How to Download and Use Lenovo OneKey Recovery in Windows

🌟 Video Guide: How to Use Lenovo OneKey Recovery

About Lenovo OneKey Recovery

Security is very important for every user who uses a laptop or desktop, so Lenovo the world’s 2nd largest computer-selling company upgraded the Lenovo OneKey recovery. It’s a backup and recovery tool preinstalled in Lenovo computers, such as Ideapad 110, and used to factory reset your system with one click. You just need to press the F11 key after restarting and you will go to the hidden recovery partition.

To be honest, Lenovo Recovery is very useful, especially when your computer is in the event of a disaster. However, it still has some disadvantages you cannot ignore.

✘ Lenovo Onekey recovery cannot be used on other branded computers, such as HP, Dell, Samsung, etc.
✘ The recovery partition will be unavailable, especially after reinstalling the system, resizing disk space, changing the drive letter of C: drive, etc.
✘ The latest backup will override your previous backup. That’s to say, if you use Lenovo one key recovery to create a backup image when you get your computer, the factory image backup on the disk will be removed.
✘ It only keeps the most basic utility and applications during the restoration. That's to say, the installed programs and personal data on the system partition will be lost.
✘ Besides, this recovery tool will not work as usual sometimes. It will throw you an error message, such as the current system cannot support backup, driver initialization failed, the f11 key not working, etc.

Anyway, it's helpful for users to protect systems and data. And I'll introduce you to how to use Lenovo onekey recovery in Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11. Please keep reading below to get details.

How to download Lenovo Recovery

You can use the Lenovo Recovery Tool to make a Windows 10 recovery key for your Lenovo computer. But first, make sure you have what you need:

• A USB key with 16GB or more space, and should be USB 2.0 or 3.0. Remember, everything on the USB key will be wiped.
• A computer to download the recovery files and make the USB recovery key.
• Make sure you have at least 20GB of free space on your computer for the recovery files.
• Your computer should be running Microsoft Windows® 7 or a newer version.
• It's best to have a fast internet connection, around 20 Mbps.

If you've got all that sorted, let's move on to the next steps.

Step 1: Order your recovery media and download the Lenovo Recovery Media Creator tool.
Step 2: Run the Lenovo USB Recovery Creator tool and choose the option to download recovery files and create a recovery USB key.

Step 3: Enter your Lenovo ID and password that you used when you placed the digital download order. Then, click the Sign-in button.

Step 4: Select your Digital Download order and choose where you want to download the files.

Step 5: Once the files are downloaded, connect a spacious USB to make the recovery key.

Step 6: Click Yes to create partitions, then wait while the USB recovery key is made.

How to use the Lenovo OneKey Recovery function

In Lenovo computer, you need to use Lenovo OneKey Recovery in the following two situations:

#1: Backup Lenovo system. You can find this software through "Start" > "All programs" > "Lenovo" > "Lenovo OneKey Recovery" if you are running the system. Then, you will see the following interface, click "System Backup" to backup Lenovo laptop or desktop.

#2: Recover the Lenovo laptop or desktop.  If your Lenovo computer is unbootable, you need to use the Lenovo OneKey recovery button (also called the Novo button) to boot it and factory reset the Lenovo desktop or laptop with the "System Recovery" option.

Note: The Novo button is used to boot your computer in recovery mode and start the recovery program. In general, this button is on the upper left corner of the Top near the Power button.

Create a bootable system backup with Lenovo Recovery

To create an initial backup with one key recovery:

1. In Windows, double-click the OneKey Recovery icon to start the Lenovo OneKey Recovery system. Then, click on "System Backup" on the main page.
2. Select the backup destination and type backup notes for distinguishing, then click "Next".

Restore your Lenovo laptop or desktop with the Novo button

To restore your backup with the "Novo" button, use the following steps:

1. Power off the PC and press the "Novo" button to start the Lenovo OneKey system.
2. In the Novo Button Menu, select "System Recovery".

3. Select “Restore from initial backup” or “Restore from user’s backup” , then click "Next".

4. Click "Start" and wait until the process is finished. Then, follow the instructions on the screen to configure the settings.

Note: To perform Lenovo system restore with data loss, you need to backup files on the system drive. This is because the Lenovo OneKey Recovery only deletes files on the system partition.

Lenovo OneKey Recovery not working - how to fix it easily

As mentioned earlier, Lenovo OneKey Recovery is helpful for system protection but sometimes it is not working due to any change in the system partition, such as drive letter, clean install, etc. We summarize some practical methods in the following to help you. 

Way 1: Recreate partition with Diskpart

If you mistakenly delete data and use unallocated space on the drive, you will be told that this program cannot restore the system partition because its structure is incorrect. It also provides you with actionable advice, you need to recreate the partition to continue.

1. Type cmd in the search box and select Run as administrator. 
2. In the command prompt window, type the following commands and hit Enter one by one. 

• list disk
• sel disk n (n is the drive letter of system partition with Lenovo OneKey Recovery)
• list part
• sel part m (m is the drive letter of recovery or OEM partition)
• set id=12
• exit

Way 2:  Create a new backup to the recovery partition

If you decide to change the drive letter of your System Partition, it's important to make a new backup for the recovery partition. This ensures that you can still use Lenovo system restore if something goes wrong. A great tool for this task is AOMEI OneKey Recovery.

👍 With it, you can make a bootable recovery partition quickly in all operating systems, from Windows 7 to Windows 11 and Server 2003 to Server 2022.  Unlike Lenovo Recovery, the recovery partition will not be affected by changes in the system partition, either drive letter, disk space, unallocated space, etc. And you can use it on all computer brands, such as Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, etc.
👍 Besides, you schedule onekey system backup daily, weekly, or monthly, and it will back up the system on a regular basis once you enable it. Thus, you will get all the changes made later without deleting old backups. And it provides you with two quick recovery keys, you can choose to boot a computer with F11 or A and then perform a system restore quickly.

To get started, please download AOMEI OneKey Recovery and install it. To protect unlimited PCs or customize UI, you need to upgrade to Technician or Customization Edition.

1. Launch AOMEI OneKey Recovery after installing and click on  "OneKey System Backup" on the main page.

2. Choose the recommended backup option - "Backup system to AOMEI OneKey Recovery Partition", and click "Next".

Notes: 
✔ By default, the backup image created on the recovery partition is hidden, so no one can delete it without permission.
✔ Besides the recovery partition, you still can back up the system to other locations with the second option.  

3. Click "Backup Options" to set normal and high compress levels to compress the backup image and reduce the disk space it will use. Also, you can set a password to avoid any unwanted access.

4. At the same time, you can click "Scheduler" and enable daily, weekly, or monthly schedule backups to keep changes. 

5. Select a partition to create a recovery partition and store the backup image on it. Then, tag "Start Backup".

After the process, it will add a boot menu to the recovery environment. Thus, in a system crash or something like that, you can click on the shortcut icon or keep tapping "F11"/ "A" at the system startup to start the Lenovo system recovery. Click "OneKey System Recovery" and then follow the on-screen instructions.

Recommendation: powerful OneKey Recovery software

Except for AOMEI OneKey Recovery, you still can create a bootable backup with another powerful backup and restore software - AOMEI Backupper Professional. 

• It not only supports creating system backup, but also disk backup, partition backup, and file backup. 

• It supports daily, weekly, and monthly, event triggers, and USB plug-in schedule backup.
• It is able to reduce backup image size with different features, not only compression but also splitting, incremental or differential backup, automatic backup cleanup, etc.

•  It still allows you to create a boot repair USB or recovery environment to help you boot the computer and restore the computer to an earlier date, even with dissimilar hardware.

FAQs about Lenovo Recovery

1. Does Lenovo offer BIOS recovery?

If you've had trouble with a BIOS update, there's a way to fix it. First, visit the support website and follow the instructions to download the UEFI BIOS package. Then, save the ROM file on your computer.

2. How can I force BIOS recovery?

To force BIOS recovery, try pressing CTRL + ESC. This key combination can help trigger BIOS recovery, especially if you're using an external keyboard as your main input device.

3. Is it possible to recover a corrupted BIOS?

Yes, there are ways to recover a corrupted BIOS. If your motherboard has a backup BIOS, you can boot into it and reflash the corrupted BIOS. If there's no backup BIOS, you might need to replace the BIOS chip. In some cases, though, replacing the motherboard might be the only option.

Summary

After learning about Lenovo Recovery in Ideapad 110 or similar models, you might encounter situations where it doesn't work. Don't worry; we've got two easy fixes for you in this article. Plus, the second method can serve as an alternative to Lenovo OneKey Recovery.

This solution allows you to effortlessly back up your Lenovo system and other branded computers. Whether you want to back up the system to a recovery partition or backup the system to an external hard drive, it's all possible depending on your system's disk size. Moreover, you can schedule regular backups daily, weekly, or monthly, reducing the risk of data loss. In short, it's a handy tool for protecting your system!