Explain Why This Partition Set-up Was Done this way on my OEM System

dg1961,
Thanks for the insight and suggestions.

dg1261 said:

GuitarRock,



But it's not clear to me whether or not you have an OEM factory recovery system available on that computer. Megahertz07 seems to think you might, but since it appears you got the machine from a third party refurbisher instead of officially from HP, I wouldn't count on that. Yeah, HP may have originally put that partition there, but the space may have been erased and reused by the refurbisher.

In particular, it's odd that there would only be a single file (install.wim) visible in the recovery partition. That's unlike HP. HP usually puts several files there but also uses various tricks to hide the contents, so to most people it would appear to be an empty partition. And if anything at all were to be visible, there should be some recovery launchers and ancillary files, not just a single install.wim (which, incidentally, is your recovery image, though we don't know from whom).

My guess is the refurbisher wiped the partition and copied their install.wim there in case you ever needed to go back to what they started you with, which may not necessarily be what it might have come directly from HP with.

Good point on the whether I actually have an OEM Recovery on my system... Maybe I actually don't.

I'm not sure how I could verify that?

dg1261 said:

That all becomes moot if you're planning on doing a clean install, though it's not clear what you're calling a "clean install". Are you thinking to wipe the partition and install Win7 anew from a Win7 DVD or USB stick? If so, heed Snick's warning about possible activation issues. If you're planning to wipe and restore from image.wim, you shouldn't have activation issues but that's also not what most people might refer to as a clean install. That's more typically referred to as a factory restore/recovery.

I was talking about a true Clean Install from scratch with the Win 7 ISO file.

dg1261 said:

If you choose to do a clean install from DVD/USB, I personally would test-install on a spare disk first to make sure it would all work, and that you'd be able to resolve any activation and driver issues. I wouldn't prematurely mess up anything on your original disk, just in case.

Good idea.

dg1261 said:

Another possibility is that since you got it from a refurbisher, it may not be loaded with the usual HP crapware to begin with. If that's the case, then I'd stick with what the refurbisher gave you and not even try to clean install from a Win7 DVD or USB. It should be relatively clean to start with.

Good point about the crapware.

The system came with a refurburbished 500 GB Western Digital Green Hard Drive (The refurbisher says they test them for errors and only the ones that pass a certain threshold are re-used, and if not, are tossed out...for what it's worth).

I bought a Samsung EVO 860 500 GB SSD and am going to Clone the "original" hard drive with Macrium Reflect Free to the Samsung SSD (hopefully today).

I'll probably just store the "original" hard drive in a drawer as an emergency backup (maybe later use it as a second data drive).

dg1261 said:

Going forward, Snick's got the right advice -- get everything set up initially and create a baseline image as your own, pseudo "factory" image you can always return to, then regularly re-image on an ongoing basis. If you do that, the recovery partition becomes superfluous, can be deleted, and its space merged with the main partition.

You could also eliminate the first and second partitions if you care, but that takes more work than you may be willing to take on, and they're so small that it may not really be worth the effort to you anyway.

I made a Disc Image and Repair Disc (with Windows 7 built-in software) immediately after I got the System so I would have a Backup exactly as it was shipped to me.

After I make the Clone to the Samsung SSD, I'm going to create my second Disc Image. I'll probably try the Macrium Reflect Free software for this second disc image backup (if for no other reason, just to see how it works)

So at that point I'll have a Disc Image #1 of the "original installation as shipped", and Disc Image #2 that is identical...accept... with the added Macrium Reflect Free software installed on it.

I suppose I might merge the (R:) "recovery" partition with the (C:) drive so that 11.72 GB of space is better used (although I actually have no experience in doing this- I'd have to research it).

I never planned on deleting the System Reserved partition and the (W:) Restore partition is so small I guess I'll just leave it.


I'll continue to create additional Disc Image Backups on my 2TB External Hard Drive. Possibly like this...
Disc Image #3 after Antivirus Software Installation, then
Disc Image #4 after connecting to the internet for Windows 7 Updates, then
Disc Image #5 after Printer and Scanner software and driver installation, then
Disc Image #6 after Application Software Installation, then
On a periodic ongoing basis thereafter (monthly?)

I am open to any suggestions/recommendations regarding the "order" and "stages" of Disc Image Backups.

Megahertz07 said:

As you have a HP it probably has a slic table in the bios.
If your machine has the correct slic table in the bios, when doing a clean install you could skip entering the key, then after installation, run 7oeminstaller instead of entering your COA key. 7oeminstaller- Windows 7 OEM Activation License.
That would make a offline activation of Win 7 IF you install same version of win7 (Home, HP. Pro or Ultimate).

megahertz,

I'm guessing that my system does have slic table in the bios. But how do you check/verify that your machine has the correct slic table in the bios?

Using the OEM Installer software seems like a good method. If you didn't use it though, would the activation happen "automatically when connected to the internet"... or... would it require a "Telephone activation with a real person"?

GuitarRock,
- On the current installation you probably have a folder with all drivers and other HP useless programs. Save the folder to a USB flash disk.
- Make a disk image and save to an external disk.
- Do a clean install of Win 7 Pro SP1 64 bits. Skip when asked to give the key.
- Set WU to manual on services and Never check om WU page.
- Open device manager and install all drivers.
- Run 7oeminstaller- Windows 7 OEM Activation License and it will probably will activate offline.
If it doesn't, use the COA sticker key to activate online.

To install the updates, use Simplix
It will download UpdatePack7R2.exe (1M). Run it and it will download a The Simplix update pack (~750M)

GuitarRock said:

Good point on the whether I actually have an OEM Recovery on my system... Maybe I actually don't.

I'm not sure how I could verify that?

It's been years since I've worked on an HP, but IIRC you press F11 (or is it F10?) during POST (while the HP logo is showing) and it should launch into the factory recovery environment. If it's successful, you probably do have an intact HP factory recovery partition, though you may need to proceed through a couple opening screens to confirm whether it also sees a factory image.

If it doesn't work, then install.wim was probably put there by the refurbisher.

In the latter case, you should still be able to restore from install.wim if you have the right tools. I think @SIW2 has put together a rescue iso with a few utilities on it, so perhaps he can tell you if his iso will work with a .wim file.

Note a .wim file may contain more than one partition image, but without checking it we don't know whether it contains only the OS partition or if it also includes the first two partitions.

dg1261,

Thanks for the additional information.

Megahertz07 said:

GuitarRock,
- On the current installation you probably have a folder with all drivers and other HP useless programs. Save the folder to a USB flash disk.
- Make a disk image and save to an external disk.
- Do a clean install of Win 7 Pro SP1 64 bits. Skip when asked to give the key.
- Set WU to manual on services and Never check om WU page.
- Open device manager and install all drivers.
- Run 7oeminstaller- Windows 7 OEM Activation License and it will probably will activate offline.
If it doesn't, use the COA sticker key to activate online.

To install the updates, use Simplix
It will download UpdatePack7R2.exe (1M). Run it and it will download a The Simplix update pack (~750M)

Megahertz:,

If I open (C:)>Windows>System32:
There is a folder named drivers and another separate one named DriversStore.
Are these the driver folders you are referring to?


Questions regarding UpdatePack7R2:

1. So this contains all of the Microsoft Updates (security and non-security) that have been released after SP1 and current up until today?

2. Are there any updates that have been purposely excluded?

3. When I first got my system, I made a Disc Image of it. It has SP1 and Windows Updates until 7/20/2017. If I were to not do a Clean Install, but instead revert back to this first Disk Image, how would I use this pack, considering the UpdatePack7R2 will have some updates (duplicates) that are already installed on the computer?

GuitarRock said:

Megahertz:,

If I open (C:)>Windows>System32:
There is a folder named drivers and another separate one named DriversStore.
Are these the driver folders you are referring to?

On HP computers there should be a folder under C: with spxxxx.exe files. Don't remember the name of the folder. Look for spxxxx.exe files

Questions regarding UpdatePack7R2:

1. So this contains all of the Microsoft Updates (security and non-security) that have been released after SP1 and current up until today? Yes

2. Are there any updates that have been purposely excluded? Yes. All telemetry updates have been excluded.

3. When I first got my system, I made a Disc Image of it. It has SP1 and Windows Updates until 7/20/2017. If I were to not do a Clean Install, but instead revert back to this first Disk Image, how would I use this pack, considering the UpdatePack7R2 will have some updates (duplicates) that are already installed on the computer?
It will only install those missing updates.

See my answers above

Megahertz,

Thanks for the reply.

Do you have a "running list" of which specific Windows Updates are considered Telemetry (and have therefore been excluded from the UpdatePack7R2)?

I am guessing there may be some "subjective opinions" as to which ones to avoid. Do you agree?

To uninstall the telemetry, run cmd file to uninstall those KB files.
kb_spy.cmd.txt
Rename it as KB_Spy.cmd and run it.

If you double click on kb_spy.cmd.txt it will list the KB files considered as telemetry

So it looks like there are Ten (10) different KB that are considered Telemetry:

wusa /uninstall /kb:3035583 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2952664 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3068708 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3022345 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3075249 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3080149 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:971033 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2990214 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3021917 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3123862 /quiet /norestart

I would have guessed that there would have been be a lot more than this (but my computer knowledge level is pretty basic).

Does any of our expert members care to add some comments about what updates they delete or don't install because they consider them Telemetry that may be in addition to the ten listed kb's above?

I am wondering if novice level users, such as myself, might actually avoid/delete an update (NOT necessarily any of these on this list though) that will actually put us at risk.

Maybe because "part" of the update is important but that, Microsoft being "sneaky", buried within the update is pure telemetry garbage as well. Maybe something that our advanced users (of which there are many on this forum), would recognize and know how to work around, but others wouldn't.

Can any of our experts comment on this?