Restoring the OEM partitions to a Windows 7 computer

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Here’s how you can restore the OEM partitions to your hard drive, if you have deleted them.

I did just that – I deleted all partitions from the hard drive, created one new partition, then installed Windows 7 to that partition. But some things didn’t work, such as the Ethernet adapter. I then decided that a factory restore would have been better; but how to do it now?

I happened to have another PC which was identical to the first one. I used Macrium Reflect to get an exact-copy backup of the drive on that computer (as opposed to an image backup). I then restored that backup to the first computer. Like magic, the OEM partitions were back on the drive! I was then able to do a factory restore on the first drive.

I have decided that if I am going to do a clean install of Windows, I should format only the partition that I am going to install Windows to, rather than removing all partitions and creating one new partition. In this way, the OEM partitions will be preserved, in case they are ever needed.

And by the way, when you get a new PC, you should do a complete exact-copy backup of the drive, so that you can restore the OEM partitions to another hard drive if needed. At some point you will likely need a new hard drive, or you will replace your hard drive with an SSD. It would be good to be able to put everything on the new drive that was on the original drive.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Jim, what is the difference between “exact copy” and image?

For years now, every time I install the OS, I create an image using the built-in Win7 image process. That of course includes the OEM partition. I have had many cases in which these image copies proved to be a real time saver, particularly when replacing hard drives.

However, I must say, I seldom use the OEM partition or do a factory restore. A clean OS install produces a vastly better performing machine in my experience.

In many cases the OS install process itself provides all the drivers it needs, leaving obtaining drivers from OEM unnecessary.

CT

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When I say “exact copy” backup, I mean a bit-for-bit copy of a drive, which gets deleted files and preserves the current state of fragmentation of the contents of the drive; as opposed to an “image” backup, which produces a defragmented image of the drive, and which will not get any deleted files.

My thought is that a bit-for-bit copy of the drive will more accurately read and then write all of the partitions that were on the original drive. Perhaps a standard image backup would be sufficient for this task, but I believe you will have a better guarantee of success at putting all partitions (including the OEM and system partitions) with a bit-for-bit backup and restore than with an image backup and restore.

I recently wiped the drives and did clean installs of Windows 7 on four retired computers for one of my customers, computers which she will be donating to charity. I felt that a factory restore would be the way to go, because the computers would be restored to new, out of the box condition as far as the software is concerned; and a factory restore is a quick and easy way to do this. And I had no image to use for the restore; it was either a factory restore or a clean install with a Windows 7 install disk.

On two of the computers, I was able to do a factory restore; however, this option wasn’t available on the other two computers. For those, I did a clean install from a Windows 7 install disk. After doing that, I had to do a time-consuming phone activation, because these two computers didn’t auto-activate, even thought I had entered the activation key that was on the label on the computer case. The process was a lot quicker on the two that I was able to do a factory restore on.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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That’s one of the beautiful features of restoring an image. When you do that, you have all the drivers and all the activation already done. You do not need an install disk. I also install MS Office and update it before I do the image. It is a beautiful thing to have a client bring me a PC that I have not had on my desk for 7 years. I replace the hard drive and use the image to restore and after about 30 minutes, I have a fully operational system.

I stopped all Microsoft updates on my clients’ computers 18 months ago. Ever since then, when I do an image, I mark it “Final State”. That means when that image is restored (probably to a new hard drive), other than client data, you are done, and I mean done.

By the way, yesterday, I was doing a full install and when I did the Office install, it would not activate. I tried the telephone activation and it told me there was no more telephone activation for that product — Office 2010. That means you have to do it by talking to real person.

CT

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I agree that restoring from image is the way to go, IF you have images. But I didn’t have any images to restore from; all I had were factory restore partitions on two of the computers, plus a Windows 7 clean-install disk.

The point of my post was to explain how to restore the OEM partitions if someone wants to do that. In my case, I felt that it was the right thing to do, because my customer is giving these PCs away. I felt that factory-new condition was the preferable option when giving the computer away.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

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One thing about exact bit-for-bit drive copies… DON’T put the copy and original back in the same system before changing the drive id numbers. (Smarter disk cloning software may manage this automatically but then it’s no longer a bit-for-bit copy…)

Windows will often mess it up if it finds the same id on two different NTFS drives. As in, it does the same thing every time and it’s usually not the “right” thing to do.

It’ll probably boot up and run… until something happens and it no longer does, like the old drive breaks a bit or just gets slower, or you install an update that changes drive enumeration order, or something.

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Here’s a couple of links for you these may help, been a while since I have done this but they look about right. M$ had a better page that described in depth but alas seems to elude me. More often than not its easier for the field Staff to comprehend and install after wiping and use SYSPREPed images than anything too involved with a CMD line. Besides being quicker to do to either set up or minimise Down time, typically in case of emergency/crash etc your fully up and running with everything installed in just under an Hour with a customised image as opposed to about 2-3 hours from a recovery Partition image. Although you can “plant” your customised .wim as a recovery image file. However over time I have found that Recovery Partitions are not that durable in the field and easily corrupted alas to the point of not being functional.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/106215-factory-recovery-create-custom-recovery-partition.html
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/deploy-push-button-reset-features

2 users thanked author for this post.

Elly, MrJimPhelps

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