recovery partition

can i get access to the recovery partition on an HP system with xp

 

Can you access XP at all on the machine? You can access the recovery menu from the program list.

Or, on most HP's I am familier with, you press the F10 key while the system is booting.

 

sorry it is a recovery console if i use F10 the computer just re installs xp and all the other junk from HP. I cant get to the partition from My Computer as i get a padlock image

 

Not exactly sure of what you are trying to do here . . . I don't think you can access the recovery partition from XP - I have never actually tried. If you get a padlock icon when you click on it, then it is apparantly protected from tampering.

You might try looking on the HP site for your model computer, and see if there is any way to open the recovery partition other then doing a restore.

If you don't have seperate recovery CD's, I highly reccommend NOT messing with the recovery partition at all - if you corrupt it you will not be able to restore XP should you someday have to.

What exactly do you need to access it for?

 

recovery partition is a hidden partition, and it's listed in disk management, first of all why do you need to access it? Anyway using 3d party partitioning software for example disk director you can make it visible(but it's not recomended)

 

the partition has xp on it but also loads of HP software (digital imageing games etc) that i really dont want it takes up a lot of space and it is a hassle uninstalling it all i would like to delete all the rubbish in the recovery console and just install xp