Article ID: 951038 - Last Review: April 29, 2008 - Revision: 1.0

Error message when you use the Wbadmin.exe command-line tool to recover an EFI volume on a Windows Server 2008-based computer: "Online recovery of EFI System Partition is not supported. Please try recovering from Windows Recovery Environment"

You use the Wbadmin.exe command-line tool to recover an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) volume on a Windows Server 2008-based computer. However, you receive the following error message:

ERROR - Online recovery of EFI System Partition is not supported. Please try recovering from Windows Recovery Environment.

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CAUSE

This issue occurs because recovery of an EFI volume either as a volume or as a file is not supported in an online operating system (OS). However, recovery of an EFI volume either as a volume or as a file is supported in an offline Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) by using the volume recovery command.

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RESOLUTION

Insert the Windows Server 2008 installation DVD into the DVD drive, and then restart the computer.
Select the following options, and then click Next:
- Installation language
- Time and currency format
- Keyboard layout
Click Repair your computer.
In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
Under Choose a recovery tool, click Command Prompt.
At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
Wbadmin start recovery –version:version identifier -backupTarget:volume that hosts the back up -itemType:Volume –items:ESP -quiet
Type exit, and then press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.
In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Restart to restart the computer.