How do you access the Restore partition w/ Vista installed?

Question

I recently upgraded from Vista Home Premium to Ultimate, but have run into enough errors to convince me to go back to the previous version. There's a Dell PC Restore partition installed as drive D, yet I can't get that partition to boot and allow me to reinstall the Dell installation image. Anyone have a solution for this?   Thanks.

dave51_2fe887 · Answer

Have a look here.   http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?docid=298A2E89689E13C2E040A68F5B280AA4&c=us&l=en&s=gen#2

MichaelK0 · Answer

Thanks! Very detailed instructions... I ended up following those steps when I attempted it earlier, but even after repairing the startup routine, I couldn't load PC Restore. I ended up using the Vista CD to launch the repair process, and used the command prompt to call up the PC Restore program on the D drive. It worked like a charm. All's well that ends well, so thanks!

Mary G · Answer

Those instructions only apply to factory installed versions of Vista. When you upgrade, the XP Restore partition does not work any more.

crashtiger · Answer

What happens if they don't send you a copy of Vista with your computer?  That is what happened to me.

qstuff · Answer

If the restore partition is still intact you can use the instructions here to be able to access the restore partition when you reboot. http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore

Windows General

How do you access the Restore partition w/ Vista installed?

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