how to make a data partition with windows 7 on it

bigboi972 said:

I already know how to make a data partition but I wanna know how to make a data partition with windows 7 on it so in the case of an emergency i can use the data partition with windows 7 on it to reinstall the os so I wont have to use a disk im asking because my pc did not come with a partition that has a copy of the preinstalled os on it so you can reinstall the os if needed like with most pcs thats you buy from the store. Im currently useing a preinstalled version of windows 7 but I also have a retail disk with windows 7 on it

This is not going to work unless you have 2 license keys - but even then it is not practical. However, there is a much easier solution when you make an image. You can make it in a partition - but preferably on another HDD for safety reasons if your OS HDD goes south,. But the standard way is to make it on an external disk. Here are all the instructions on how to do it: Imaging with free Macrium