Solution to lost access to hidden partition etc

[Ideasmiths]

I have seen many people asking for help regards to these two area

• 1) Lost 'thinkvantage', blue button or F11 access to hidden partition
  2) What can I take out during a factory restore

Step by step guide in my blog here. Have fun!

Background
---------------
I have moved from T40 to T43 to X60 to X60 tablet now and I have done many factory restore / cloning / optimizing and so on. There are many reasons one can lost the access to the hidden partition but that will be covered in some other threads.

Now, you can download a lenovo ThinkVantage Technology software called the Base Software Adminstrator (2MB) here

What the Base Software Adminstrator does is to allow you to create two files that can be written into the hidden partition. First one is the manifest files which list the files you want to install from the hidden parition during factory restore. It is divided into

• a) Required
  b) Optional
  c) Restricted (ie won't be installed)

There is also 3 buttons showing

• a) application (ie RnR, CCS, Access etc)
  b) device drivers
  c) system drivers

I would STRONGLY suggest leaving device and system drivers alone unless you know what you are doing. As for application, I moved almost EVERY thinkvantage (ie Adobe reader/Java/Virus Scanner etc etc) to the 'restricted' area. The reason is that most of these inside the hidden partition can be upgraded to newer versions from lenovo website after the factory restore and I don't want to leave any bad window registry by installing older versions

After your factory restore, download 'system upgrade 3' and get the Thinkvantage software you need. I only have

• a) Fingerprint
  b) Active Protection System (to protect my harddisk)
  c) Power Manager (to keep my battery life optimal)

The second file is allow you to customised XP with your name, Adminstrator password, zone etc etc.

When you are done, you can save these two files and you can choose to 'restore to factory settings/custom settings' as an option so that when the restore starts, you get a choice.

Now, the magic is this: Once you 'deploy' one or both files to the hidden area, you can choose the option to 'automatically' launch the factory restore once you reboot. ie , you don't have to press the blue button or F11. This is the workaround for people who has lost access to these buttons AND who don't have a diskette drive to repair their boot sector.

NOTE: Remember to backup your data and files needed out to another USB drive because the factory restore will wipe out everything.

NOTE2: This works for XP hidden parition, let me know if your Vista thing work

[furrycute]

Thanks! This is really helpful!

[Redmumba]

Okay, I have a question. When I start the ThinkVantage Base Software Administrator, it says "Unable to access service partition." Is this a known issue? What can be done to correct it?

EDIT: The computer came with Windows Vista, could that be why?

[stallen]

Just curious why you don't like Adobe reader.... don't you ever need to open a pdf file? Or are you just saying that because you have Adobe Acrobat?

[Redmumba]

As far as PDF readers go, Acrobat is pretty bloated and takes a while to load. There are plenty of alternatives, the most popular being FoxIt, I think. I think its just a preference.

[stallen]

As far as PDF readers go, Acrobat is pretty bloated and takes a while to load. There are plenty of alternatives, the most popular being FoxIt, I think. I think its just a preference.

foxitsoftware.com bookmarked!! Thanks!!

[Redmumba]

This may be deviating a bit from the original topic, but I think its all tied in.

So I cannot access the partition from Windows--Partition Magic crashes, and Windows' built-in system won't display any information. Gparted reports that it is, indeed, a NTFS partition, and doesn't return any errors.

For what its worth, the partition is full--it hasn't been erased, and I can access the R&R partition just fine. However, I am not able to access the "Factory Restore" part...

[Ideasmiths]

Just curious why you don't like Adobe reader.... don't you ever need to open a pdf file? Or are you just saying that because you have Adobe Acrobat?

In my business I need 'speed' during my presentation and getting my client to sign on the dot.

Adobe Reader is 20MB

I use Foxit Reader version 2 which is 2MB. The speed is tremendously. I only lost the visual usage of thumbnail bookmarks that is found in Adobe reader. A small sacrifice I can live with.

What I define as uninteresting is because the reader could be version 7 and the latest in the market may be 8. So if you do a factory restore you need to update it to 8 later, which will create extra registry in the window...so I might as well download the latest applications (right?)

AND to make make my computer (window) faster, I don't even install these programs on my HDD! I use a software called Ceedo (that's on another thread). My window runs optimal with the minimal of programs needed

[Ideasmiths]

For what its worth, the partition is full--it hasn't been erased, and I can access the R&R partition just fine. However, I am not able to access the "Factory Restore" part...

Did the 'magic' part in message 1 worked?

If not, what you can do is install RnR4 on your laptop, get an external CDRW drive or USB drive. Under RnR4 you can create recovery media. Run the recovery from the recovery media and this should reset everything in the laptop harddrive back to the factory settings. Including proper boot sector, hidden parition and all.

[Redmumba]

Unfortunately, that is where I fail... because Vista Home came pre-installed and I mistakingly dove head first into XP, without making recovery disks. So I don't have the option...

[Ideasmiths]

Just to update,

RnR 4.1 is out, it somehow cured some weird problem in the blue button. The interface is also simpler.

you guys may want to check it out.