I am not sure if this is possible however is there a way of installing Windows 7, ctivating it with my OEM key and then created a recovery partition just in case I am ever in the situation where I need to run it using a hot key during boot?
View 8 RepliesI have a computer with the F10 option when I first turn on the computer. The hard drive failed so I have replaced it and installed windows 7. I am wondering if I can create a recovery partition when I turn on the computer and use the F10 option to restore back to when I first installed windows 7?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI recently upgraded my Acer 722 netbook to an 265GB SSD and installed Windows 7 on it. I was wondering if there was a way to create a partition for a recovery environment (just in case something happens). I have a system image of this pc saved, however I feel it would be best to also create a recovery partition.
Note: This does not have a CD drive.
After purchasing my new Student Version of Windows 7 Professional I was keen to do a full system format, and start fresh. I no longer had a need for the Dell Recovery Partition which contained Vista (and a decent amount of bloatware), so I removed all partitions from my disk to start with a blank 180GB HDD.
I thought to myself, if I am going to start fresh I might as well do things right and mimic Dell’s setup with a recovery partition of my own. Now to be fair, this isn’t an extremely wild idea as there are plenty of manufacturers and software companies who provide such solutions very simple and easy. Everyone knows that Norton Ghost is fantastic, and Acronis TrueImage is right there with them. Of course you can simply run-up Imagex along with WinPE and sysprep a WIM to re-image your HDD at anytime for a free solution.
However, all these solutions require that you have some sort of recovery media for boot time operation, and the Imagex solution isn’t for the faint of heart. Now I do a lot of travel, and I wanted a solution that didn’t require me to look after a bootable DVD or USB stick, and because I am working with a laptop I didn’t have second disk which I could boot from via BIOS settings. My recovery solution had to be a Primary Partition on my only HDD with boot time options (in case my system is completely rooted.)
This turned out to be quite the challenge, as Windows 7 / Vista no longer support the simple easy boot.ini file that allows you to manually adjust boot time parameters. Instead Windows 7 / Vista have moved onto some fancy form of bootsect / BCD (Boot Configuration Data) which is very difficult to edit manually. Thankfully all of my hard work paid off and I now have a self sufficient system with all the diagnostics and re-imaging tools I could ever need. And thanks to Windows 7’s new Backup and Restore options, I was also able to include a system image which contained all of my settings and applications so that I don’t have to sit through 10 hours of Windows Update again.
What I ended up with is a Primary partition on my HDD that is a full and complete bootable version of the Windows 7 installation media. When I choose this partition at boot time it is exactly as if I have inserted the Windows 7 Install DVD into my disk drive! I can utilise all of the tools in the Windows Recovery Console (which includes the option to restore from a previously created system image), or I can simply re-install Windows 7 from scratch - without affecting my restore partition or boot menu variables!
I've just got a Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110, and the keyboard (like most moderately priced keyboards) has numerous 'hot-keys' (like music controls, email button, internet button, calc button etc.) On the side of my keyboard is two hot keys, a 'back' button and a 'close window' button. Now in the Logitech SetPoint software it is possible to customize this buttons function. So I want to make it a 'show desktop' button.
Here's the problem, the SetPoint software is a bit restricted and gives me these (function) choices: Default Task (in this case, close window) Open Web Page Launch Program Open File Open Folder Show Custom Menu Keystroke Assignment Do Nothing So, first of all i tried Keystroke Assignment. Well that would work, just there is only one keyboard short cut i know to show desktop (windows key & D). But this program only takes short cuts that use alpha-numeric keys, Alt or CTRL keys (or in comination, like CTRL+ALT+R) - not the windows key.
Are there any other keyboard shortcuts to show the desktop? Can I make a new keyboard shortcut? But before I started asking that question i thought well ill try 'Open Program'. Found on the Microsoft website the script for Show Dekstop.scf, got that all ready. Targeted the file in SetPoint, no it doesn't work - SetPoint's 'Open Program' only works with executable (exe). So I tried, open file - with the same file, nope - the computer does nothing when that happens.
So let me summarise: Is there an alternative shortcut to Win+D? If not, is there a way of me making a new shortcut (side note, without using a third party program like HotKeyz - coz it doesn't work that way either). Is there an executable script that will show desktop. And I'd need it to be a background sort of script, it'd be crude if everytime I pressed the button up came the cmd box.
how to perform a safe manual restore from the Dell Factory Image Partition. The problem is that i dont have the inbuilt option in the RECOERY MENU OPTIONS PAGE because i performed a fresh install of Windows 7 using the Resource DVD that shipped with the system The recovery partition is intact as the Fresh Install worked only upon the OS partition C:. The contents of the Recovery partition are visible in Command Prompt. In the Explorer it contains the following:
1. Recovery(Folder)
2. Info(Application)
Clicking on the "Info" opens a screen pop up which says: "Warning, This is dell recovery partition. Its contents must not be altered." The contents of the Recovery folder are hidden in the command prompt, but using dir /ah I can see the contents and it contains some of these folders and files as i am seeing it right now:
1. Autorun.inf
2. Desktop.ini
3. info.exe
4. A long list of "Protected.arabic" and like files
5. system 32 (dir)
6. windowsre (dir)
How can i restore the Factory image? After reading a lot of pages in different forums, i feel that it is possible to do a manual restore from this Recovery Partition.
I have been fixing PCs for friends and family for years, some of them are really good at screwing up an OS a only couple months after i install a fresh copy of xp or 7. i would like to be able to create a restore method simple for them to use to reset there machine back to my initial installed state. was thinking something similar to newer PCs F11 restore method or something i could add to a bootloader in 7 or xp making it a "dualboot" with just the OS and the recovery.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI would like to reformat my computer to speed it up again. Does reformatting slow down a computer after already being done? I want to keep some of my files, but I will not be using the windows reformat, I plan to use the "restore to factory settings" option. How would I do this? I have a "recovery" drive and I was wondering if I could store the files I want to keep onto that and when I reformat I could just transfer them over. How should I go about reformatting? I know there is a windows option for "restoring to factory settings." And I know that the last time I reformatted I used an hp tool to restore to factory settings.
View 7 Replies View RelatedTrying to create the 3 recovery discs for my new computer with Windows 7. It keeps asking for a clean disc even though I am putting in new formatted disc. I was able to create the System Recovery Disk with no trouble.
View 5 Replies View RelatedI have Unallocated space at the very end of my hard drive, even after the 25gb Recovery Partition, this is due to copying my old hard drive onto this new one via Clonezilla, and it automatically keeping the unallocated space at the end. Can I either move the unallocated space around the Recovery Partition, or delete the Recovery Partition altogether? Sorry if I am being a little unclear.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI've gotten to the point where I need to just reinstall windows completely on my Asus G74SX (too many problems, I want to start fresh.). I encounter an error 1029 with Asus's recovery disks that I made when I had windows working: it says it is recovering all the way to 100% then doesnt work. I am in the process of trying it again so I'll see if it actually managed to wipe my hard drive like it said it was doing, and maybe if it did actually work and reinstall windows.However, I'd like to be able to get into the recovery partition because I would prefer restoring it with Asus as they recommend me to. However, when I hit F9, their target to get there, it doesn't do anything and just reloads the boot screen, with the Asus logo on it. I don't have an actual Wndows recovery CD so that's not an option, and at this point since my hard drive has likely been wiped by these recovery DVDs, I don't think going into Ubuntu and fixing the MBR will do me much good anymore.It may be worth noting that before I last restarted, I marked the Windows partition as active because of a tutorial here, making it so that recovery partition isn't active anymore.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI installed 7 on my Dell laptop that has no CD-ROM drive. I created a partition (D and set it to Active, installed from that partition, doing a quick format over Vista (C.
All was fine and dandy, but I was getting some boot option, I'm assuming because the Active drive had the install files on it. No problem, I'll set the C: partition to Active.
Reboot, should go away right? Wrong. "Bootmgr is missing."
No problem, there has to be a way to fix this. I'll put the CD in and recover... Or not!
What I have is a 2 gig USB thumbdrive, is there anyway to fix this problem with that? If not, what are my options.
Using the factory Dell restore to get Vista back won't work, I bought the laptop secondhand and they screwed that up.
I need to a system restore point file without getting into the desktop through Windows 7.
View 3 Replies View RelatedI've created the recovery DVDs, but unbeknown to me at the time - you're only allowed to create one set. What i'd like is to put this onto a USB stick.Currently i have:DVD #1 - Boot Media: (312mb)The boot DVD containing "BOOT" folder, BootMgr file which is quite small & Winre.Wim at about 300mb.DVD #2 - Data DVD #1: (4.03GB)factory recovery folder, recovery folder & Autorun fileDVD #3 - Data DVD #2: (3.87GB)factory recovery folder & recovery folder (NO autorun file)DVD #4 - Data DVD #3: (3.04GB)factory recovery folder, recovery folder, LenovoQDrive file, qdrive icon file.My USB stick is 16GB capacity.So basically i'd like to make the USB stick the recovery media. I can't do this from the laptop as Lenovo only let you create one ......... so how can i do this
View 9 Replies View RelatedI made it through the "copy file"s part, then in "verify files" it froze at 89% for about the last half hour.
It says I can only make these files once. If this doesn't finish, will it let me retry?
Today I wanted to create a partition on my WD 3 tb hard drive, so i opened disk manager and shrunk the current partition creating unalcolated space when i right clicked on it to create the new partition all the options were greyed out so i use partition magic to create the partition shortly after BOSD with error 0x00000078 or 7b not sure happened too fast and i have no clue how to get my computer working again, start up recovery has proved useless. i tryed the drive on my old computr and it worked just fine the new partition was there and useable. so can someone please explain how to fix this or if thats not posable please explain a way to get the inportant data(pictures word documents ect.) off my computer so i can reset it to factory settings without looseing anything?
View 2 Replies View RelatedI have recently purchased a new Samsung NC110 netbook with Windows 7 Starter installed. However, I find it runs fairly slowly so I intend to install XP on it from an old installation disc.However, when I first started my netbook I set up a partition with 40Gb allocated to the C drive and the remaining 240 to a D drive. Not being that computer savvy I got confused and despite having a portable hard drive for back up and the computer having a separate hidden restore partition, I went ahead with this.My question is that if I start again with XP can I reset the partition to a single C drive with separate restore area?
View 13 Replies View RelatedI'm thinking of installing Windows 8 on my second hard drive. I'm downloading it right now.
I would like to create a new partition for it so that it isn't on the same volume with my data files. I've done this often using 3rd party software but never using Windows 7 disk manager.
I have my D: drive backed up and will update it before I try anything but is this reasonably straight forward or are there pitfalls I should look out for?
I could always format the disk create the partition and then after installing Windows 8 restore all my data to D: again, but I'd like to keep it as simple as possible. There's over 500 gigs of stuff on my 1TB drive.
My wife has a Compaq Presario CQ61 laptop computer. Windows Explorer shows a D: disk called Recovery. I am assuming that is what is used to restore the system to new by pressing one of the F keys on startup. Is there a way to create a backup disk using this partition? If this hard drive was to fail, I would lose everything on C: disk and would also lose the recovery partition. Have Googled this, but all I can find is the procedure to reinstall using the F key.
View 8 Replies View RelatedI have a new desktop computer with Windows 7. How might I create a DOS partition in the unused portion of the new hard drive. I would like to be able to use QuickBasic v4.5, and able to share the files I create in the DOS volume with the primary NTFS 64bit OS volume.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI want to install a Linux Distro on my laptop. I will post as much details as possible so that you can guide me about how to free up some space so that I can create new partitions for my Linux Distro.I currently use the Linux VM images in VMWare Workstation, however there are certain tasks I need to perform which require, Linux to be installed as an OS instead of running as a VM.I have an HP Laptop which came installed with Windows 7 Home Premium OS.
There are 2 partitions:
C: Drive (Windows Installed on this one)
D: Drive (Recovery)
DiskPart output:
Code: DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 E DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 1 G DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
[code]....
The column alignment is not proper, but hope it's clear that which is is the System Partition and which is the Boot Partition.Now, how do I free up some space on my HDD to be able to install a Linux Distro?I need about 25 GB of Hard drive space for linux including the swap partition.
My friend got a Dell laptop without any OS. I have a Win 7 disk but during the installation, the PC cannot find hard disks at all. I need help in creating a local disk C. The size is 640gigs and I want to use all of them.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have used a DOS utility called copywipe 1.14 to wipe a hard drive for a clean installation of windows 7. However, the utility has not only removed all data from the hard drive, it has also deleted the primary partition and master boot record as far as I am aware. create a primary partition on the hard disk and get it active and ready to accept an installation of Windows 7. I have a bootable USB stick with the windows 7 installation files and prefer to use this for the install as the DVD drive is working inconsistently.However, I think that I need a bootable USB stick with the FDISK and FORMAT programs on it before using the other USB stick with the windows installation, or at least that is my understanding? If my understanding is correct, how do I get a bootable USB stick with the FDISK and FORMAT programs onto it?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI'll make this one short. I had some time ago a GX623 laptop that had a hidden partition from where I installed win7. If anything went wrong, i just asked the laptop on startup to run the recovery manager, and boom, factory settings in 20 minutes flat (cleaned HDD). Now I am planning to get myself a reduced version of the 780DX MSI laptop (normally 2 hdds in raid 0), and i want to get a SSD as boot and a fw extras drive. The problem is i wanted to have that hidden partition on the SSD (and i plan to buy it apart and put it in myself once i figure out the laptop is stable). How to create your own hidden OS install partition...
View 7 Replies View RelatedHow I will create more partitions on our system. Bcz I cant more partition on installation time bcz system not permitting to do this job.what I do???
View 1 Replies View Relatedis not empty - it is almost 80% full but when i click on it there are no files. Tried - to the extent of my knowledge - to see if the files are hidden but didn't reach anywhere. Tried a restore point but that didnt work either.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI have an HP laptop with Windows 7 home premium. When using the HP Recovery manager to create system restore disks, everythong goes ok until I get through the point where it tells me that I will need 4 DVDs and that I should insert one. After inserting the disk, the drive spins for a coouple of seconds, then I get the messages:"There was a problem burning this disk.""There was an error burning this disk. The disk might no longer be usable."I retried several times, inserting different blank DVD-R disks, but always get the same result
View 6 Replies View RelatedI am losing my system restore points and my computer is not creating them on its own.
View 5 Replies View RelatedOn my system I have an SSD, so I have (Windows Restore) turned off. When I download a program and try to install it, it says creating a Restore Point and sits there for a while. A long while. I have found that I can go into Safe Mode and install things with no problem, fast. Even after it is satisfied with the restore point and says it is installing, it will just sit there and drag on. What can I do to get things to install without Safe Mode?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have a workstation on a gaming rig. I work and play games on it. I wanted to ask if I could separate my work files and GAMES setups (installed files) so they don't harm my work data.I do play games with cheats/hacks and they mostly contain malicious files which can damage my operating system. I want to create a seperate DISK image like Vmware in which I can run games without being worried about any harmful files accessing my work partition.
View 5 Replies View RelatedMy daughter has a Dell XPS with Windows 7 on it. It was having alot of issues so short verision after several house with Dell support they told me I would have to tell the computer to go back to the factory version. I followed the steps told to me and now nothing works. When I turn the computer on I do get the Windows word to start then a flash of something that could be an error message of some sort but its not there long enough for me to be sure. I then get something about I need to run a repair, which I do but the repair doesnt work. I tried putting the original install disk in the same thing happens. I have been told to try getting the recovery partition to open but I dont know how. Does this sound right? If so how do I do that and if not what should I do.
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