Your HP computer likely has an HP Recovery partition. Newer Hewlitt Packard computers give you the ability to create a set of recovery CDs or the option to perform a restore from the HP recovery partition on your hard drive created at the factory. This hidden partition holds 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.
Access The HP Recovery Partition
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.
HP Recovery Partition Conclusion
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. If you have quiestions on how to access the HP Recovery partition, join our free forums and ask. Or you can read our other HP computer tutorials for different suggestions on how to perform an HP recovery.
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.
helloI just did what you said AWESOME worked great
Hello sir,
I have hp laptop dv5 with windows7 and office 2007 install.
my laptop came with orginal windows vista software without any Cd .my hard drive has partion od recovery.
if i recover to vista will i loose my office 2007….please advise step by step process to get my visat back
Thanks,
rajel
Thank you! You solved my recovery partition issue which was preventing me from running system recovery.
Hello mansoor
I have a Hp laptop with windows 7 home premium installed on. I put some excel and outlook personal info. files on ” HP Recovery partition ” while didn’t know it’s vertual and is a part of partition C. after installing windows 7 ultimate , it came up that all my file are lost . I installed Easy recovery software but not sure it would be helpful . Would u plz give me some advice .
Thanks.
If you use the recovery software it MIGHT be able to save those files, but if Windows has overwritten the space where those files were located, then they could be lost. When files are deleted, they’re not actually deleted UNTIL they are overwritten. Try the software. Good luck, I hope you’re successful.
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!
I had a virus, I contacted webroot they directed me to India where they took control of my computer remotely. They couldn’t fix problem now my laptop (Pavilion dv2109nr) Now it just loops from Hp logo to Wndows logo. Tried to boot from disk but half way through it said I didn’t have a hard drive.
This started when my grandkids were playing games on my laptop a screen came up saying that my computer was infected and asked if I wanted to start my antivirus said yes and a program came on that wanted me to buy this anti virus it was called Security Suite.
These guys from India tried for 5 or 6 Hrs to help me the day and 3 to 4 hrs the next. Can you help?
If nothing else can I replace hard drive, and,or the motherboard? Or do I have to buy an New computer
Thanks Richard
worst case scenario
)
download all the drivers for your laptop from hp site and reinstall
everything, i did it with my ibm laptop that used to have recovery partition
no need to spend money, they already make more money than they should
Hey Mansoor – do answer my question as well !
I intend to change from windows 7 home premium (that came with my HP pavilion desktop) to windows 7 professional. Will the recovery disks or the recovery partition help in recovering just the other pre-installed software (like Cyberlink, Norton Doctor etc.) after this change ?
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.
Dear All,
I have a dv6-1215 HP notebook. After many blue-screens on my windows vista, i decided to reset my hp notebook to factory settings. I was uncertain about losing my data in this process. I have two primary partitions (C windows, and D recovery) and one extended partition (my data) on hard drive. I did reset my hp notebook to factory setting using hp recovery manager. Afer resting to factory settings just the windows partition is reformatted and a fresh windows is installed on it. The extended partition which contained five logical drives on it (my data) is preserved with no changes. So i have my data now on this extended partition! If your hard disk is structured like my hp notebook, you can rest to factory setting with no fear. But, if you have just a windows partition and your data are also on it, first backup your data on an external hard disk. You can examine your hard disk structure using Disk Management tool in windows.
Good Luck !!!
Sir
I have HP PAVILION DV6-1204AU note book. It came with Vista premium OS loaded. Later I installed WINDOWS 7. After installing I found out that my finger print sensor and web cam are not working. I want to recover to factory setting. The problem is I have no recovery disks created. So PLEASE suggest what should I do?
Thank you
Did you check the HP website? They might have updated drivers for Windows 7. If not, download the drivers for vista and install them. It should fix your problem. Once the drivers are installed, look in the Device Manager and see if there are any unknown devices. Remove them and reboot. Windows will find them again upon reboot and load the drivers. Good luck.
Mansoor’s method to get to HP PC system recovery worked for me. The F10 and F11 didn’t work and the HP menue was nowhere to be found on the desktop. Why aren’t those solution that work offered by HP?
I have no recovery disk for a HP dv9740 computer and it apparently has crashed. It comes up saying something about a boot problem cause from recently installed software or hardware. The computer will not start at all and only comes to this screen. Is there a way to restore the partition for this computer and help it start?
You can try some of these suggestions: http://www.pctechbytes.com/windows/windows-failed-to-start-error
a few questions,
1: I have a hp Compaq 311c netbook , there is no dvd drive in it so if i purchase an external usb powered one will i be able to 1. create a recovery disc and 2. use the f10 function if needed? with the external dvd-rw.
2: my 2nd question is pointed to (mansoor)`s post , if i make the recovery partition active, once u have rebooted and it restores xp / os to factory defaults will the recovery partition still be set to active? if it is set to active is this a good idea as i don’t think hp would of had it this way?
i hope someone can understand and answer my questions thank you
Yes, the external drive should do what you need it to.
Yes, the partition will still be active. It’s just an image. The only way it will stop working is if you delete the partition or overwrite the data.
I have followed the steps given by Mansoor, to make recovery partition operatable. But I stuck in the
step 4. right click on it and the click mark as active
bcoz that option is grey out.
The recovery partition is right now showing as C: drive
Thanks,
Hasan
Help, I backed up my HP laptop before I did a complete system restore. I didn’t make the recovery disks–DUH–so can I still get that info from the partition? What I currently have is not back to factory settings. I really need to get this fixed. Thanks.
A System Restore or a System Recovery? A system restore is from within Windows and will not revert your computer back to factory condition. A system recovery is a complete wipe of your computer. You can often do this from a partition on your hard drive. In some instances, it will not revert completely back in order to preserve your data. You should still be able to make recovery disks via your start menu. I would do this if I were you, and I would make an external backup of my data, then run the recovery again, specifying you want to wipe the drive and start over.
Read more here: http://www.pctechbytes.com/hp/hp-system-recovery-in-windows-7
If you need additional help, please sign up on our forums.
That was for windows-7, will it work for XP? I went in to accessories and did a system restore. Sorry, I’m not that tech savvy, but will I still be able to get to the recovery for all my drivers, etc.?
Thanks so much all! Got the laptop up and running great! Also to Mansour Irani, good instructions, one thing tho, should go to Administrative tools to find computer management. That piece took me a little while to find. Other than that it ran smooth. Thanks again!
Dear Mansoor,
I did what you said..but when i restarted my laptop..i did not get any prompt for recovery manager..what to do?
hi. i just bought a presario cq42, windows 7 home premium.
the disk (basic) has 4 partitions namely C:, D:(RECOVERY), E:(HP_TOOLS) and another without drive letter.
i tried to shrink my C: as it is too big and creating another partition but it prompted me to change my basic drive to dynamic drive because basic drive only allows maximum of 4 partitions.
the best part is i have pressed OK and now it has changed to dynamic drive.
The question is, will i be able to recover my windows in case of crash etc?
thanks,
simon
I do not know. Try to start the process and let us know.
I would try and make the recovery disks, too. You will find that option in the Start menu.
** URGENT ** my brother in law’s Pavillion a1206n says “insert system disks” of course he never backed up and no disks came with his pc. So, what can I do to get this thing running again? I put in my dell xp cd’s and I can get to a c:/. Does anyone know how to get this running now or how to access the partition to get it to boot up? Thanks a ton!!!
Reboot and tap the F11 key.
David were you responding to my post? If so I can do F11 and get my Bios Cmos setup>>>>what do I need to change?
update – I can get to g: which has tons of files and I can get into the i386 folder…winnt.exe does not work…c: has nothing when I do a DIR. In bios there are no partitions listed. HP no longer sells the boot disks. Help??? Thanks a ton
We have had a new memory put into our old laptop. I am trying to load my original windows xp disc back on but it has only loaded 10%. I tried a full NTFS format but no joy, any suggestions please
i have a compaq mini net book
the problem that im having is i got some kind of virus, and it dosent let me access the recovery software nore dose it let me access any virus protection software,
is there a (f) key thatll override the main frame, and let me restore to the factory settings.
im really stuck on this!
Try tapping either F11 or F10 at boot.
Monsoor
Thank you! You are incredibly awesome! I had read several places that I had to install off of cds only if a different OS was installed. You saved the day!
Thanks!!!!
hi
I have a HP laptop with win 7 home edition, i can’t boot it has crushed and i receive a blue screen what can i do
Please help……..
Thank you
ok here is a good one, bought a second hand computer CHEAP, hp 7527c, cd/dvd rom is broken and the computer was obviously upgraded with a pirated window 7. When I went to do a complete system recovery – it appears that that partition was wiped clean – bottom line, no cd/dvd drive to do a system restore and no partition for the recovery -can I somehow do it online “free”,
No, you will need an external dvd drive.
Hi,
I am still looking for the answer to my question: if i execute the recovery process on my PC, will I loose my recently created partition or will the recovery routine spare it like the factory set partition.
regards
It is my belief that the partitions you created will be destroyed.
I want to get old puter running to have kids play around on it. I put in recovery disc and it gets stuck on a few files but hitting retry or fail works, after awhile it gets stuck and freezes. it is a hp pavillion xg833 windows2000/me
Look into Ubuntu Linux. You’ll need to download and burn it to disk. Boot to the disk on the kids’ computer and follow the prompts for install. It’s free and looks pretty much the same as Windows. http://www.ubuntu.com/
Hi guys.I have a HP 4515s probook.I did format my hardrive and lost every. Everything.is there a way of getting
It back to factory condition?and also,my f11 for recovery is missing.I dnt have recovery discs.I have a recovery partition on my hardrive.
Hi
I Have a hp 4520 laptop. it’s have original operating system eith license, fron installed on HP. I need creat recovery cd from windows 7. but there is no any installed recovery software for creat recovery CD. How can creat recovery cd.
Thanks.
I have an HP Mini 210-1000 and have done a “recovery” from the Manager before but this time when I reached the step that states, “do you want to back up your files” and I say no, it automatically says I must have the disks that came with my computer. There were no disks as this computer has no driver. I was on the phone with HP for 3 hours with no help. It won’t even let me do a restore to two days ago. Any ideas how I can remove the affected program and reinstall a good Recovery Manager program?
I try to restore the system to the factory setting using System Recovery using the F10, and D:(RECOVERY).
I tried many times, but never succeeded. When it approaches to nearly the end of installation (I guess), the laptop shuts down automatically although it reminds me not to shut it down. When I restart the system, it always came out the message:
“Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation.”
I restart the system, it came out with the same message. If I run the System Recovery again, after about one hour, it will repeat the same problem.
Always, the system was not fully installed.
Does anybody have any ideas what could be the problem?
i have a hp pavilion dv5 it came with vista and a recovery partition . i have installed windows 7 but i wanted to recover vista again but when i go to all programs i cant find anything about hp tools or anything related to hp. and when i press f10 its says recover from a dvd or cd although its in a partition i dont have a dvd or a cd 4 the windows plz help!!!
I tried the F10 on my nc2400 mini — just takes me into BIOS setup. I know this system has a recovery partition because I can see when running diagnostic tools.
You can usually download the manual for your particular model through the HP support site. It should tell you what function key to press. Or sometimes this key will be displayed on the screen right as you’re booting up.
Mikey,
Try to hit escape as your starting up instead of F10
sometimes HP use F11 for recovery
I have a HP G61-631N notebook and I got it to get into the recovery partition and did a recovery. But in the process of setting Windows 7 back up it gets to a point and says there is a file missing. Now I can’t get into the recovery partition. F11 doesn’t work, Safe mode doesn’t work. How can I access the pation to try recovery again
Hey i have a doubt..my hp came with win 7 home basic i would like to make it home premium…if i do so will i be able to recover back to home basic from my recovery dvd in case of any mishaps??
Yes, it should revert back to factory condition with the recovery disks.
I’m about to use the recovery partition on my HPS203i. I’ve backed up all my files to an external hard drive. My question is, will any of the programs I already have loaded stay in place or will I need to reinstall them? I’m running Window XP Home.
Anything you installed after you took the computer out of the box will need to be reinstalled.
i removed old hard disk after system restoration to check the other one but now hp dv5000 is not working and its stucks on saying system repair can not be completed or somethng like this and this is also not starting at safe mode or other options please help me out thnx
mohsin
MANSOOR… Thank you so much! You are my higher power right now! LOL You have save me from the depths of frustration. The world needs more (helping hand) people like you!!!
salam Dear Mansoor:
I am using HP probook 4520s with win 7 Home Premium and i lost my win 7 Home Premium. Then i make more partition and i install new win 7 unlimited which are not original .my laptop have warranty .but i lost win 7 Home Premium and recovery partition . So please please help me…..…
Is the Ultimate version causing problems? Or are you saying the Ultimate version is a used copy? You can order recovery disks from HP. I would contact their support department. The cost is minimal.
I have tryed to make a recovery using F10,but when this process is finished It come out “Restart your computer” but never get it,always come out the same message “press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart” and never to get restart my computer,never is completed this system recovery process.I have made it 5 times and get nothing,please somebody give me a advice to resolve this problem,thanks for all
Closing this article to comments. All questions will be answered on our forums going forward.
Dave,give a advice as soon as possible,please,I am having too much problems into my work,thanks you………….Kiko
The only thing I can suggest is to disconnect all external devices (printers, scanners, cameras, etc. and try again. Sometimes a driver issue can cause this problem. If you have a real Windows disk, you could reformat the hard drive and start fresh. Unfortunately, the recovery partition is a flawed system at times.