Enabling Recovery Partition

[whitworth]

When I first got my laptop it had the following partitions

1. System reserved (200mb)
2. C:
3. D:
4. System Recovery.

Partition C: had the operating system installed to it, as well as a load of bloatware. D: is formatted as a document storage partition. When I reinstalled a clean version of windows I formatted the C: partition and installed windows on there. There was a warning at this point that I didn't recognise, something about GPT? I went ahead and it installed fine.

But now I'd like to use the System Recovery partition to reinstall the factory setup back to C:. The option that is recommended by Asus is to press F9 and select EMS but this has disappeared probably due to my reinstall on the C: partition.

I've had a look at the disk with computer management and with DiskPart and have come up with the attached files, so how do I get it to boot the system recovery partition?

 

[VistaKing]

Are you trying to reinstall Windows ?

 

[whitworth]

In a way, yes. I'm trying to revert the computer back to the way it left the factory by using the recovery partition to reinstall windows + drivers.

 

[VistaKing]

Have you tried tapping F8 then choose Repair Your Computer and see if there is an option for Factory Reset .

 

[whitworth]

Hi VistaKing,

Yes, I have tried that but there isn't an option. I gather that by formatting and installing a new copy of windows on C: that option is often lost due to a change of the MBR.

 

[VistaKing]

If you want a clean installation without the bloatware use the tutorial below

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

 

[whitworth]

It's as I have said above, I want to boot from the recovery partition to allow me to restore and see my system as it came from the factory (driver settings etc)

 

[Kaktussoft]

diskpart
select disk 0
select part 5
detail part

post output

 

[gregrocker]

You don't need drivers from the factory image to Clean Reinstall if that's the issue. Win7 is driver-complete in the installer and then when you run all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates, after enabling Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware (Step 3). The few drivers still missing can be found on the Asus Support Downloads webpage for your model.

You should work with us to get a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 since it's a specialty of these forums, gives you the best possible Win7 install while the Asus Factory Preinstall is one of the worst possible Win7 installs you can have.

If you still want to try to make Factory Recovery run after having reinstalled Win7 which may have broken the hotlink to run Factory Recovery, try again to reboot and tap the F9 key.

If this fails Mark the Recovery Partition Active then reboot and try the F9 key again. If this fails move the Active flag back to C or 100mb SysReserved if that's where it was.

It's also possible you can Boot Recovery Partition using EasyBCD from the current Win7 install.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Goto Control panel. In search box type: Recovery
"Create a recovery drive"
Do you see that? Greg's solution is better btw