How to reinstall window 7 home on one partition?

Question

I have two partitions; in one I have Windows 7 Professional, and in the other, I have Windows 7 Home Premium which came with my laptop.

I want to re-install Windows 7 Home Premium again. But when I boot from CD (the recovery CD I got from Dell when I bought my laptop) I am not getting the choice of which Windows to reinstall

Can someone help me what would be the best solution? I don't want to any change of win 7 Professional.

Answer 1

I don't think the Dell image restore is flexible enough to just restore a partition of your choosing.

Here is the documentation on Dell Windows 7 PC Restore.

If you have a regular Windows 7 install disc, here are the instructions for using that to reinstall, which will allow you to choose the partition to install W7 onto, but there are consequences.

By performing a Manual Reinstall, you will no longer be able to do a PC Restore or Restore to Factory Settings. Check to see if you can do a PC Restore before you do a Manual Reinstall it can save you time. Click here for PC Restore instructions.

Legal download links for Windows 7 ISO files to make your own regular W7 install disc. You will have to use the windows product key on the COA sticker that is on the laptop to get it activated.

Answer 2

With a partition editor such as bootable CD version of GParted, you can temporarily mark the Windows 7 Pro partition as hidden. While you have the partition table editor open, you'll probably see the existing hidden dell restore partition. You can format the windows home partition to wipe it out, reload windows home there and then reboot gparted to re-enable the pro partition. When you're done, you'll need to edit the boot manager options thru the control panel to add the Pro partition version of windows as a boot option.