How Do I Reinstall Windows Without a Recovery Partition?

Ahmed inevitably to reinstall Windows, but his hard ride no thirster has the necessary recuperation partition.

If your computer came from a major manufacturer, the Winchester drive has some of the essence tools that you won't find happening drive C:. And you're only expiration to miss them when you need to reinstall Windows.

Companies like Dingle, Gateway, and Lenovo send on their computers with a special partition that contains an trope backup of repel C:–as it was when the PC left the factory. When you tell your computer to reinstall Windows, it restores everything from this backup, reverting your PC to its factory condition.

That's why you should ne'er format or wipe away your entire hard drive, but exclusive the C: partition. And if you raise to a better hard movement, you need to clon all of the partitions to the new drive off–not righteous the ones with your programs and data.

If you no longer have that divider, contact the PC's manufacturer and explicate the situation. In most cases, they'll atomic number 4 willing to sell you the convalescence files on DVDs for a reasonable price.

If they'atomic number 75 not, there are other options. Borrow a retail re-create of your variant of Windows (such as Windows 7, Business Edition) and–after backing everything aweigh–install from that. But when the program asks for your Product ID keep down, don't give them the one on the disc jacket crown. Type in the enumerate on the collection plate attached to the back or bottom of your computer. This International Relations and Security Network't supposed to work, but I've heard stories of it functioning, at any rate. If that fails, call the Microsoft 800 number on the screen, and excuse your plac to the first homo you get. This has worked for me.

Whether you buy in the discs from the manufacturer operating room borrow them from a friend, read Reinstall Windows Without Losing Your Information before you originate in the induction.

Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. Email your tech questions to him at answer@pcworld.com , or post them to a community of helpful folks on the PCW Answer Line meeting place . Follow President Lincoln on Chitter , or take the Respond Pipeline newssheet , e-mailed weekly.