HP recovery partition, but no recovery utility?

By Codesmith
in Microsoft (Windows)

 Share

Recommended Posts

Rising Star

Codesmith

Posted
Posted

I am trying to repair someone's HP DV2000 laptop. It came with Windows XP MCE, but someone attempted to upgrade it to Windows Vista and it went badly.

Anyway the owner doesn't have restore discs, so normally I would just take a generic OEM CD and add the appropriate OEMBIOS files.

However I notice that the recovery partition is still there, just no HP recovery software installed, either in windows or as a boot time utility.

I was wondering if it was possible to simply reinstall the recovery software and recover from the recovery partition?

Grand Master

+virtorio MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

You should be able to install the HP Recovery Manager program from the HP web site. If the recovery partition is intact I see no reason why it shouldn't work (to perform a recovery or create some restore disks), other than the fact it's an HP.

(I have an HP laptop and some of their software doesn't work that well, or in many cases, at all).

If you?re really desperate I believe you can order (at your expense) some restore disks from HP.

Grand Master

+jamesyfx Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Normally theres a BIOS option about system recovery which is disabled at first.

I think its alt+f10 or something (I have a HP Pavilion laptop and this is what I had to do).

Rising Star

Codesmith

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I know about the boot utility, but it was removed.

Is there a way to restore the boot time utility?

--

BTW The Vista OS is barely functional, no wired internet, no USB, touchpad's gone wacky.

The previous owner performed a upgrade install to Vista without entering a CD key and used an obsolete activation hack which seems to freeze the activation timer at 30 days. They neglected to install half the device drivers. The wireless worked so they installed limewire and used it until the system got infected with something.

I booted to a Linux DVD to checkout the hardware.

Then they sold the laptop to my friend at what I only hope was a very low price.

---

Rising Star

Codesmith

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Checking out the recovery partition from linux it looks like nothing more than a stripped down version of Windows XP, maybe a modified version of Windows PE?

So up in some boot loader software and added the recovery partition as an option.

My guess was on the money and it completely restored everything to the factory defaults including the F11 boot utility which will come in handy next time someone needs to restore the system.

Anyway its 100% restored to original condition and I didn't have to pay HP and wait 5-7 days or install everything from scratch.

Rising Star

Codesmith

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Just FYI, on HP laptops:

F10 = BIOS setup

F11 = recovery utility (if it exists)

It exists now :) The recovery partition restores the MBR and the recovery boot option with it.

Actually I think I could have just used any partition utility to set the recovery partition active.

  • 1 year later...
Neowinian

freythman

Posted
Posted

Hey guys,

For anyone else having this problem, here's another method that is pretty simple.

If you have installed XP or Vista, but still have the Recovery Partition (a.k.a. It wasn't deleted), here's what you need to do to access the System Recovery and get back in business... This obviously assumes that you do have XP or Vista installed, and just can't access System Recovery. It may work for Windows 2000, but I don't want to go through this again to find out...

Step 1: Right-click "My Computer" and click "Manage"

Step 2: Go to "Disk Management"

Step 3: Right-click the "Drive D/Recovery Partition" and click "Mark Partition as Active"

Step 4: Reboot, and press F11 as it starts up

It should work fine. Mine booted right up into the Recovery Manager and let me restore the machine.

Reference laptop was HP dv9817cl with Vista installed from the Factory

I know this is an old post, but I found this and many others in my search for a solution to this problem today, and this solution was the easiest I've found. I figured since I found this post, that someone else will someday as well. On that day, I hope this information is of use to them.

  • 1 month later...
Neowinian

mocks1

Posted
Posted

Thanks freythman!

I used your method to set Recovery Partition "D" to "Active" using your four simple steps and I was able to restart my HP desktop computer into HP System Recovery

Only I had to press F10 key on keyboard at bootup after setting D partition "Active". I think Laptops are F11 and Desktops are F10

I am using an HP Pavilion a350n desktop computer that was running XP Home edition.

Originally, and for other reasons, I ended up deleting (not formatting) all the files on the C partition only using a Windows PE Boot CD called MiniPE from DigIWiz

I originally loaded a temporary version of Windows from any available version of XP (in my case Windows XP Pro). Than I had access to Disk Management program where I followed your steps

For those of you without an available Windows install disc to borrow from a friend. A quicker option is to download any type of CD "Boot Disc" such as DigiWiz MiniPE, Hiren's Boot CD or Linux and use a Partitioning Utility such as Partition Magic, Acronis Partition, or Paragon HD tools that are located on many of these Boot CDs. Start up your computer and let the temp operating system load and than look for a partitioning or disc management type utility to set Recovery Partition (usually D partition) to "active"

Hope this helps anyone with an HP desktop that will not start the Factory Install Recovery process using the normal, repeatedly hitting the F10 key on startup---- to begin Recovery program

I bet you can make a previous image of your HP Recovery Partition using Norton Ghost or similar hard drive imaging program and if it ever gets damaged you can restore it back to your D partition, set that "active", restart the computer and it will begin Factory Install Recovery Process that way too. Another insurance policy in case the recovery CDs/DVDs are lost or damaged (or never made by you in the first place)

  • 7 months later...
Neowinian

CORSAR14

Posted
Posted
Hey guys,

For anyone else having this problem, here's another method that is pretty simple.

If you have installed XP or Vista, but still have the Recovery Partition (a.k.a. It wasn't deleted), here's what you need to do to access the System Recovery and get back in business... This obviously assumes that you do have XP or Vista installed, and just can't access System Recovery. It may work for Windows 2000, but I don't want to go through this again to find out...

Step 1: Right-click "My Computer" and click "Manage"

Step 2: Go to "Disk Management"

Step 3: Right-click the "Drive D/Recovery Partition" and click "Mark Partition as Active"

Step 4: Reboot, and press F11 as it starts up

It should work fine. Mine booted right up into the Recovery Manager and let me restore the machine.

Reference laptop was HP dv9817cl with Vista installed from the Factory

I know this is an old post, but I found this and many others in my search for a solution to this problem today, and this solution was the easiest I've found. I figured since I found this post, that someone else will someday as well. On that day, I hope this information is of use to them.

  • 4 weeks later...
Neowinian

dougmurray27

Posted
Posted

This worked like a charm ! Windows XP wasn't booting, so I used a Windows XP live Bootable Disk I ahd made previously. Followed the instructions he gave, rebooted computer, pressed F10 (it's an HP Tower) and wala, I was in the recovery partition and was able to restore the Windows XP Media Center Edition that was standard for the tower. Thank you !!!!

Hey guys,

For anyone else having this problem, here's another method that is pretty simple.

If you have installed XP or Vista, but still have the Recovery Partition (a.k.a. It wasn't deleted), here's what you need to do to access the System Recovery and get back in business... This obviously assumes that you do have XP or Vista installed, and just can't access System Recovery. It may work for Windows 2000, but I don't want to go through this again to find out...

Step 1: Right-click "My Computer" and click "Manage"

Step 2: Go to "Disk Management"

Step 3: Right-click the "Drive D/Recovery Partition" and click "Mark Partition as Active"

Step 4: Reboot, and press F11 as it starts up

It should work fine. Mine booted right up into the Recovery Manager and let me restore the machine.

Reference laptop was HP dv9817cl with Vista installed from the Factory

I know this is an old post, but I found this and many others in my search for a solution to this problem today, and this solution was the easiest I've found. I figured since I found this post, that someone else will someday as well. On that day, I hope this information is of use to them.

  • 2 months later...
Neowinian

Kevin Crooks

Posted
Posted

Hey guys,

For anyone else having this problem, here's another method that is pretty simple.

If you have installed XP or Vista, but still have the Recovery Partition (a.k.a. It wasn't deleted), here's what you need to do to access the System Recovery and get back in business... This obviously assumes that you do have XP or Vista installed, and just can't access System Recovery. It may work for Windows 2000, but I don't want to go through this again to find out...

Step 1: Right-click "My Computer" and click "Manage"

Step 2: Go to "Disk Management"

Step 3: Right-click the "Drive D/Recovery Partition" and click "Mark Partition as Active"

Step 4: Reboot, and press F11 as it starts up

It should work fine. Mine booted right up into the Recovery Manager and let me restore the machine.

Reference laptop was HP dv9817cl with Vista installed from the Factory

I know this is an old post, but I found this and many others in my search for a solution to this problem today, and this solution was the easiest I've found. I figured since I found this post, that someone else will someday as well. On that day, I hope this information is of use to them.

This worked awesome. I had installed Windows 7 on an HP Notebook. I'm going to sell the notebook and needed to restore back to factory settings. I never burned the discs, but this gave me the ability to use the F11 when booting command. Thanks so much!

  • 10 months later...
Neowinian

Tuan Tran VN

Posted
Posted

@freythman and Codesmith:

Thank you so much, i had a long storyvwith my beloved lap and while trying to google 'use hiren boot to use recovery partition' i found that help. Well using hiren i saved my data and was trying to see how could i recovery windows while windows couldnt start. Freythman's idea is great. Also thanks Codesmith for openingthis topic.

Thanks and best wish!

  • 2 months later...
  • 8 months later...
Neowinian

Chris Owens

Posted
Posted

wel, it worked, setting the recovery partitionto active then pressing f11.

I had tied f11 before but it couldnt boot from the recovery partition.

I registered today to say thanks and give some more useful info, the program , recovery Manager is listed on the recovery partition as softhinks, in the sources folder at the bottom, not an exe file, just says file. if you change it and put an exe extension on it , you can run it, I think, in dos or the version of os you had on your machine (tried it in win 7 said it was the wrong something or another)

Hope this solves the mystery of the missing recovery manager :shiftyninja:

  • 11 months later...
Neowinian

rtp1966

Posted
Posted

Thanks Freythman...I've been trying for a month to access Recovery Manager with no success, until I tried your solution...It worked great and now I'm recovery my laptop "HP HDX18t-1200 CTO to it's original factory condition...I even ordered recovery dics from HP, however when I read the instructions it said that the dics would access recovery manager when you started the process, which it didn't because it couldn't find it...Once again Thank you...Ray Payne

  • 10 months later...
Neowinian

dsnel23

Posted
Posted

Worked like a charm!!! I was at this for 3 days! Thanks so much!!!

 

Hey guys,

For anyone else having this problem, here's another method that is pretty simple.

If you have installed XP or Vista, but still have the Recovery Partition (a.k.a. It wasn't deleted), here's what you need to do to access the System Recovery and get back in business... This obviously assumes that you do have XP or Vista installed, and just can't access System Recovery. It may work for Windows 2000, but I don't want to go through this again to find out...

Step 1: Right-click "My Computer" and click "Manage"
Step 2: Go to "Disk Management"
Step 3: Right-click the "Drive D/Recovery Partition" and click "Mark Partition as Active"
Step 4: Reboot, and press F11 as it starts up

It should work fine. Mine booted right up into the Recovery Manager and let me restore the machine.

Reference laptop was HP dv9817cl with Vista installed from the Factory

I know this is an old post, but I found this and many others in my search for a solution to this problem today, and this solution was the easiest I've found. I figured since I found this post, that someone else will someday as well. On that day, I hope this information is of use to them.

  • 3 years later...
  • zhangm locked this topic
Grand Master

zhangm Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted
6 minutes ago, sooryan said:

Halo  i am using HP notebook PC r078tu I want installation file how I can install HP recovery manager for win 10

This thread was started in 2007. I'm locking it, since people may reply to older posts in the thread rather than your reply.

 

If you have a specific question, please start a new topic by choosing the Start new topic button near the top of each forum section.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Weekend PC Game Deals: Steam Summer Sale 2026 Edition

      By +InsaneNutter · Posted

      Screamer is 50% off on Steam, making it £24.99 here in the UK: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2814990/Screamer/ You might remember the series from the mid 90s / early 2000s, this new game is also by Milestone who created the older games.
    • U.S. partially reverses Anthropic AI ban for Mythos but keeps Fable 5 off the market

      By Karthik Mudaliar · Posted

      U.S. partially reverses Anthropic AI ban for Mythos but keeps Fable 5 off the market by Karthik Mudaliar Anthropic says that the U.S. government has finally allowed it to restore Claude Mythos 5. But of course, there's a catch. The rollout is again for a limited set of U.S. organizations that operate and defend critical infrastructure. The company announced this in a post on X (formerly Twitter). This does not mean that Anthropic's latest frontier models are back to normal availability. Fable 5, which was a tuned version of Mythos 5 for public release, remains unavailable. Anthropic said that it is still working with the government to expand Mythos 5 access and make Fable 5 available again, but there's no timeline. Reports from Bloomberg and Reuters say that this decision actually came through a letter from the U.S. Commerce Department. According to Reuters, this would allow more than 100 companies and institutions access to Mythos 5. Reuters also reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s letter removes the need for export licenses for approved companies’ non-US citizen employees, as well as Anthropic’s own non-US citizen employees, while restrictions remain for organizations outside the approved list. Anthropic isn't alone with this kind of controlled rollout. OpenAI's newest model family, GPT 5.6, was announced just yesterday, but isn't available for everyone yet. In its announcement, OpenAI also said that access to these models is initially limited to a select group of trusted partners and organizations, with broader access planned later this year. Both of these cases show that frontier AI launches are no longer just ordinary product releases and more like slow and vetted deployments shaped heavily by the U.S. government.
    • OpenAI announces GPT‑5.6 Sol, its next-generation flagship model beating Claude Mythos 5

      By monterxz · Posted

      Sol, Terra, Luna - aren't those the names of failed crypto coins? 🤣🤣🤣
    • Microsoft Weekly: 5 years of Windows 11, more support for Windows 10, and expensive Xbox

      By TarasBuria · Posted

      Microsoft Weekly: 5 years of Windows 11, more support for Windows 10, and expensive Xbox by Taras Buria This week's news recap is here, with Microsoft giving Windows 10 one more year of support, Windows 11 getting new taskbar settings in preview updates, Steam Machine prices, higher XBOX prices, and many more. Quick links: Windows 10 and 11 Windows Insider Program Updates are available Reviews are in Gaming news Great deals to check Windows 11 and Windows 10 Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions. On June 24, 2026, Windows 11 turned five. The controversial operating system was released half a decade ago, and during these years, it received a fair share of criticism (such as poor Windows Search and its web results), which Microsoft is now actively addressing with regular preview updates that deliver missing, long-requested features. With Windows 12 nowhere to be seen on the horizon, it will be interesting to see if Windows 11 can stay on the market for as long as Windows 10 did. Speaking of Windows 10 and staying on the market, this week, Microsoft quietly prolonged the Extended Security Updates program for Windows 10, allowing users to get one more year of security updates if they do not want or cannot upgrade to Windows 11. Finally, Microsoft released this month's non-security update for Windows 11. KB5095093 arrived with a traditionally long list of new features, including point-in-time restore, new Windows Update settings, quieter Windows Widgets, new accessibility features, File Explorer updates and performance improvements, and more. Windows Insider Program Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week: Builds Canary Channel Build 29617.1000 and build 28120.2374 These builds bring new accessibility features, new Windows Update controls, audio improvements, and more. Dev Channel Build 26300.8758 This build includes redesigned taskbar settings, File Explorer improvements, and more. Beta Channel Build 26220.8754 and build 28020.2366 This small update fixes the OneDrive bug in File Explorer, tweaks system sounds in dark mode, and more. Updates are available This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties. If you use AI-powered browsing history search in Microsoft Edge, the company has bad news. A new update on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap revealed that Microsoft is discontinuing the feature. Despite using on-device models for natural search, some users found it creepy, claiming that Microsoft lacks trust in features like this. While the ability to find pages without using 100% precise words may sound cool, customers argued that it was nothing but another feature to bloat the browser with more AI. Good riddance? PowerToys received several updates this week. For one, Microsoft released version 0.100.1 with several improvements and bug fixes for the recently arrived version 0.100. A couple of days later, Microsoft dropped another update, this time fixing memory leaks in Command Palette Dock. In addition, the company is working on a new module that will make it easier to switch between windows within one application using the Alt + ` shortcut. The new module should make it to the stable release somewhere soon. Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting: New Ventoy update adds Windows 11's mandatory update support and more Microsoft updates Visual Studio Code with chat cost tracking and multi-agent chats Microsoft is building an AI datacenter that "uses less water than a fast food restaurant" Microsoft adds new AI study and teaching tools for free to Microsoft 365 Education Researchers claim Microsoft's quantum breakthrough is flawed by basic Python errors Microsoft is bringing a much-needed Recap app to Teams Microsoft's fast coding model, MAI-Code-1-Flash, comes to Copilot Business and Enterprise Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week: AMD Radeon Software 26.6.2 with FSR 4.1 support for RDNA 3 graphics card. However, the driver contained a bug, which prevented installations on Windows 10 PCs. AMD fixed that with a quick hotfix update. Reviews are in Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week This week, Steven Parker published several reviews. He shared his experience with the Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe, a high-quality sound card with a headphone amp, low-latency communications, great build quality, and DSD256. However, it is on the pricier side of the spectrum, and it lacks EMI shielding. Check out the full review here. The second review is about the TerraMaster F4-425 Pro, an octa-core Intel NAS with a stand-out feature: built-in AI (OpenClaw). We also published a few Hands On reviews, which you can view below: We check out the SKG PS700 Neck Massager SKG Hand Massager with Heat OS500 hands on Hands-on with BOOX Tappy: cute little reading accessory Hands on with the ProtoArc EM25 affordable ergonomic mouse On the gaming side Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more. If you plan to purchase a new Xbox, it's time to act now. This week, Microsoft announced yet another Xbox price increase. Starting August 1, 2026, all Xbox Series X|S models with 512 GB of storage will cost $100 more. As for the 1TB models, they are going up in price by a whopping $150. Finally, Microsoft is discontinuing the 2TB Xbox Series X. To make up for that, Microsoft announced a few programs to make its consoles more accessible. Those include BNPL, interest-free financing, pre-owned consoles, certified refurbished consoles, and more. Valve also shared some not-so-welcome news. The company has finally announced prices of the upcoming Steam Machine console, and if you plan to buy one, get ready to spend a whopping $1,049 on the 512GB configuration. The Steam Machine is now available for preorder, with shipments scheduled for June 29, 2026. Grand Theft Auto VI also received its official price tag. Rockstar Games announced that the long-anticipated game will launch at $79.99 for the base edition and $99.99 for the ultimate edition. The latter includes an exclusive collection of premium vehicles, weapons, apparel, and action threaded across all aspects of Jason and Lucia’s story." Those who preorder the game will get extra bonuses, including a Vintage Vice City Pack of cosmetic items as well as a free month of GTA+. NVIDIA announced new games for its GeForce NOW streaming service. Those include Dark Scrolls, SAND: Raiders of Sophie, Deer & Boy, EMPULSE, and more. Steam is running its annual Summer Sale, during which you can purchase plenty of various games with big discounts. It runs until July 9, so in case you missed it, you can still get some games at a lower price. Also, you can get two games for free in the Epic Games Store, plus more deals are available in this week's Weekend PC Game Deals issue. This link will take you to other issues of the Microsoft Weekly series. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing for extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option.
    • New PowerToys update fixes memory leaks and other issues

      By Steven P. · Posted

      Text extractor hasn't been working great on 0.99.1 but I am now updating to this version, hopefully it's better!

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      502
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      226
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      156
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!