REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 3

When you attempt to enable Windows RE by running the reagentc /enable command, the following error may be shown:

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 3

REAGENTC.EXE: An error has occurred.

reagent error 3 - list disk - diskpart

When you attempt to create a USB recovery drive, the following error occurs:

We can't create a recovery drive on this PC

Some required files are missing. To troubleshoot problems when your PC can't start, use your Windows installation disc or media.

reagent error 3 - cannot create recovery drive

The C:\Windows\Logs\Reagent\ReAgent.log may record the following entries:

Info          [ReAgentc.exe] ------------------------------------------------------
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] -----Executing command line: reagentc  /info-----
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] ------------------------------------------------------
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] Enter WinReGetConfig
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] Parameters: configWinDir: NULL
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] WinRE config file path: C:\Windows\system32\Recovery\ReAgent.xml
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] Update enhanced config info is enabled.
Warning       [ReAgentc.exe] winreConvertDirNameToOffset failed to get volume name (0x1126) in file base\diagnosis\srt\reagent2\reinfo\shared.cpp line 1821
Error         [ReAgentc.exe] winreConvertDirNameToOffset failed: 0x3
Warning       [ReAgentc.exe] ReAgentConfig::ReadBcdAndUpdateEnhancedConfigInfo winreConvertDirNameToOffset (\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume5\Recovery\WindowsRE) returned 0X3 
Warning       [ReAgentc.exe] ReAgentConfig::ParseConfigFile WinRE disabled (read bcd and update config info returned with 0x3) 
Warning       [ReAgentc.exe] ReAgentConfig::Init failed to init reagent xml parser (0x3) in file base\diagnosis\srt\reagent2\reinfo\parser_2.0.cpp line 1921
Warning       [ReAgentc.exe] WinReGetConfigInternal failed to init agent config (0x3) in file base\diagnosis\srt\reagent2\reinfo\shared.cpp line 155
Warning       [ReAgentc.exe] winre get config failed with error code 0x3
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] Exit WinReGetConfig return value: 0, last error: 0x3
Error         [ReAgentc.exe] failed to get winre config: 0x3
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] ------------------------------------------------------
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] -----Exiting command line: reagentc  /info, Error: 3-----
Info          [ReAgentc.exe] ------------------------------------------------------

Disk Management shows that the recovery partition is intact. It’s located on Disk 0 and Partition 5 in this example.

diskmgmt reagent error 3

And diskpart’s list part command tells the same thing.

DISKPART> list part

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System             100 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Primary            199 GB   101 MB
  Partition 3    Reserved            16 MB   200 GB
  Partition 4    Primary            276 GB   200 GB
  Partition 5    Recovery           749 MB   476 GB

reagent error 3 - list disk - diskpart

The bcdedit /enum osloader command may show the correct path to WinRE.

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {a75d88de-1b84-11ef-b9dd-cc96e535c78c}
device                  ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume5]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{a75d88df-1b84-11ef-b9dd-cc96e535c78c}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows Recovery Environment
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
displaymessage          Recovery
osdevice                ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume5]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{a75d88df-1b84-11ef-b9dd-cc96e535c78c}
systemroot              \windows
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard
winpe                   Yes

Cause

Error 0x3 means ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND (Path not found). This can happen if the Reagentc tool does not detect the recovery partition, and the root cause is incorrect attributes assigned to it.

The Diskpart’s “detail partition” shows that the recovery partition has incorrect attributes.

Partition 5
Type    : de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
Hidden  : Yes
Required: Yes
Attrib  : 0XC000000000000001
Offset in Bytes: 511323406336

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 3         Recovery     NTFS   Partition    749 MB  Healthy    Hidden

reagent error 3 - list disk - diskpart

The attributes value of 0XC000000000000001 means the following bit has been enabled that causes the partition to be hidden:



0x4000000000000000 – Hides a partition’s volume so it’s not detected by the mount manager.

Src: gpt | Microsoft Learn

Resolution

To resolve the REAGENT error 0x3, fix the GPT attributes value for the recovery partition.

The recovery partition is located on Disk 0 and Partition 5 in this example. Please see the above screenshot.

In that case, please run these commands from an admin Command Prompt:

diskpart

select disk 0

select part 5

gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001

exit

reagent error 3 - list disk - diskpart

Now, run the following command:

reagentc /info

reagent error 3 - list disk - diskpart - resolved

That fixes the issue.


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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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