Fresh install of Windows 11 but still having ability to do a factory restore

[357mag]

I would like to do a fresh install of Windows 11. I purchased an ASUS Vivobook Laptop recently that I like quite a bit. It is my understanding that it is possible to recover your computer to it's factory state because there is a recovery partition when you look in disk management. Actually, my laptop has two recovery partitions. I guess Windows makes one and ASUS makes the other. Here is what I see when I look in disk management:

Disk 0
Healthy (EFI System) Partition
Healthy (Recovery Partition)
Healthy (Recovery Partition)
OS: C (Healthy Boot, Page File...)

I guess what I'd like to ask is can I do a fresh install of Windows 11 and still have the ability to restore my computer back to its factory state like it was when I first got it?

If I want the ability to do this, should I not delete any recovery partitions when installing Windows fresh? I don't know which Recovery Partiton ASUS made and which partition Windows made.

Also, I do not store any personal data on my C:\ drive. All that is kept on an external drive.

I guess I would like some advice or clarity on this.

I will add that I use Acronis True Image to make all of my backup images.

 

[garlin]

Normally a factory installed Windows will have a customized version of WinRE, where the OEM includes a specific set of drivers, additional tools, and some branding files (wallpapers, themes, etc). This differs from the generic WinRE that a clean install provides. On a clean install, WinRE will copy over the same drivers used to install normal Windows so they can both access the same devices.

You can't really keep the factory recovery when doing a clean install, because Setup isn't designed to preserve the other partition. The vendor has specially prepared their disk image and basically cloned it, bypassing the normal install process.

The factory install will provide a bcdboot entry into their reserved partition, add some vendor tools to the menu screen, and offer you the opportunity to create an USB recovery drive.

What do you really need from the factory install that you can't get elsewhere?

For some ultra-cheap Chinese PC's, you really do need to backup the disk image as soon as you get the system, because they have a poor track record of providing the driver files. But for a name-brand PC, you can expect to find every driver. A factory recovery image may not have the newest drivers, so it's not always a better option for a restore.

Other vendor tools may also be available from the support site, such as MyASUS in WinRE.

So you're left with random branding. If you really need to keep whatever, you could mount the hidden partition (by assigning it a drive letter) and copying the winre.wim file from it.

ASUS is following MS's lead and moving into Cloud Recovery. Which is a fancy way of saying you get a bootable recovery image that downloads Windows files over the network to perform a restore. So it's less important to have a backup copy of Windows on hand.

 

[357mag]

I have already been to the ASUS website and downloaded all my drivers for my model. If I really can't keep the factory recovery when doing a clean install, then okay. It's just that this is a new machine for me so I'm a little hesitant about doing a clean install. I have reinstalled Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 many times using my NTLite custom disks, and I have had good luck with it.

But you know a new machine I'm just doing some research first.

 

[garlin]

You can always mount the factory Recovery volume, and capture it using DISM commands.
Capture and apply Windows, system, and recovery partitions

diskpart
select disk 0
list partition
select partition N
assign letter=R
exit
Dism /Capture-Image /ImageFile:C:\Recovery.wim /CaptureDir:R:\ /Name:"ASUS Recovery"

After you recreated a new volume to hold your backed up image, you can extract it. Something like:

Dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:C:\Recovery.wim /Index:1 /ApplyDir:R:\
reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target C:\Windows