Reinstalling XP home from hidden partition?

wavin

A friend of mine has XP home on her computer.she's had it for 2 or 3 years now and never reinstalled.Its really sluggish and badly in need of a reinstall.The computer didn't come with an xp home disk so i assume its got it on one of those hidden partitions. Could anyone explain to me or give a link to somewhere that would explain, how to do a full reinstall using one of these hidden partition things???Thanks
Wavin

calex71

it should have a restore cd?? what manufacturer??
what options to it give you on start up? like press F2 fro setup etc

wavin

calex71 wrote:

it should have a restore cd?? what manufacturer??
what options to it give you on start up? like press F2 fro setup etc

its a HP computer.not sure of model.think ~1.5ghz celron, 256mb ram.
dont think it came with a restore CD.could youi use any restore CD to reinstall? think there might be one knockin around work. Will try doing that F2 thing the next time im at it

Capt'n Midnight

use spacemonger to see if there any CD sized files in a sub folder and run the app there

use disk manager to see if there is a hidden partition on the drive. You can use a linux boot CD to see it , but probably won't be able to copy the files from it since C: is probably NTFS


If you have an old dos disk
Not sure if NTFS DOS will see hidden NTFS partitions but FDISK may

If you can't find a hidden partition or large files then it's not looking good - I tke it you have gone down the spyware removal path too.

wavin

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

use spacemonger to see if there any CD sized files in a sub folder and run the app there

use disk manager to see if there is a hidden partition on the drive. You can use a linux boot CD to see it , but probably won't be able to copy the files from it since C: is probably NTFS


If you have an old dos disk
Not sure if NTFS DOS will see hidden NTFS partitions but FDISK may

If you can't find a hidden partition or large files then it's not looking good - I tke it you have gone down the spyware removal path too.

ya did a load of spyware/virus checking a while back.cleared all, or all i could find off but the computer was still really slow.i put on sp2 but also no improvment.if i stuck partition magic on it i should be able to see it if its there?
if it is would i have to make a disk(s) image of the folder or would i just have to stick it onto a disk?

irlrobins

Two ways manufacturers do restore method.

1 is to use a Restore CD, 2 is to have an image stored in a partition on the HD. To run this image you normally press F11 on startup. Try that and see if it works.

wavin

irlrobins wrote:

Two ways manufacturers do restore method.

1 is to use a Restore CD, 2 is to have an image stored in a partition on the HD. To run this image you normally press F11 on startup. Try that and see if it works.

cheers, will try these suggestions later

MarkR

On sony it's tapping F10 on boot. Don't know what it is on HP's.

Karoma

F10 perhaps:
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/oem/hppavilion/hp_pavilion_xppc.htm

hshortt

When the PC boots it will display a message briefly suggesting what button needs to be pressed.

If the image for the PC is stored in a hidden partition, then you should get some options when you boot into that partition, these will be similar to
1. Restore this PC to factory settings.
2. Create a set of restore CDs.

If the image is not there, you are stuck and need to get a restore CD, or alternatively install from different media using the serial number on the sticker which should be on the PC case. If you do this, you'll most likely need to get the specific drivers for graphics, audio and network etc for your make/model from the HP site.

Cheerio
Howard

wavin

right, tried this stuff over the weekend (its a friends computer)
on booting up it gives 2 options.one for going into a CMOS thing and one that goes to a boot option thing-floppy, cd drive or hard drive.
tried all the other F buttons too and no joy.
checked in disk managment and there is a hidden partition on the hard drive. it was 1.95gb i think.would that sound like the right size for an xp home installation?
is there any software i could use to make installation cd's from this?
cheers

wavin

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

use disk manager to see if there is a hidden partition on the drive. You can use a linux boot CD to see it , but probably won't be able to copy the files from it since C: is probably NTFS


If you have an old dos disk
Not sure if NTFS DOS will see hidden NTFS partitions but FDISK may

If you can't find a hidden partition or large files then it's not looking good - I tke it you have gone down the spyware removal path too.

the hidden partition was actually FAT32 and not NTFS.

think ihave a win98 boot disk at home.
if i booted to c:/ could i run a reinstallation from there?

Cryos

hshortt wrote:

When the PC boots it will display a message briefly suggesting what button needs to be pressed.

If the image for the PC is stored in a hidden partition, then you should get some options when you boot into that partition, these will be similar to
1. Restore this PC to factory settings.
2. Create a set of restore CDs.

If the image is not there, you are stuck and need to get a restore CD, or alternatively install from different media using the serial number on the sticker which should be on the PC case. If you do this, you'll most likely need to get the specific drivers for graphics, audio and network etc for your make/model from the HP site.

Cheerio
Howard

Nice to see Howard on boards

Anyway

There may be an option in CMOS to set the partition as active i think it should say "Restore computer to factory settings" or something like that

Michael

Capt'n Midnight

OK it's a HP so the options won't work on other brands ...

On Targa laptops I've used a Knoppix boot disk (linux bootable CD) to copy files from the hidden partition. (unhiding it by messing with the partition table is for heros and masochists and people with a copy of the table on a floppy/usb and the cylinders, heads and sectors in a text there too.. )

Anyway - found this

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=803015

If it's an XP, on restart, once you see the HP Logo press F10 which will bring up the Recovery Window. Follow the prompts. It takes about 30 minutes.

If a recovery set has already been created on that unit, you may not be able to create another one. :eek: :mad:

You should find the program located here:

Start>All Programs>PC Help & Tools
Click on HP PC Recovery CD-DVD Creator

wavin

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

OK it's a HP so the options won't work on other brands ...

On Targa laptops I've used a Knoppix boot disk (linux bootable CD) to copy files from the hidden partition. (unhiding it by messing with the partition table is for heros and masochists and people with a copy of the table on a floppy/usb and the cylinders, heads and sectors in a text there too.. )

Anyway - found this

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=803015

cheers Blitz and Capt'n Midnight,
Will try these things the next time im over in my mates gaff

Cryos

wavin wrote:

cheers Blitz and Capt'n Midnight,
Will try these things the next time im over in my mates gaff

no worrys mate, let us know how you get on; i know the newer hps like the dc7100's and dc7600's there is a menu in bios that sets up windows again if you dont have the disk.