Can the recovery partion in vista be used without F8

[immisfit]

I am try to do a system recovery but when I use the F8 option I get the logon screen and all that it shows is "other user" with the user/password fields blank. If I put my info in it says "the specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted"

Is there any way to bypass this or can someone help me fix it?

[submix8c]

Weird! "2 Posts" but only one appears to exist (the one above).

I don't get it.

Scroll down to Post #7 and click on the ScreenShot Picture/Thumbnail.

That's what an F8 Screen should look like.

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/882299-blue-screen.html

So you're saying in Safe Mode a user-id of "other user" (literally?) is coming up? You're saying that "If I put my info in it", how can you do that? There should (normally) still be a Welcome Screen to select for "Safe Mode" so WHAT "info" are you entering.

You also finally state "the specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted" which means that this Computer has to be a member of a Domain in order to logon (the logon credentials are located on the Domain, not the Local Computer). Normally, this would only be done on a Business Vista (Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate).

Who set this computer up, i.e. where did it come from? This sounds really odd to me.

Please provide more specific information.

[Tripredacus]

When using F8 on a stock recovery partition, you choose "Repair My Computer" or something similar. After WinPE loads you will get a prompt for a user account to log into the OS. It is a restriction so that only authorized users can run recovery.

I would try running recovery from Control Panel, under Backup and Restore. Initiating recovery from there (if it is an option) will automatically log into the recovery partition after the reboot.