How to Restart to Factory Settings?

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@leftova3 wrote:

Does anyone remember how to restart a Dell Laptop to Factory Settings? I know its something you press when you first turn on the computer.

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You don’t mention whether you’re talking about an Inspiron, a Latitude, or a Precision Mobile, so I haven’t any idea which of the several possibilities will do what you want.

On any of the platforms, if you’re just wanting to reset the hardware components to factory settings, do this.

1. Turn on the system.  As soon as you see the Dell logo come up, tap once or twice. This will take you into BIOS System Setup.
2. On the setup screen, press and at the same time.  The screen should flicker once, and the system clock will reset to a date several years ago.
3. Reset the clock to the correct date and time, save BIOS settings and exit.  The system will restart.

If you have an Inspiron and you’re trying to restore the factory-loaded software image, turn the system on and as soon as you see a blue bar at the top of your screen with “www.dell.com” in it, press and at the same time.  That launches the PC Restore application, which will copy the factory image back onto your drive. (This will not work for Latitude or Precision Mobile systems; PC Restore was never offered on those product lines.)

WARNING WARNING WARNING:  Using PC Restore will wipe out your hard drive totally.  Afterward, all your email, all your documents, all your pictures, all your EVERYthing will be gone forever and ever, world without end amen.  If you’re not ready for that to happen, do NOT use PC Restore.