Cannot Create USB Recovery

I purchased the same computer a Dell Inspiron 13 7352 and I am receiving the message "We can't create the recovery drive.  A problem occurred while creating the recovery drive.".  It seems that maybe Dell needs to figure this out.  I called Dell and have talked to no less than 10 people and they keep saying that I have reached the wrong department.  The last person put me on hold over an hour ago.  I am only staying on the phone to see how long it actually takes.  This is the first Dell product that I have ever purchased and so far, I am not impressed.  I hope I haven't made a mistake by purchasing a Dell product.

Dell XPS 8700, one week old, as delivered. Just ran the Create USB Recovery utility and got the message "We can't create the recovery drive.  A problem occurred while creating the recovery drive." Problem occurred at about the 50% point.

I had earlier called Dell on a missing software issue and got the royal run-around, so I won't waste further time calling support on this.

This is the first Dell product that I have ever purchased and so far, I too am not impressed.

I bought an Inspiron 7548 about 2 weeks ago - and exact same issue - I have tried 3 times and every time receive:  "We can't create the recovery drive,  a problem occurred while creating."   Of course no error number or anything to help.  I called Dell support also, and couldn't believe it when the first thing technician actually asked me, "Why do you want to create a recovery drive?"

I can't find anything on Google to help - this is ridiculous.  I tried going back to Best Buy for help, but didn't buy the Geek Squad plan - so they would charge me.

You can't use the 128 GB USB flash drive, use a 16 GB one it'll suffice see here for details:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery-1-8-1-71/

Note you should also update to the latest UEFI BIOS A07:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/updating-the-bios/

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER03153731M/1/7348_7352_7558_A07.exe

Then prepare for Windows 10:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/upgrading-to-windows-10/

NATAKUC4: My issue is with the Dell Inspiron 5555. I get the same error "We can't create the recovery drive". I have a 32GB flash drive. I tried the 16GB and received the same message. The bios update for this PC does not say it is for Windows 10, only Windows 8.1 and lower (see link below). We just purchased this laptop on the 1st of September, 2015. Very frustrating. My wife wants to install her programs for her business but I wanted to create a recovery disc/drive first.  Flash Drive is my only option.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=J3Y5M

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/6FC1Y52/drivers

My XPS 8700 is one month old.  Like any sensible user, first thing I tried to do after setting up the computer was create a recovery drive.  I received the same message.  I contacted Dell and received the same question "why do I want to do that?"

After a problem with the On button (had to press it 3 or 4 times for the computer to boot), it turns out the hard disc had a problem.  That was replaced and now my original software (Dell, Cyberlink DVD, McAfee, Adobe) is all missing.  I cannot register my system with Dell to re-install the software.

Not very happy.  Dell has certainly gone downhill since my first Dell 12 years ago.

I too hit the same problem trying to create a recovery drive using a 32GB USB stick, following the instructions here:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/uk/en/ukbsdt1/SLN297924/EN

If I untick the "Back up system files to the recovery drive" checkbox, the process works but that's not what I want.

Same here - I just purchased my Dell Inspiron 13-7352 from Best Buy yesterday.  The only thing I have installed on the system is Microsoft Office.  I tried to create a recovery drive with a  freshly formatted 16 GB USB drive and got the same error - We can't create the recovery drive.  No other explanation.  The first time it appeared that it was working and stopped when the green bar was about halfway across.  Every time I've tried after that I get the message immediately.    I purchased the protection plan from Geek Squad so I guess I'll take it back to them, but it's ridiculous that a brand new PC is already having problems! 

Same here, it also says I need at least an 8gig USB stick, and it doesn't seem to recognize the two I have.  And when I use the 16gig I see it slowly fill it up and then fail.  I would *** it is the software and not the PC.  I have a feeling it is gathering up the install media incorrectly or something.

I have had problems with some Dell software on my Alienware 17 laptop when I switched to Win10 too.  I actually stopped using it as the diagnostic can have random failures.  So, I think Dell's software may not be as ready for Win10 as we would like...

Arrgh.  Along with boatloads of other Dell customers, I'm also experiencing this same issue with a brand new Dell Inspiron 15 5000.  I also receive the "We cannot create a recovery drive" error when selecting "Back up system files to the recovery drive" .  The recovery drive is created when this is not checked, but would really like my system files also on the drive.

The "Cryptographic Services failed while processing the OnIdentity() call in the System Writer Object" error also appears in the Event Viewer Application log.

This problem seems to be highly pervasive problem.  Is anyone from Dell actually working on it?  I'm hesitant to even contact them based on the "why would you want a recovery drive?" responses from them referenced in other posts.

Well after a week (and no response from Microsoft or Dell), I have finally got this problem worked out.  I actually took the first laptop back to Best Buy because it was having other problems too.  I got a new Dell Inspiron 7352 (same model) and the first thing I did after setup was attempt the recovery USB.  I got the same error.  Just out of curiosity, I tried a 32 GB USB and the recovery drive completed WITH the System Files. When I went back to look at the space used, it was actually 17.3 GB.  So, you need to use a 32 GB USB drive to complete the process, not a 16GB like Windows tells you. 

I don't think this would have worked on the first laptop though because I was getting the error message before the computer even asked what drive I would like to use.  The error was almost immediate.  I did find the following article that discusses how to fix this, but I never got around to trying it because I just took the first laptop back.  Here is it if anyone wants to try it to see if it helps.  It's a little bit of a process, but if it works it would be worth it: 

https://www.winhelp.us/restore-windows-re.html

Hope this helps!

Funny that you tried a 32GB.  I actually bought a 128 GB specifically for the recovery drive even though you supposedly only need 16GB.  Anyway, when I tried to create the recovery drive (with system files), the 128GB got re-formatted automatically to 32GB.  The recovery drive process crashed anyway.

There's still more... when I tried to re-format the 32GB back to 128 GB, all I could do was 32GB in FAT32, exFAT and NTFS.

I ended up sending the USB stick back to when I purchased it from (Aldi) and they apparently were able to re-format it back to 128GB.  However, they said that 11GB was taken up with "system files" so I only get 117GB worth of storage.  I find it hard to believe that the files necessary to make a USB stick work is 11GB!

I had to have a technician look at another problem (computer turning off by itself during boot process) and I asked them to create the recovery  for me on a 32GB USB.  The motherboard had to be replaced and everything re-installed.  Initially, the put Windows 8 on instead of Win10.  They told me they created a recovery drive but I have a funny feeling it was for Windows 8 and not 10.

Thanks for the link to Winhelp.

Thank you for posting.  I was using a 16GB drive and also received an error message.

After reading your post I changed to a 32GB and no problems.  Thanks again :)

Thanks to your post I will not proceed first on this recovery disk process with my newly purchased 128GB USB 3.0 thumb stick I got.

Recently got this DELL Inspiron 15 5000 series laptop cheap from Best Buy black friday and I was going to try the recovery backup and it was failing like everyone else. Though I don't want to lose most of the data on this drive for that as it did when it reformatted your drive.

I'm going to try the Windows Backup instead and see if what that leads me to.

Download Windows 10 TH2 as a .iso and make installation media:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-windows-10-oem-and-retail-iso/