Windows 7 installer sets its own path as C:\ - cannot install to C:\

Show us a picture of Disk Management with only disc 2 with the Reserve and C partitions.

You are correct Derek.
If one follows the instruction that have been given I don't know how one get to using the Recovery option.

I've said already that I'm trying to repair Windows, not do a clean install.

I do not have a restore point or a back up or any such thing. I am picking the option to attempt to repair Windows from the installer.

It is finding my Windows installation at an erroneous location because the installer itself is screwing up the drive paths by insisting that the installer is drive C.

Also, you've seen my disk management screenshot with every disk there is, the rest are daemon drives and my physical yet not functional DVD drive.

I'm guessing I'm asking in the wrong place and should take it up with support from my motherboard manufacturer.

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Edit: For giggles, I decided to see if the in-Windows repair method would actually behave properly despite the wonky behavior of USB mounting, and I hit a much more significant wall:

"There is not enough free space on partition (C:). A total of 16480 megabytes (MB) of free disk space is required. Try Disk Cleanup, or moving files to an external location such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive, and then restart the installation."

Done all the cleanup I'm going to do on the drive, and am nowhere close to 16 GB free, so whatever. I'll either deal with this another time or just live with the installation being borked.