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How to reinstall windows after formatting disk?
So, I have formatted my hard drive to do a fresh install. I noticed on the drive before formatting there were 5 partitions. How can I reinstall windows on my XPS 8700 after the hard drive has been completely formatted? I do have the backup disk from dell called "Drivers and Utilities" . I too had previously burned a backup DVD using Dell Backup and Recovery program. Can I reinstall windows using this backup? How can I get the windows CD to reinstall windows on my XPS? I did order the replacement disk but it doesn't have the operating system on it. Is there some way I can get the OS from Dell? Is there a download location on Dell's website for this media?
Will I need to recreate the 5 partitions? Do I need all Five of these partitions?
Volume Simple Basic (EFI system partition) Capacity 500MB Free Space 500MB
Volume Simple Basic (OEM partition) Capacity 40MB Free Space 40MB
Volume Simple Basic (Recovery Partition) Capacity 490MB Free space 490MB
Volume Simple Basic (Recovery Partition) Capacity12.57GB Free Space 12.57GB
Volume OS(C:) Simple Basic (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) Capacity 917.81 GB Free Space
Thanks for any help.
rdunnill
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January 9th, 2014 18:00
Have you tried ordering a reinstall disk from Dell? You may be able to so from their support chatroom.
BeepsWhirls
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January 9th, 2014 19:00
Oops!!!!, I'm bad! I did order the disk from Dell! I was only seeing the "Drivers and Utilities" disk, underneath it in my book I have found the needed official "Dell Operating System Disk". Could you tell me about the partitions and if I even need to make the other four that it once showed. Thanks for making me double check.
rdunnill
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January 9th, 2014 22:00
If all the old partitions have been deleted, I think you can just run the install disk and let it do that. You may not get all of the original partitions back, but in that case, they are not needed.
BeepsWhirls
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January 10th, 2014 21:00
Thanks Rdunnill! Do you know what the partitions where and why Dell would have shipped the unit with 5 partitions on the drive? I did not put any of those partitions on it. Also, would I be correct to assume you are saying the Dell windows disk will put those extra partitions back on the hard drive when I execute the install? Can I install the windows disk without the UEFI bios so that I can add a Linux partition? I did use Belarc to extract the windows license number. Sorry to ask so many questions but this is all new stuff for me.
rdunnill
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January 10th, 2014 22:00
The EFI partition is for UEFI boot, the recovery partitions are for restoring to factory defaults, and I don't know what the OEM one is for.
At the Fortune 500 giant I worked at, there are thousands of Dells in daily use that are routinely wiped and reinstalled with generic Windows. You should be OK to do that, although I've never experimented with UEFI boot.
osprey4
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January 11th, 2014 04:00
Hi Beepswhirls,
I've got a link below to a Windows reinstall guide. So let me suggest you follow that.
But I like your style. Format first, then figure out how to reinstall later. :emotion-2: