Restore from hidden partition (F11) without windows?

[piaggio]

Well, it looks like I did something very stupid, but... I'd like to restore Windows XP from the system partition, but right now I don't Windows on the disk. I didn't expect this to cause problems, but when I try to restore, it asks for the command interpreter, e.g. C:\Windows\Command.Com, I think it was. Is there some way I can make it work?

[jdhurst]

You should be able to press F11 on startup and recover your TP. If not, you have hosed your recovery partition. Many people in here think it is a stellar idea to wipe these things out. Are you one, perchance? ... JD Hurst

[piaggio]

If not, you have hosed your recovery partition.

No, the recovery partition is certainly still there. I can view the files if I care to. Grub (a linux bootloader) is on the MBR, that was unintentional, but I found instructions from ibm that let me configure it to allow me to boot the restore partition (in a previous configuration, I was able to boot it from grub, and I verified that it will at least start like this). Unfortunately, I thought it would be fine if I cleared the rest of the disk; I thought I could just run the restore program later and it would work fine. Unfortunately, it doesn't. As I said, it asks for the location of the command interpreter (I'll come back with the exact wording of the message later). My interpretation is that, while it is designed to restore Windows XP to some degree, it can't handle the rest of the disk being wiped clean; it looks like it needs some of those windows files. Can anybody confirm this?
One other possibility is that I accidentally damaged the restore partition; I know I didn't deliberately delete it, but some program error might have damaged it, probably when I was partitioning the disk. Does anybody know if/how I can check this?

Many people in here think it is a stellar idea to wipe these things out. Are you one, perchance? ...

No. I can imagine why you might asume that, but I was careful with the restore partition.

[piaggio]

Ok, after briefly seeing a Windows splash screen, I see:

Booting 'restore'
unhide (hd0,1)
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

Now preparing to start your new computer...
Type the name of the command interpreter (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)
C>_

[jdhurst]

If you press F11, you should not see (even briefly) a Windows Splash screen. You should only see a text screen and it does not depend on whether C is there or any files on it. So however it happened, your recovery hidden protected area is not functioning properly.

[cbcb3]

can you verify the drive label and size of the C drive?

if its < 2GB and then it should be the service partion. or else the F11 option failed. you are at your cleared win system drive.

[egibbs]

You absolutely do not need Windows on the disk to do a restore - the recovery partition is self contained.

The text messages you are seeing are coming from Grub. It sounds like Grub is messing things up - thinks it's trying to boot a Windows partition rather than a recovery partition.

IBM uses a custom boot record and installing Grub usually hoses it. The good news is that if you search around on the Lenovo site in the downloadable files section you should find a tool that replaces the IBM boot record. If you get the right boot record back all should be well (I hope).

Good luck,

Ed Gibbs

[Kyocera]

See HD(clone) FAQ. Click on my sig, read the whole thing (for fun) or scroll to the last paragraph.