Razer System Recovery "Only support running under WinPE" error

Hi, I don't know if you are still having this problem, but I had the same problem like today. I discovered that the recovery image given by razer migth be a little outdated (depending on the model), when you download the image you get a name like "L25_20H1_T02”, I was running the 22H2 and it gave me the same problem, installing the 20H1 solved my problem. (also my laptop is very picky when it comes to usb key for the os).
I found out that this particular USB drive works flawlessly for every os and even the razer recovery (https://a.co/d/hX2ouju)

I have the same problem with my stick. It says “only support running under WinPE” how did you guys solve it?

For me this was fixed this by formatting the disk in FAT32 instead of NTFS

The problem is that the recovery folder in my case (Blade 14 2023) has files larger than 4GB, which is not supported by FAT32.

I wonder if Razer even tests their recover images. I’m really surprised how painful the recovery process is, it can be significantly improved by just providing a bootable ISO image that can be burned on to any drive as is without manual re-formatting and copying.

Any way to fix this, I am currently experiencing this issue

Great support team work… 

Another customer here with the exact same issue. supplied image boots from NTFS key, but as noted above fat32 does not support > 4gb files.

Also tried a windows 11 installer from Microsoft, and am presented with the need to install a driver to proceed/install windows. I expect this is for NVME access while installing windows.

Any suggestions on how to resolve?

Same issue here with my Razer Blade 16. I followed the official steps on how to create and use a system recovery stick for the Razer Blade. After requesting the recovery image from Razer, they provided a zip file which I extracted onto an NTFS USB drive.

When I try to boot from the drive, the razer system recovery starts, but I’m presented with a window that says “Only support running under WinPE”.

I’m not sure how to proceed from here. I’ve seen suggestions about formatting the USB to FAT32, but the image contains an install.swm file that is over 5GB, making FAT32 incompatible.

Any suggestions on how to resolve this would be appreciated!

After two days of troubleshooting, I finally found a solution. Here’s what I learned:

• The problem wasn’t related to having any specific version of Windows installed on the machine. The recovery drive operates with its own version of Windows, called WinPE (Windows Preinstallation Environment).
• The real issue seemed to be related to the type of USB drive used. I discovered that newer USB drives may have compatibility issues with WinPE when formatted as NTFS.
• For some people, using FAT32 works as a solution, since it's an older file system that seems to resolve these issues. However, FAT32 can’t handle files larger than 4GB, which can be a problem when dealing with large recovery files.

My solution: Use an older USB drive. Once I switched, the recovery process went smoothly, even with NTFS formatting.

Hopefully, this helps anyone else facing the same issue!

I had the same issue, wasted hours on this issue until I found this thread and ​@edwinner03 contribution. I changed to a different old USB drive, one I hadn’t used, and it worked. Thanks!!