Vista - Format Hard Drive w/o Vista Disks

I've recently been struck down with a trojan. I restored my computer to factory defaults, thinking this would do the trick. It did. However, I'm at Ohio State, and they're policy is that you have to totally reformat your hard drive before you'll be able to use the wireless internet. The problem is, i have an HP HDX16, and HP does not ship with Vista install disks, they have a hidden partition. I tried doing a system restore 3 times, and it didnt work. I backed dup the system defaults to an external hard drive, if that helps any.

My question is, how do i format my hard drive without the Vista Disks?

Did you get any recovery CD's?

I have not made any, but i could, if thats what you're asking.

The recovery disks have a Vista image on it with all of the pre installed software, drivers, etc. So I believe you could reformat then use those disks to reinstall Vista. Let me verify that before you do this. Again, do not reformat just yet.

Don't believe its possible Sorry...

This is a very interesting question. CH asked me and I responded that I didnt think it would work. I just wonder if different manufacts do it differrently. Im pretty sure the recovery disks dont have an OS, just the files required to boot the computer and maybe some device drivers. thats why they are called recovery. you recover from the image on the other (recovery) partition. If there was an active Image it would have to be multiple dvd's and as far as I know there isnt't

Hope this helps

Ken

Hi vf1409

HP/Compaq recovery DVD & recovery partition, do a quick format first.

Can you still get in to windows, if yes, go to HP/Compaq recovery & burn your DVD's.

If no, you can call HP/Compaq for recovery DVD's,all they need is your tag No, some times free, some times not.

You can reformat your disk with Knoppix.

A system restore is just that it restores the computer to an earlier point in time. A system recovery will reformat your computer back to factory settings making it like the day you bought it. Restart computer, when the blue screen appears you'll see some options. Press the F11 key, this will do a system recovery from the hidden partition, just follow the on screen prompts. Once that is done, burn your recovery disc set, this is a one time process. You will find this in your program list under PC help and tools, recovery disc creation.Then you'll have to add all software and hardware (printer) to the PC. Make sure you unplug all usb hardware first from the PC before doing the system recovery. This should satisfy your school requirements for connection to their network.

i've been emailing HP and they said i can make a User-Created Recovery Disk, like bassfisher said, and once i put it in the drive, restart the computer, and it should act exactly like a regular vista install disk. once i try it i'll let you know if it works