Hi je,
Before you go any further, go to folder options and make sure Hidden files and protected o/s files are showing.
Browse the HD - including the recovery partition ( post screenies of partition contents).
Someone found this on his HP machine - burned it as an image to dvd - reinstalled perfectly.
If you can find something similar, or even the installation files - we should be able to get a bootable .iso .
You can keep that safe in case you want it in the future.
Belarc Advisor is great, what a useful piece of software. I am going to backup files to an external USB drive including the Windows/System32/Drivers folder. Attached is the Disk Management Map.
I will have a look and see if I can find an ISO image.
So far so good :)
This is pretty straightforward with no surprises.
Back up your files to another HD along with a Win7 backup image so you can start over, as Resizing operations can fail. Make Vista recovery disks if you can as a backup to factory condition.
You'll need to use Partition Wizard bootable CD and your Win7 install DVD or Repair CD.
Boot into PW and rightclick Modify>Set active Win7 partition. OK each step but wait til last to Apply.
Now rightclick Modify>Set inactive Vista partition, then rightclick Delete Vista partition (ignore warnings).
Now rightclick Resize Windows 7 partition, dragging the left border all the way over against the left side of the HD. Apply all steps.
Now boot into Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, click through to Recovery Tools and run Startup Repair 3 separate times as it needs to test, attempt to repair and then rewrite the MBR to Win7.
You can later test if the Vista Recovery partition is still functioning by tapping the key given for Recovery on the first bootup screen. If not, I'd delete it.
If you have any further questions or need help with this, I will be back at noon PST Monday.
Following SIW2's advice I have looked to see if there was an HP ISO image but do not see one. The computer has a Recovery Partition which contains a special folder which could be an ISO image but I cannot see the actual contents, right clicking offers to expand it!). I have tried making the HP recovery disks several times but as usual this is another useless bit of OEM software which gives up, its says it will restart next time but never does. So the recovery drive is the only one which has the original HP installation Pack including the OS. Perhaps I could clone this recovery partition?
On the C: Drive there is a folder called SwSetup which appears to mainly contain the HP bloatware it appears to contain drivers as well.
I have attached images of the C drive, the SwSetup folder and the D drive (Recovery).
I wanted to make a backup of the Win7 drive to an external USB disk, Can I just back up the entire Win7 partition (currently the F drive) as I only need to backup parts of the C drive.
The installation of W7 went fine the only intervention being after the install when I used the original Vista drivers to fix a few hardware issues revealed by System Hardware Manager. I figure that before removing the Vista installation what I need to do is:
1) Backup all the personal data on the C drive, plus the Windows System32 folder and the SwSetup folder.
2) Backup or clone the Recovery partition for Vista
3) Backup the existing Win7 installation partition.
At that point I think I should be ready to follow Greg's advice to remove the Vista installation and dual boot.
At present everything seems to be working fine but I may need some HP software although nothing like as many as they installed, but I think this would be best done from the HP site once Win 7 is installed.
Many thanks for all the advice, learnt a few things today and picked up some useful utilities. (BTW I used a free program called Easeus to create the Win7 partition as Vista's disk management software would not perform.)
Tomorrow will hopefully bring me to the point where we have only Win7 and can start re-installing all the software.
To those who have suggested alternatives to Kaspersky, thanks I am inclined to agree as the new upgrade to the 2010 program is giving me a real hard time on my network. Both the Kaspersky 2010 equipped systems fail to connect to the Workgroup properly since installation, pity I went for a 2 year licence!!!
Jon
Have a look in the C:\HP folder (in the first screenshot)
Also look in HpImgEnh in the second screenshot.
SW setup looks quite complete but remember those are Vista drivers so only use as last resort since Win7 installer/Updates are newer. Read the text file there.
The Recovery partition is good for only making your recov disks or recover to factory condition. But it won't make the disks, will lose the ability to recover from the OS once you remove Vista, so would only possibly be needed if you can still trigger Recovery by tapping the key given on the first bootup screen. This is why I suggested you wait to delete it until you test this after Vista deletion. But you can also test it now to see if it is worth keeping even that long.
You might well find a recov ISO in one of those HP folders as SIW2 wisely suggests.
Easeus is not the tool you need now, btw, use Partition Wizard bootable CD for this job.
Remember to save a Win7 Back up image externally so you can start over if necessary. Test it by booting the Win7 DVD>Repair>Recover Using Image to autodetect, cue up image in root of external or a primary formatted partition internal HD.
Last edited by gregrocker; 28 Dec 2009 at 18:28.
Usually you can mark the Recovery partition Active and boot straight into the oem recovery program.
Even if there is no .iso , often the installation files are on there and can be made into a bootable .iso with vlite, or similar.
Is there a way to test marking Active to know if it will work if Recov partition is kept? If so, can you bail out of the process after testing it so far?
Could marking recov active derail the boot?
The install files you refer to: full recov or just Win7? How would they be recognizable to OP if recov?
Noted the Partition Wizard advice and downloaded the iso image last night.
One quick question for Greg, you said,
"Remember to save a Windows 7 Back up image externally so you can start over if necessary. Test it by booting the Windows 7 DVD>Repair>Recover Using Image to autodetect, cue up image in root of external or a primary formatted partition internal HD.
This makes complete sense of course and I have a 160Gb External USB drive to do this but when I run Win7 Backup it wants to backup both the Vista drive C:\ and the Win7 F:\ drives and since C is pretty full it won't fit on the 160Gb ext USB. I could go for the manual selection but here is my question, if I manually just backup the Win 7 partition will this provide me with the Win7 Image I would need for a recovery?
The Recovery partition is protected by HP and will not show the contents. To use this it is necessary to press F11 when requested during the boot process, according to HP instructions.
The HpImgEnh folder noted by SIW2 contains aome HP image enhancement software, I also looked in the HP folder and as far as I can see there is no iso image and it is primarily the folder that provides instructions and commands for some HP utilities, there is s folder called recovery but it only contains links which all point to the CD/DVD reader.
The way I see it is that we have managed to install Win 7 and it works fine, I needed a few drivers from the old Vista installation and will have to look for some Win7 compatible HP Utilities e.g the special quick launch keys that launch media player, but these are largely not essential. So, if worst came to the worst, as long as I have backed up the drivers and all the personal data, I could re-install Win 7 from the DVD again.
Am going to start backing up the personal docs, drivers etc
Many thanks for all your assistance,
Jon
Are you saying the Backup program will allow you to save just the Win7 image?
Because if it will then that is all you need to reimage Win7 along back to the HD, which is your goal.
You only need your files backed up from Vista since it's leaving the building. No need for image.
Do you want to test tapping F11 at bootup to see if the recov partition still works, which is doubtful since it wouldn't make your same ISO recov disks? Then you'd know for sure it can be deleted. Otherwise you can wait til Win7 install to see if it still works, even more doubtful.
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