I just picked up a laptop and I want to do a fresh install of xp. Problem is I don't have a disk. The computer still has dells partition I believe (windows says the HD is 37.3 but it's really a 40). Will the restore partition accomplish what I want?
View 14 RepliesJust to state first and foremost, this is not an issue I have. This is a preventative post for anyone that may ask down the line. (as I've seen it asked on multiple other forums.)
I had this issue with an inspiron 1720 I just got. It had an issue, so I installed vista from a Vista RTM disk. It didn't fix the problem in the end, so I sent it into dell and got fixed, but I wanted to a fresh restore from the restore partition because on restarts, I'd get the blue screen of Death. Fun stuff right?
Well, Unknowingly, when I installed vista off of the cd, that removed the ctrl+F11 option from the dell. This is stated on many forums, and it seems that most answers to this issue is to format and install a fresh install from cd again, or call dell and get recovery disks. I figured "Heck, If I still have the restore partition, there is not reason why I can't get it to restore with some effort."
Some other people I've seen have just had viral attacks, or just want to sell their laptop and need a fresh install. This is for those people that need it. The answer to the question of what if Control and F11 don't work.
So, Here I am with the fix. There is one required bit of software that's required, and that is simply a dos boot cd. You can find many iso's for dos on the net. All you have to do is burn a copy and boot from it. [EDIT] IMPORTANT: I was wrong about dos. As stated below ( http://www.notebookforums.com/post3049150.html ) you have to do it from a 32 bit environment. You can get through one in the XP repair console (on the install cd) or through one of the options in vista's setup.[/EDIT]
Ok, so this is going to be dumbed down a bit, and I'll explain what the dos commands do. First off, after booting into dos, you need to change to the restore partition. This isn't hard at all, all you do is type "D:" and press enter. After this, you need to find the restore file. This is a file with the extension of *.wim. This is an image of windows from dell factory.
Generally this file is found in d:dellimage and is called Factory.wim. Just to double check, I'm going to tell you to change the directory. Type in "cd dellimage" and press enter. In dos, CD means Change Directory (or enter a folder). Now, to list all of the files in the directory type in "dir" and press enter...............
I lost the restore partition on the original SSD that my Yoga 13 shipped with. Is there a collection of drivers and whatnot that would allow me to restore it to factory defaults on my own with a fresh windows installation? I have the win8 key from the BIOS but don't want to lose out on all the required drivers if I were to just reinstall windows myself.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI recently bought the XPS 15 and decided to reformat the drive with a clean win7 64bit install using the drivers CD to assist leaving the Dell recovery partition in place
I may now be selling, so attempted a Dell factory restore from the Dell restore partition using F8 on reboot
Following the manual, I hit F8 but cannot see anything relating to the Dell recovery options only win7 recovery options
I did upgrade to the latest bios from the Dell XPS 15 drivers site but surely they wouldnt have removed this options
I have no recovery CD/DVDs either. Why I cant see the F8 recovery options and whats the best option to factory restore?
I installed Windows Vista but finally I would like to restore my computer with the Dell factory restore.
At boot, I press F8 but there isn't the "Repair my computer" option anymore...
How can I restore my M1530 with the Recovery partition ?
I bought a Dell Inspiron N5110 last year. I created two more partitions on my hard drive. Now I want to restore my windows to factory settings, but I cannot go through the restore process.
I am quite sure that the restore partition is physically on the hard drive, but maybe because of creating new partition it cannot find the drive, or the restore program looks to wrong partition. How can I recover with the current conditions.
I had two of the same Windows 8.1 OS on my Y500 (Cloned from original to SSD). Then Last night I tried to 'refresh without affecting your files' option for my OS on the HDD so I have a fresh OS to go back to incase anything happend. then on the Lenovo screen it said that the E: drive was being refreshed as well so I freaked and turned off the computer. NOw I cant access either of the OS's. What should I do? I did do a back up right before and the back up files are still there in a partition I made in the HDD. I used a USB boot of Puppy LInux to see the files on my HDD but it would not let me transfer it to an External Hard Drive. I will Try to install a better linux and try to transfer the OKR files to another Drive.
-how would I go about restoring the back up files if I were to get them on another drive?
The only reason I purchased my xps m1710 is that I thought it was the top of the range model at the time, now all I want to do is replace the hd but at the same time retain all the functionality of the hidden restore partition and the media centre partition. You would expect Dell would make this easy for me as the owner and as Dell market themselves as providing user friendly IT solutions.
I have tried using trueimage to clone the drive but when trying the new drive on boot up it gets to the Dell 'blue bar' then freezes. I have tried copying partition by partition but this is even less successful.
I have tried restoring the restore 'ghost' image to the new hard drive but symantec ghost reports incompatibilities with the image file.
I am upgrading my original Samsung hd (SATA) to a new hd and would like to keep the hidden partition and mediacentre partition as my original hd. I have a new SATA hd which is currently connected in a USB enclosure. I am not a hd or filesystem expert and don't want to spend a year studying the goodells website.
I just bought a used Red E520-1143CTO in brand new condition, from someone who screwed up the OS (It had Windows 7 Home Prem 64). A lot of the drivers were missing and not working correctly. The restore partition is still there when I look in My Computer but when i reboot and press F11, I never get the option to access it. There was no Lenovo software installed to create a repair disk and of course, it didn't come with any software. Is there a way to access it?
I also have access to another E520 that is almost exactly the same (It just has the older i3 processor). I tried to create a repair disk from it and use it on this computer but it says the Windows versions are not compatible or the Repair software is not compatible with this version.
So I'm trying to figure out if there is an alternative way to access this restore partition. I've installed a company version of Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit on this machine and I've got most of the drivers installed and it appears to be working fine. But I have three that have yellow exclaimation points:
1) Base System Device
2) SM Bus Controller
3) Unknown Device
I've been downloaded drivers from this site, but I can't can't figure out which drivers I need to clear this list. So, how to get it restored to factory default. If not, I'd like to know what drivers I need to clear this list. I want it to look like brand new because I was going to give it to someone as a gift. I just don't see the on screen prompts for the wifi button (doens't work), volume, and brightness like the other machine. I'd like to get all that working.
best way to install a *clean* version of Windows 8 to their Thinkpad that came with Windows 8?
I ordered a T430s with low specs and Windows 8 and I dropped in an 8GB DIMM and mSATA drive. However, the Lenovo implementation of Windows 8 is maddeningly difficult to create backup media (you can't) and the Lenovo "restore" from the HDD partition won't allow you to restore to another drive. Plus, that kinda defeats my original purpose of a clean install without any bloatware onto a fast, user-installed mSATA or SSD.
I have Windows upgrade media I purchased for my desktop, but that install program says the installation won't work with the Lenovo Product Key specific to my Thinkpad T430s (I'm guessing it's an OEM product key while the install media is an upgrade looking for a previously installed Windows 7?)
HP pavilion model -17-e054ca
After upgrade to Window 8.1 PRO I seeC: 932 GBD: 28 GB -listed as recovery. I want to save system image backup Currently to create system image backup I have only option to create image on external drive or on D:
1. Is possible without reinstalling windows create new partion E: in order backup system images to it? If yes how create new partition in win.8.1?
2. if partion E: will contain system image(s) can I boot from usb recovery disk and choose restore from one of system images located on E:
3. If for some reasons I want to reinstall OS from set of recovery DVD(s) to factory setting what is going to happen with partion E:
4. what is purpuse of D: marked as recovery?
I have 4 partitions on my disk as shown in Disk Management. I don't use hibernation, so I want to reclaim the 8GB partition for use as storage. I have a few questions regarding this.
1) What will I compromise if I remove the 8GB partition, other than hibernation?
2) I right-clicked on the OS partition and selected "Shrink Volume". I received the popup shown in the attached image below. It doesn't reflect anything about returning the 8GB partition to the OS partition. In fact, shrinking goes against my intention of expanding the OS partition to include the 8GB. Right-clicking on the 8GB partition only brings up "Help" in the context menu and is not shrinkable.
3) Can I do this any time after having used the laptop for a while, with data and programs already installed? Does the process affect existing files and installations?
I just bought a e4200 with 64g SSD. I am about to do a fresh install with winxp.
My question is if I can use my winxp install disk to partition this SSD like how we do it for a normal hard drive?..
i downloaded xp sp2 and burned it to cd thought all i had to do then was press f12 to boot and install cd thought this would restore it to nearly new or at least wipe everything clean but wont work anyone with any help? it has xp home edition
View 9 Replies View RelatedI am the original owner of a Dell X1 laptop. Even with the 3 year extended warranty, it is now clearly out of warranty. When we purchased this laptop, it did not come with any recovery or restore CD.
The windows partition finally died of old age with a corrupted file. Won't boot up as a dll is missing.
HOW can I get a recovery/restore CD? It is still running the original Windows XP OS.
On my new Studio 15 with Vista Home Premium SP1, I tried to partition the HDD using Easues Partition Manager and it never worked. My system would just keep giving errors. Finally, I 'restored' the system using recovery DVD but its not yet completely restored.
I had ordered my system with 1440 x 900 resolution and max I can get is 1152 x 864. At many other places, I feel like its running on generic drivers and specific drivers are not installed.
Can anybody help me in figuring this out and how do I go ahead and install drivers for my components.
There is one DVD with drivers and utilities. Do I go through this DVD for one by one components? or Dell provides any utility that will identify your hardware and install drivers for that?
I just don't want to do something blindly and f*** up the system again.
I'm trying to restore my SXPS16 back to how it was when i bought it using the recovery partition. But when I go to the advanced boot menu the option to do the factory restore is missing.
I know I can do a clean windows install using the CD that came with it but I'd rather just have it the way it was when I first got it.
Does anyone know of a way to fix this, or otherwise, is there another way to do a factory restore?
I have a 1530 and am trying to install Windows 7
I'm trying to create a new partition on my hard drive, but for some reason I cant.
I am using Paragon Partition Manager.
Can someone please help me, or suggest a different program.
I'm sitting here with a 250 GB HDD and I really need a 100 GB partition seperate from the OS partition.
I can't create a 5th partition since it's limited to 4
ATM my setup is as follows:
188 MB Utilities
121 GB OS
9,99 GB Recovery
2,50 GB ????
85 GB unallocated
So, first-off,
1)what's in the ???? partition.
2)What are the contents the Recovery partition
3) If I remove the partiton, will I be able to someh-how get the same partition settings
with discs?
4)Are all of the contents on the hdd also on the bundled discs?
The Dell Recover Partition is a great idea and everything, but is it worth it? I tried creating a new partition on my harddrive to store my music and it won't let me because the drive is all locked up. I want to format the whole drive and start fresh so I can have a seperate partition for my personal files. This means getting rid of the recovery partition. They shipped me an XP installation disc, but no drivers...I can download those. Plus on the recovery partition there is a lot of bloatware.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have a Studio 1569 with a 500gb but most of the drive is set up on D and only about 58gb on C.Is there a way to change this without re formatting the drive?
View 3 Replies View RelatedBasically today my download of the Win 7 beta finished, so i had to mess with partitions as i had 4 already taken up.
My HDD was in the same state as when i got it, with the partitions: C:/OS, D:/Recovery, ?:/MediaDirect, and ?:/the EISA Configuration one.
I backed up my D Recovery drives in 3 ways (to be sure) with a simple backup to my seagate external, acronis true image'd (then put on external), and Nero backed up (then burnt to dvd).
Anyways, i started up GParted and did the following:
1. Deleted the d drive
2. Resized C approximately 20gb less
My lap has D: drive as recovery partion with
Dell (folder has the factory image) and tools folder (has pcrestore.exe). I assume the are required for restoring dell to factory default.
Now along with these 2 folders there are many other folders ( windows, users, program files, programData and sources) . Could any one tell me what these other folders are for? and do i need these?
I have a vostro 1510 and I need to restore my laptop to how I first got it. Ive read about pressing f8 and it taking you to the advanced boot screen and that you just press the down arrow keys to repair your computer...the only problem is that there is no repair your computer option on that screen.
View 10 Replies View RelatedI was in the middle of watching a show on hulu when the computer suddenly got really slow for no apparent reason. I tried closing apps but it didn't help. Being very impatient I held the power button down to turn it off.
When I turned it back on the hard drive instantly started working non stop (HDD light on solid. not blinking) and it took forever to load windows. The HDD is on constantly now and the performance is terrible
I have the following 3 drives on my Dell XPS 1530 notebook as it came from Dell :
1)Drive C :Which has all the Windows files
2)Drive D: Which has other files
3)Drive E :Which has the Recovery files
So far I have enabled System Restore only for Drive C.
Is it advisable to enable System restore for Drives D and E also ?
Im particularly asking for Drive D as system restore eats lots of space if it is enabled in Drive D.
Are there any risks if system restore is not enabled for Drive D and E
I am trying to restore my laptop (studio xps 16) to factory settings using the recovery image. If I look in my computer, i can see C and D drives.
D is my recovery partition with 7gb full out of 10gb. This is good and dandy except when i open the D drive, there is one folder that says RECOVERY that is empty. Why is it empty when there are 7gb's of files in there? I already have hidden files shown
How can I restore the Bios on an Aurora R4?
View 1 Replies View Relatedi checked that it has two partition one with 217 GB(OS installed) and another with 15 GB(Recovery partition).
I want to do further partition of 217 GB disk. usually, on my desktop i use hirens boot cd for creating partition. same i try to do here bt evrythng got messed up.
my 217 GB partition got deleted or corrupted and went under anallocated space..................
I have the Precision M6500, and before the Windows 7 partition there are two smaller partitions that I don't want or need. I will install from the DVD if I need to reinstall it and I use Acronis to do full image backups.
So I started up with changing the active partition from one of those recovery partitions. Suddenly I get the "BOOTMGR missing" pain in the a$$. No problem to fix it of course, I use a Linux Partition Manager boot CD for that.
But the problem is that if it reacts that badly to that change (I even tried the original Windows 7 DVD to startup repair, fixboot and fixmbr, but it didn't help),
then I fear that removing those partitions all together will really mess things up. Can I force the Windows 7 bootmanager over to the OS partition, or is this some custom Dell stuff that means that I would have to reinstall 7 totally to get it fixed?