Newer Hewlitt Packard computers give you the ability to create a set of recovery CDs or you have the option to perform a recovery directly from the partition on your hard drive that was created at the factory to hold the files necessary for the recovery. This tutorial is about recovery directly from the partition. However, you should learn how to create the recovery CDs in case anything should happen to the recovery partition on the HP computer. Learn how to create the recovery CDs here.
Begin The HP Recovery Process
The first thing you should do is backup any important data, such as pictures, music files, favorites, and anything important that you’ve saved since purchasing the computer. All new data will be lost and the system will be returned to factory condition.
Next, you’ll want to unplug any external devices, such as USB printers, cameras or scanners. These devices could interfere with the recovery process.
There are a couple of ways to reach the recovery screen. The easiest will be to tap the F10 key repeatedly when booting the PC. This will take you to a screen to begin the process. Or, once in Windows, you can go to Start>All Programs>HP Tools>HP PC System Recovery.
Follow the onscreen instructions. The process may take an hour or two depending on the size of the hard drive. Once complete, your HP computer should be reverted to the original factory condition.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Its a nice feature in HP Computer. Here you can easily recover your important data and restore it.
I cant turn on my computer its stuck on blue screen that says hp invent [where you press f1 for setup and f10 for system recovery] nothing works! last time I just plug out all the wires and plug them back in but this time its not turning on no mater what I do. If you know any thing thats will work or something that might work or an advice please tell me.
Seems like it’s stuck on loading a driver. Try tapping F8 key when booting and see if you can get into Safe Mode.
when some errors found in Internet explorer I have recovered into factory restore position by using in-built recovery option. Now I want to know, can i use the recovery CDs which I created first time or need to create new? pls give me answer…
Yes, you can.
I used the HP System Recovery partition the other day after backing up all of my important files to CD. After doing everything it told me to do, everything was still there when I restarted, all my icons, data files, ect. It didn’t take it completely back to factory condition. I went to my Users Book that came with it and noticed that I had made a note, apparently the last I recovered the system, that said to click on Advanced Options. I did have to do that because the NTLDR was compressed. I did notice while in Advanced Options that it said something to the effect of Destructive Restore. Is that what I should be doing if I want to lose everything and start completely from scratch? I’ve Recovered my system before but just never had everything come back up afterward and I don’t remember using the Destructive Recovery.
Hope this all made sense and someone can help me. Thanks in advance
I am using new HP DV6 2165TX with win 7 Home Premium and that was not activated by me online and never created the Recovery discs. I also had Win 7 Ultimate (Illegitimate) which I installed on it next day i baught the laptop but as the fresh Laptop came with only 2 partition so I made some changes while installation and the partition became Dynamic.Now there is recovery partition intact but recovery manager is not going to start all the way and not able to recover. Also I cant activate the recovery partion in disk management to Active. So please advice please…
You can designate the partition that you want to be active by using the diskpart command at a dos command prompt. Hope this helps
Dear all
If u all have a recovery partition and install a new windows and lost your original hp factory settings, please follow these steps :
1- in your windows go to the computer management
2-click on the disk management
3-in the right bottom window try to find recovery partition
4-right click on it and the click mark as active
5- a message comes up,click ok
6-then restart your computer
7-you will be prompt for hp recovery manager and follow the steps for fully recover your hp laptop
please send your comment about the result.
HI Mansoor,
You are a Gem! I did exactly as you told and i got my laptop Probook 4320s to factory condition.
Now i need your advice. I want to have two partition like “C” & “D” along with recovery partition. I do not want to use any partition software. Is there a way to accomplish this. If so please let me know the procedure. Thanks in advance
Mansoor, You ARE a gem!!!!!! You ROCK!! Worked perfectly and my laptop is like new.
I am quite a bit more jolly after reading Mansoor’s advice. The F10 key was not working for me, so I used UBCD4WIN rescue disk to set the recovery partition active. Worked great.
I made a pretty silly mistake when I upgraded a Pavillion DV4 from Vista to Windows 7 and deleted the Recovery partition. (I formatted the drive completely prior to installing Windows 7.) Is there a way to get it back? Personally I don’t think I’d ever use it, so it’s not that big of a loss, but I think it’d be good to have.
Not that I’m aware of. Did you at least make the recovery disks? Worse case scenario, contact HP ad they will send you disks for a few bucks.
Mansoor, thank you!
Still no joy, I set the Recovery partition active with Hirens boot cd but when the pc restart it shows “bootmgr problem” or something related to bootmgr, please advice.