What is the system reserve partition in Win 7

Bill2 said:

Ok, here comes the cavalry. The only thing the sysres is required for is bitlocker, if you use that feature. Its not required for F8-Repair your computer to function (this is about the nth time I'm saying it and soon I'll start sounding like a parrot). So, IF you wish you can manage things without sysres quite nicely. But if you're lazy like me and already have it, let it be, its harmless and only takes a corner of your massive hard disk.

If you have installed Windows 7, you have the F8 option installed, or can use the Windows 7 DVD or use the Startup Repair CD
System Repair Disc - Create

Bill2 said:

I just ran bootrec /rebuildbcd on one of my machines with no sysres and the F8 option is undisturbed. See ya later, work beckons.

I'm just reflecting issues others have reported.
What would clinch it for me would be if you had deleted the [Boot] folder first so the system clearly wasn't booting. Then ran bootrec /rebuildbcd.

maxseven said:

I'd never seen this "Repair your Windows installation?" before, apparently an Acer thing, ....

It's a Windows thing or taken from a Windows thing. Part of Winre (Windows recovery environment). Also commonly used with the system repair disk.

Take a look at this base tutorial: Base on removing the HD Drive with the boot files.
Help me get windows 7 to boot (again)