To fix the issue you need to change the Recovery partition type and take a snapshot using DiskShadow (will explain later).
Microsoft has a number of standardized GPT partition types:
EFI system partition: c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
Basic data partition: ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7
Microsoft Reserved partition: e3c9e316-0b5c-4db8-817d-f92df00215ae
LDM metadata partition on a dynamic disk:5808c8aa-7e8f-42e0-85d2-e1e90434cfb3
LDM data partition on a dynamic disk: af9b60a0-1431-4f62-bc68-3311714a69ad
Cluster metadata partition: db97dba9-0840-4bae-97f0-ffb9a327c7e1
Only the first 2 partition types are of interest for this KB article.
To solve the issue please do the following:
1. Open a CMD console on the Protected Server and run diskpart
2. Run
DISKPART> List Disk <assuming that the system disk is Disk 0>
DISKPART> Select Disk 0
DISKPART> List partition
The recovery partition is most likely Partition 1 and the EFI one Partition 2. Partition 3 (Microsoft Reserved Partition) is probably a 128MB partition necessary to perform by GPT related tasks. (Its GUID ID is the 3rd entry in the list above).
Assuming that Partition 1 is the Recovery partition, run
DISKPART> Select Partition 1
DISKPART> detail partition
You get a reply similar to:
Partition 1
Type : de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
Hidden : Yes
Required: Yes
Attrib : 0X8000000000000001
Offset in Bytes: 1048576
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- -------
* Volume 2 Recovery NTFS Partition 300 MB Healthy Hidden
The partition Type (de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac) is not on the Microsoft recommended list and you need to change it.
To change the partition type.
DISKPART> set id=ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7 (Basic Data Partition in the list above)
Getting the partition details reveals that the partition type was changed
DISKPART> detail partition
Partition 1
Type : ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7
Hidden : No
Required: Yes
Attrib : 0X8000000000000001
Offset in Bytes: 1048576
There is no volume associated with this partition.
Once this is done, restarting the VDS service, re-scanning the drives, and bouncing the RapidRecoveryAgent service would make the Recovery partition to be properly shown in the RapidRecovery GUI and allow protection.
However, at this point the EFI partition cannot be added to protection.
To do that, you need totake a VSS snapshot. This in turn will re-enumerate the drives and as a result fix the EFI issue.
If the Agent experiences some VSS issues use https://support.quest.com/kb/117647 to reset them. In most cases, restarting the Microsoft VSS provider service, the VDS service and the VSS service would solve the issue. (If the SQL writer is failed, it can be restarted as well; the Exchange Agent writer requires a restart of the Information Store).
The best way of taking a VSS snapshot is to use DISKSHADOW as it works on all supported versions of Windows.
At the same command prompt Exit Diskpart and enter Mountvol to get the list of the volume IDs, as not all volumes have letters. Run Diskshadow and enter the following commands:
DISKSHADOW>set verbose on
DISKSHADOW>set context volatile
DISKSHADOW>add volume \\?\VolumeSystemReserved###### (replace with GUID from disk properties)
DISKSHADOW>add volume c:
Note: Add each drive letter present.
DISKSHADOW>Begin backup
DISKSHADOW>create
DISKSHADOW>End Backup
Bounce the RapidRecoveryAgent service -- if you did not do so already and, in the RapidRecovery GUI refresh the agent.
Both the Recovery and the EFI partitions may be protected now.