Windows 7: Can't see all of my partitions in ASUS recovery tool

I have an ASUS Essentio desktop computer with no recovery DVD (didn't come with it). It came pre-installed with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. After the last Windows automated update, "something" went wrong (I wasn't here; I suspect my computer-illiterate husband killed the after-restart part of the update process because he was in a hurry) and it froze on the "Starting Windows" screen no matter how I tried to start it up. I had a Windows 7 Pro 32-bit DVD that I had purchased for another computer, so I installed that on this computer and I'm running fine for now. However, the license for that DVD is only good for an upgrade from Vista so I can't activate it for a fresh install. I need to recover the original Windows installation that came with this computer, which I do have the product key for (not to mention the fact that I need my 64-bit installation back so I can access all 6GB of memory!).

So I poked around a bit online and found instructions for using the recovery partition and tried that. I got into the recovery tool fine by pressing F9 on startup. But the only option is to recover the system (fine, that's what I want to do, but it doesn't match the online documentation), and the only partition I can see is a 100MB partition (it shows up as System Reserved on the Disk Management tool - see screen shot). If I click Next, of course it says I need at least a 2GB partition and recovery can't proceed.



In the Disk Management tool, I don't see any partition labeled Recovery as it says in the documentation, but I do have one 8GB unnamed partition on Disk 0. Disk 1 is an additional physical SATA hard drive that I installed; the other two unnamed partitions are on Disk 1 along with the Z: partition where I keep my music and where I have now backed up all of my user data.

Have I managed to somehow wipe out my recovery partition? It seems like I wouldn't be able to get into the recovery tool at all if that were the case. Should I even be able to see a "hidden" partition on the Disk Management tool? How do I get the recovery tool to see the other partitions on Disk 0? Will reformatting Disk 0 or one of its partitions make it visible to the recovery tool? I have everything I care about from Disk 0 backed up to Disk 1 (which I will unplug if I do any formatting), so I'm fine with reformatting any or all of it, but I don't want to bother doing that if it definitely won't fix my problem.

I appreciate any help with this!

Please post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Management drive map with listings showing all columns, using Snipping Tool in Start Menu, so we can advise you better.

All Windows 7 installers are the same - it's the key which determines which version will activate. Also either 32- or 64-bit can be used with each license. So if you want to keep 32 bit you could activate now at Computer>Properties with Product Key on COA sticker as long as it's same version.

But you obviously want to use your full RAM so it's too bad you didn't run Asus Factory REcovery instead of clean reinstall as now your Factory Recovery options may be limited to ordering Recov Disks from Asus Tech Support if you didn't make them earlier.

However you can locate any 64 bit Windows 7 retail installer to Clean Reinstall again with the Product Key on COA sticker. If you download from web, be sure to get a safe copy by googling Official Windows 7 ISO Download at My Digital Life, then burn to DVD or write to flash stick using this tool: Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool

Here are tips to getting a perfect clean reinstall of Factory OEM: Reinstalling Windows 7. It is our specialty here so feel free to ask any questions as we are here to help you get and keep it perfect.

If the PC is under warranty you may want to purchase a set of factory recovery DVDs. My experience with ASUS to date hasn't been great so I wouldn't let them give you problems with a possible future hardware warranty because of a clean install.

Most maker's won't invalidate hardware warranty for clean reinstall, but may refuse to tech support it if you reveal this. For this reason I never tell them I've done a clean reinstall if I need their help.

Most of them are hideously incompetent anyway. Best to come here.

Fair enough.

gregrocker, thanks so much for the advice! I'm back in business with the same edition of Windows 7 I had before. Plus now I have a DVD with the ISO image on it, so no need to buy the recovery disk.

Thanks again, and I'll definitely use this forum again if (when!) I run into more problems!

Glad it helped. You can mark your thread Solved at the top.