point I rebuiltthe recoveryy env with 7675 and force the build to make sure that the win 10 RE was update recovery env now works with reflect 7675 and win 10 RE Thanks Frank - I'll have a play...
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By DanDanz - 30 October 2023 5:42 PM
+x+xI think the issue was with the September patch and preview patch to the September patch ---- In my case I skipped the October preview patch and let the 10/10 patch get applied At that point I rebuiltthe recoveryy env with 7675 and force the build to make sure that the win 10 RE was update recovery env now works with reflect 7675 and win 10 RE Thanks Frank - I'll have a play... @RayG Check your Windows Update history -- I suspect you have a Preview version of a Windows Update applied that caused the bad RM build.
Look for the word Preview in the patch name -- you didn't say which OS you're running, 10 or 11. My problems were all with Win 10, and involved one or both KB503300 and KB5029331.
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By RayG - 30 October 2023 6:11 PM
+x+x+xI think the issue was with the September patch and preview patch to the September patch ---- In my case I skipped the October preview patch and let the 10/10 patch get applied At that point I rebuiltthe recoveryy env with 7675 and force the build to make sure that the win 10 RE was update recovery env now works with reflect 7675 and win 10 RE Thanks Frank - I'll have a play... @RayG Check your Windows Update history -- I suspect you have a Preview version of a Windows Update applied that caused the bad RM build. Look for the word Preview in the patch name -- you didn't say which OS you're running, 10 or 11. My problems were all with Win 10, and involved one or both KB503300 and KB5029331. Ok back in August the KB5029331 patch was installed. So, it would only go wrong if you rebuilt the recovery environment. which I did of course after updating MR, 
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By Caledon Ken - 31 October 2023 12:57 PM
So Macrium responded to the formal ticket and as Dan outlined they say it was a bad patch that cause the RE environment to become corrupt. They were not as specific as Dan as to which patch caused issue.
The issue I reported is with Window 10 machines.
The person I was helping did install the October preview, I never asked about September's. ( I told the person I was helping to stop installing previews.)
As this is a Windows issue, Macrium is not working on any fixes as there is nothing wrong with Macrium.
They advised that MS has been made aware but had no details as to when or how MS may resolve.
As to Ray's post. As you were using the ISO of an earlier version the boot files were whole in the ISO so it worked. I'll bet if you forced the rebuild of the WIM using your current RE environment it to would fail with 7638.
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By SteveTalon2018 - 4 November 2023 10:40 PM
I'm on Win 10 Pro 22H2.
I recently ran into the same Error code: 0xc000a004. Here's what happened and what I did to resolve it.
I started with September Window Updates having already been installed for almost a month. Just before installing the October Updates, I updated to Reflect Home v8.1.7675 and rebuilt both the WinRE USB media and WinRE boot menu rescue options - but didn't test them.
I proceeded with October's Windows Updates. After that I decided to rebuild both Macrium rescue options and test them. Both would throw the error. I tried a force rebuild of the WIM file and still had the errors for both options. So I rebuilt both rescue options using WinPE and they both worked just fine. I made a Reflect image of my SSD in that state.
But I don't like leaving problems unaddressed by just using a 'work-around'.
Although I never install Windows "Previews", I checked my September and October update history just to confirm one hadn't slipped by. None had, so that certainly wasn't the problem.
Next I restored my full backup from prior to September and October Windows Updates and tested both WinRE options. Both worked fine. I then carefully installed Reflect updates doing full reboots after each update, then rebuilding the WinRE rescue options and testing them. I did Differential Reflect images between each update in case one of them caused the error to return. I updated all the way to up to v8.1.7675 with both WinRE options always continuing to work fine.
Next I proceeded to install September and October Windows Updates, using the same method of differentials after each update and testing the WinRE options as well. (Note: I used Windows Update MiniTool, so I could install updates one at a time.) None of the updates broke the Reflect rescue options, so I knew the windows recovery partion, boot menu, etc, were not corrupted or 'out of sync' with the version of Reflect I had updated to.
Finally, to easily recover all the progam and data changes I'd made since prior to September's Windows updates, I restored my OS and Data partions from the Reflect image I'd made post-October Windows Updates (noted in the third paragraph of this post). I tested the Reflect boot menu first and it failed. So, I forced a rebuild.
After that, everything works perfectly - although from now on I'll always have both an RE USB and a PE USB rescue disk!
There is probably a shorter way to solve this but I wanted to do step-wise troubleshoot and see if I could identify if any update (Reflect or Windows) might be the culprit. Unfortunately, I found no clear culprit, but I'm whole again.
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By Reflecting Mirror - 8 November 2023 5:58 PM
Microsoft has me mystified regarding the October 10th OS patching effect on the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE directory that contains the Windows winre.wim file which I will explain later in this post.
A short recap from my previous detailed post below:
https://forum.macrium.com/post/74365
Using older full backup images, I mounted the Recovery Tools partition and enabled show hidden OS files.
July and August in the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE directory had the same winre.wim file is dated 7/12/2022 with size 1,029,811 KB. The year 2022 is not a typo.
September 12th Microsoft Patch Tuesday changes the winre.wim in the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE and the new winre.wim file is dated 9/12/2023 with size 706,900 KB.
October 10th Microsoft Patch Tuesday changes the winre.wim in the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE and the new winre.wim file is dated 10/10/2023 with size 747,904 KB.
Now for the mystery.
To make a long story short, a different third party software on my PC was giving me problems which resulted in me restoring a full backup to August 4th. This means I am running on the July 12th OS patches. I checked the Windows OS patching history to confirm.
I then proceeded to update all the other software and data except for the Windows OS patching. Hence, I upgrade Reflect and rebuilt the Reflect WinRE using the July Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE directory with winre.wim dated 7/12/2022 with size 1,029,811 KB. The year 2022 is not a typo.
Using Windows Update which was only offering the October 10th OS patches, I then proceeded to install from July directly to October 10th OS patches. I still have Preview OS patching disabled.
Today, I thought to check the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE directory with winre.wim expecting to see the same size of 747,904 KB from my previous post.
The July directly to October 10th OS patching was a smaller size of 708.601 KB than the previous October 10th OS patching of 747,904 KB but similar to the September 12th OS patching of 706,900 KB.
Again I confirmed the OS patching went directly from July to October 10th. No September patches and no preview patches.
I am hesitant to force rebuild the Reflect WinRE to test if the BSOD occurs.
The point of this follow-up post is the inconsistency of the Windows OS patching effect on the Recovery Tool partition's folder Recovery/WindowsRE directory with winre.wim file since I expected after the October 10th OS patching that the winre.wim would be near or exact size as before.
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