Restoring Windows 7 from Windows 8 Developer Preview

What if I merged the partition with c:/ ... could I then copy it and make it bootable?

You should be able to access the contents of the recovery partition.


First make sure it has a partition id windows can see - you have done that.

Second make sure it has a drive letter.

Third, if it is hidden, unhide it - I think partition wizard has an unhide function - don't know how good that is tho.

Paragon products seem to be able to recognize and unhide just about anything - but I don't think their free versions do that.

Try with PW first - if not, I may have another suggestion you can use.

Ok, It said it wasn't hidden inside of partition wizard - partition wizard will let me view the contents of the recovery partition, windows explorer will not.

I tried paragon trail, but it says 'unknown operating system'

How dangerous is it to merge the recovery partition with C: ?

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

No harm to try: Partition - Mark as Active.

You might have to give it a letter: Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

I'd try again with the hotkey if it doesn't boot into it outright.

Merging is not a particularly dangerous operation - it is the kind of thing partition managers do all the time.

Not sure what you hope to achieve by doing that.

Given that your aim is to run the factory restore process.

The Dell program inside the bootable.wim will be expecting install.wim to be in a predefined place.

If it somewhere different - i.e. on a different partition - it may not be able to locate it.

As it is your "C" partition you want to overwrite with the restore image - how are you going to do that if the restore image is also on "C".


As you cannot access the .wim from windows explorer - then it must be hidden from windows explorer in some way.

Have a look with this and see if it throws any light on the matter.


Click the Parts Manage Tab, then highlight the recov partition

Attachment 194953


Also, please post a screenshot of windows disk management - we are working blind here.

That is always the first thing to try.

Didn't someone already suggest it on this thread ? - it appears not - that's what I get for not reading the thread thoroughly.

LOL

Ztruker said:

I think if you make the Recovery partition active instead of the Win 7/8 partition then reboot, the recovery process will load. At least this worked for me on a Sony VAIO recently.

I made a backup image of the recovery partition. Replaced the hard drive then restored the recovery image to the new hard drive and made it active. When I rebooted the recovey process started and restored the computer to factory state.

I don't remember if I had to assign a drive letter to the recovery partition before I could make it active or not. Greg, have you tried this?

Worth a try.

Yes, I suggested it two days ago. I learned it from you Si years ago.

gregrocker said:

It likely is only a hidden file, not a System file. Did you uncheck Hidden files?

You can try to restore Recovery to the F8 menu: Dell Recovery Partition - restoring F8 link

You can also try marking the Recovery partition Active to see if it will boot itself: Partition - Mark as Active

Otherwise you can order Factory Recovery disks from Dell, or use a Win7 retail installer to get a superior Clean Reinstall with the Product Key on COA sticker if you will answer my questions asked.

Ok, we may be getting somewhere, I was able to find the factory.wim, and factory2.wim files by navigating to recovery>dell>image - though it appear they were hidden, it shows them when I type the location manually.

What should I do with those files now?

Here is the screenshot

screenshot.jpg

How do I make that drive bootable?