[birak]

Had many problems with older peripherals and no Win 7 64bit drivers for new computer so a friend offered to switch the system to Win 7 32bit. I have system reinstall CD to do this. Friend managed to change systems but installed it on RECOVERY partition and deleted original OS partition. I am not a geek, do not understand most of the language, and can not find any instructions on how fix this mess. Reinstalling OS does not recreate partitions that were there before. Can someone tell me how to do this without wasting time by trial and error?

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Friend managed to change systems but installed it on RECOVERY partition and deleted original OS partition.

Kiss any type of factory recovery gone if this is what your friend really did. That recovery partition is a safe guard put there by the factory to save your system.

I have system reinstall CD to do this

Genuine Microsoft Installation disk?
Downloaded or burned copy?
Is it installed on another system right now?

Reinstalling OS does not recreate partitions that were there before.

Since your friend installed on the recovery partition you will never be able to go back to factory settings including recovery partition short of calling manufacturer and seeing if they can sell you a set of original recovery disks with win7 64 bit OS.



Now what exactly do you want to accomplish?

[rshaffer61]

Friend managed to change systems but installed it on RECOVERY partition and deleted original OS partition.

Kiss any type of factory recovery gone if this is what your friend really did. That recovery partition is a safe guard put there by the factory to save your system.

I have system reinstall CD to do this

Genuine Microsoft Installation disk?
Downloaded or burned copy?
Is it installed on another system right now?

Reinstalling OS does not recreate partitions that were there before.

Since your friend installed on the recovery partition you will never be able to go back to factory settings including recovery partition short of calling manufacturer and seeing if they can sell you a set of original recovery disks with win7 64 bit OS.



Now what exactly do you want to accomplish?

[birak]

To answer your questions,

< Friend managed to change systems but installed it on RECOVERY partition and deleted original OS partition.

<< Kiss any type of factory recovery gone if this is what your friend really did. That recovery partition is a safe guard put there by the factory to save your system.

Yes, my friend did exactly that!

< I have system reinstall CD to do this

<< Genuine Microsoft Installation disk?

Yes, Genuine Windows 7 32bit OS reinstallation disk

<< Downloaded or burned copy?

No, sent to me by Dell specifically to replace 64bit OS

<< Is it installed on another system right now?

No. I do have another 64 bit machine that I also want to convert to 32 bit

<< Now what exactly do you want to accomplish?

The original intention - convert the two 64bit machines to 32bit, so that my peripherals will work. I have several older printers, scanner etc, but an extensive search of internet has failed to find 64bit drivers, not even for generic or other brands that might work. There are drivers that will work for Win 7 32bit, proven by a different friend who tested them on his machine while I was investigating if changing to 32bit would solve the original problem.

[rshaffer61]

OK that disk Dell sent you can only be used on the Dell system it was sent for.
Installing it on another system is against Microsoft's EULA. The only exception is if the systems are exactly the same and you have a different Win7 reg key for each system.

With the cd you should only have to start the system with the disk in and then follow the prompts to do a fresh install of Win7 32 bit.
You may have to change your boot sequence in the bios to allow the Win7 cd to run.



To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS

Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

Hopefully you have already put the XP cd in the drive before all this. If everything is setup correctly you will get a black screen with the following message in the upper left corner:

"Push Any Key To Boot To Cd". When you see this then push any key and the cd will take over. Then follow the prompts or if you need assistance we will help.

[birak]

Both computers that need switching to 32bit are identical. Dell instructed me to use the same disk for both machines.

<< With the cd you should only have to start the system with the disk in and then follow the prompts to do a fresh install of Win7 32 bit.
You may have to change your boot sequence in the bios to allow the Win7 cd to run.

This is what I have already tried to do. It did not fix the problem of partitions being all messed up.
I am thinking that perhaps I need to remove the messed up Hdd and reformat it completely using an external hdd case through another computer, then use a partition management program to reestablish partitions as they were originally. Would this fix the partition problems? Then put the drive back in the original computer and install the OS.
Dell did not give me a license key number with the 32bit disk.

[rshaffer61]

What you need to do is delete all the partitions and make one partition only. Since your friend has already doinked the recovery partition it is of no good to you now.