Except for the IBM Aptiva (W95) which my dad gave me when he'd upgraded, (and that came with a Full MS Windows installation disc as well as the Aptiva factory reset Disc), I've only ever built systems myself and bought a copy of Windows for each, so I've never had a recovery partition.
From my experience here, it's unusual to get a recovery partition and bootable media with an OEM PC. Normally the recovery partition has a "create your own portable recovery" facility in case the HDD suffers complete meltdown including the recovery partition, not just an OS failure.
That means that if the recovery partition is still intact, you can normally boot into it (and effect a subsequent recovery or full reset) directly by use of the correct hot key(s) as the PC is powered up.
What the correct key(s) is depends on the PC make. Generally something in the F10 F11 Alt+F10 range or even holding down "0" as the power key is pressed. You'll have to refer to the OEM website and give it a try to see if it's still functional.
From my experience here, it's unusual to get a recovery partition and bootable media with an OEM PC. Normally the recovery partition has a "create your own portable recovery" facility in case the HDD suffers complete meltdown including the recovery partition, not just an OS failure.
That means that if the recovery partition is still intact, you can normally boot into it (and effect a subsequent recovery or full reset) directly by use of the correct hot key(s) as the PC is powered up.
What the correct key(s) is depends on the PC make. Generally something in the F10 F11 Alt+F10 range or even holding down "0" as the power key is pressed. You'll have to refer to the OEM website and give it a try to see if it's still functional.