This article describes an issue when you select an option in Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, or Windows Server 2012 R2. An update is available to resolve this issue. The update has a prerequisite. Follow the instructions to install the update.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

  • You have a computer that is running Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, or Windows Server 2012 R2.

  • You enable the Accounts: Block Microsoft accounts Group Policy and select the Users can’t add or log on with Microsoft accounts option in the following Group Policy path:

    Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options

  • You restart the computer to WinRE and select any of the options on it.

In this scenario, you receive the following error message:

You need to sign in as an administrator to continue, but there aren't any administrator accounts on this PC

Resolution

Update information

To resolve this issue, insert update rollup 2955164 into the WinRE.wim image. For more information about how to obtain this update rollup package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2955164 Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update rollup: May 2014

Prerequisites

To insert this update rollup, you must be running Window 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2. Additionally, you must have the following update inserted into the WinRE.wim image:

2919442 A servicing stack update is available for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2: March 2014

2919355 Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update: April 2014

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

More Information

Information about how to update Windows Recovery images

Insert the KB2919442, KB2919355 and KB2955164 update packages into WinRE.wim

  1. Create a folder C:\WindowsUpdate

  2. Download the following .MSU files to C:\WindowsUpdateWindows8.1-KB2919442-x64.msuhttp://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42162Windows8.1-KB2919355-x64.msuhttp://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42335Windows8.1-KB2955164-x64.msuhttp://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42761

  3. Disable WinRE with C:\> reagentc /disable

  4. reate the following local folder:

    C:\WinRE\Mount

  5. Type the following command to mount the Winre.wim file: dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\Windows\System32\Recovery\WinRE.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\WinRE\Mount

  6. Type the following command to insert the security package into the mounted Winre.wim file: dism/image:C:\Winre\mount /Add-Package /Packagepath:C:\WindowsUpdate

  7. Type the following command to verify that the security package was integrated successfully: dism /image:C:\winre\mount /Get-Packages

  8. Type the following command to commit the changes to the Winre.wim file: dism /unmount-wim /MountDir:C:\Winre\mount /commit

  9. Enable WinRE with C:\> reagentc /enable

References

For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

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