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Creating a Bootable os disk(not a normal one)

Last response: in Windows Vista
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Hi,

IS there any way to create a bootable disk from a recovery partition. The computer I'm working on originally had Vista Home Basic on with a recovery partition, however the owner "Upgraded" it to Win 7 ultimate using a downloaded/hacked copy of Win 7 and when it crashed I got called.... anyway I managed to get rid of the Win 7 partiton and leave the recovery partitions intact how ever when they "upgraded" they overwrote the Vista files and the removal of win 7 resulted in "bootmgr" not found and sence comp compaines no loger provide startup disks only recovery partitions I was hoping there would be a way to pull the files from the recovery partition and create a new bootable cd(sence I dont have a copy of vista home basic), I can still access the recovery partitions by booting linux from a usb drive or live cd. I've already tried all the basic bootrec tricks but with out a copy vista the just load an invaild boot selection ie the win7 version of recovery.

Thanks

Kw1k

More about : creating bootable disk normal

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Best solution

Normally the manufacturer also includes a method to create a CD from the partition but since you already wipped the OS partition that is probably no longer an option (IT needs to be done before you need to recover) -- DO you know anyone that has a VISTA install disc that you could borrow (or know where to get one) -- If so you could use it to install VISTA Basic to your primary partition and then change the key to match your original product key and then use the phone activation process to activate it (any vista install disc should work since they contain all the files and install the version based on the serial you type in during installation)

Thanks for the reply, I ended up finding an iso for dells online after there crappy tech support tried to charge me 99 bucks for back up disks(becuse i wasnt the original purchaser, even though the original owner is dead and her daugher now has the computer), but I am still interested in finding a way to make an iso out of a recovery partition becuse this is not the first time i've had to do this, luckily the others were win7 and win7 disks actually come with all versions on one disk if you mod the iso file, but if anyone figures it out before me please post back.

Thanks,
Kw1k

According to eHow on a Dell system there should be a selection under All Programs-Dell Accessories - Dell OS Recovery CD that you can select to create the CD (but that option may not be there on your system since it was probably overwritten when they installed the Windows 7 install !)
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