First Vista Reinstall...

Detroit_Waves

Detroit_Waves

Detroit_Waves

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Joined
18 May 2009
Posts
572
Location
Expat in LA
Hey guys,

Sorry for the very simple post, but I may as well keep it nice and simple. After getting some spyware on my study pc, Ive decided to wipe it and start again after getting sme external memory!

This will be the first time Ive had to install vista, as everything else I have is running XP. I bought this pc completely set up from one of the big chains as its only used for basic browsing and the such. This came with no disks at all, so Im not entirely sure how im going to reinstall vista? As Ive also bought the OS seperate for builds...so this is a first for me...

So.....what do I do?

Thanks
 
Big chain machines either come with a recovery partition which usually prompts with a message before Windows starts to load to enter some sort of utility (eg Press F11 for Product Recovery on a Lenovo machine).

The other less common option is recovery DVDs with the unit, or a utility to create them once in Windows.

Different manufacturers use different methods so more information would help.
 
Sorry, its a desktop PC, built by HP...Im not sure if I can find a recovery partition. The only thing that is there, is a D: drive...named FACTORY_IMAGE

Anything else you would need to know?
 
Go to HP web support search for your desktop model and it will tell you how to restore it to factory setting's using> D: drive...named FACTORY_IMAGE.
 
If it's HP then there's likely a utility called Recovery Manager installed. If not, then check the HP website - their documentation and FAQs are usually very good.
 
Hey again guys,

Sorry for annoying you all with the simple things again, but Im still struggling to get this sorted!

Ok, so I found recovery manager..I took that all the way through to the part where it asks if I would like to recover my computer to its original factory condition, selected yes...To be met with the message 'The system does not have a recovery partition' 'The recovery process requires the recovery disk set, please insert disk 1' grrrr.

Ok, so then I went to the program Recovery Disk Creation, to get the message 'The recovery partition could not be found.

So what is going on here does anyone know? My hard drive in is the C: drive, The D: drive is FACTORY_IMAGE, which was there when I started and havent once even opened the drive. The drive is 10.2G in size with only 1.39G of space free. When I go into the drive there are two options. RECOVERY and RECYCLER (which is a folder that is empty as far as I can see) When I open RECOVERY I get the following message.

Recovery Partition
Warning!

This area of your hard drive
(or partition) contains files used
for your PC Recovery.

Do not delete or alter these files.

Any change to this partition could
prevent any recovery later.

It appears the size of RECOVERY is only 184KB, so I feel there must be another 8GB of info hiding on there somewhere, cause it is certain that is how much of the drive has been used when I get.

Soooooo, I guess....how do I get this sorted. Obviously I have look on HP, but it is telling me use system recovery, or my recovery disks....both of which I dont have....

oooo, just in case it helps...My PC model number is A6305.uk

Seriously, thanks for all your help, anymore advice on getting this sorted would be great!
 
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