You could lon the hard drve to the SSD, but the size of the combied partitions cloned neds to be reduced to less than the 128 GB SSD. Do some research as to how to do this. You can also use the TS recommendation. It seems that Dell formats many machines with the SSD as  cache drive, not a boot drive. Having a 128 GB cache drive seems wasteful, so the TS statement of software error may bw correct.

Thanks for the reply, I have been investigating the process of cloning, but after just a little more of a look at the machine, I don't believe cloning is a good way to go - some of the Dell software just refuses to launch and it seems I have some AMD (graphics driver) software pre-installed, which is baffling given the machine has an nVidia card. I don't think moving an already flaky OS is going to yield a satisfactory result. Also, the SSD isn't being used at all, even for caching.

I acknowledge that a solution is to basically build the OS on the SSD myself, but TS told me this will require a degree of computer gymnastics because the SSD, they tell me, won't be recognized by the bootable media they were offering to send. It's very disappointing of Dell so far though, quite apart from the way I was shunted from department to department within Dell to finally be basically told "do it yourself", which is hardly the definition of "pro support".

I did pay for a machine that was supposed to be properly configured, with the OS on a particular drive, so I think my best bet (given I don't want to waste a day or more on this) is to wait till the technician arranges a visit. Shouldn't be more than a few weeks, so I'll just soldier on with my existing machine.

It seems I have no choice but to wait: I'm trying to download a Windows image but I can't agree to the T&C because for some reason neither the "Agree" nor the "No, I don't" buttons work, and it's only available for an hour, which will probably be insufficient time for the download anyway.

I'm feeling like I'm the *** of some terrible Dell joke.

I had  the exact same problem today, shuttled from dept. to dept. 10 times only to get nowhere.

My post where I was looking for help, hasn't even shown up.

I've never seen such shoddy support and given the absolute nightmare  support I've had from windows 10, that's saying something.

I was eager to get a solution from these forums as I was unable to login on my old username so I had to start over, but now it seems,though I"ve seen plenty of 'new' posts, that my post is moderated, with no warning as to why OR when its going to appear.

I"ve asked 3 dell people, via private message, and not one has had the decency to respond.

Just like my horrible  1 hr PLUS experience with dell phone support, it seems I'm waiting, as you did, yet again even here on the forums.

I'm getting tired of it.

GOod luck to you,though I hold out ZERO hope for either of us.

GOod luck to you,though I hold out ZERO hope for either of us.

Thanks, and I hope you find success, too. Perseverance seems to be the key, although it shouldn't be.

I'm in Australia and I know of another purchaser of an identical machine - like mine, from the Dell Factory Outlet - and his has been configured the same incorrect way. Luckily, he got through to TS who organized someone to come out and configure the machine correctly reasonably easily. But it shouldn't be down to luck.

I got an email this morning about a part not being available, and asking me to be patient. Which I will be, for a while, at least.

I essentially abandoned Windows about 2 years ago for Linux, and will set up a dual-boot system ASAP.

There is no doubt that it is incredibly frustrating to not get what you paid for, and then jump through hoops to fix the problem, often dealing with people in another country whose training and English is just sufficient for them to follow a script and note key words, but all things end, and I remain hopeful.

Which is somewhat different to "confident."

I'm nothing, if not determined, and was eventually able to download the ISO, but the reason download button wasn't active was due to me not having the browser window maximized, which seems quite a flaw in the programming. However, attempting to follow subsequent instructions on the Dell website for installing the new OS to the SSD failed because it seems the system (despite booting from the USB eventually - in one of the  ports it just froze the machine completely so I tried another -) wouldn't recognize the thumb drive as an OS source. Perhaps there is a hardware fault in the system, but I may never know.

I feel disinclined to try calling TS again on 1800060889 or 1300662286 or 1300790877 which are all numbers given to me by Dell representatives that it seems, each is incorrect, because I just get shuffled from one person to another. I'll have to try other forums, I guess.

The main issue is that Dell Backup and Recovery automatically selects the largest internal drive available to install the OS on. With a 250 GB SSD and 2 TB HDD it therefore makes the wrong choice...

If you really want the factory image you can make Dell Backup and Recovery Media then use Diskpart CLEAN ALL on the HDD. Then remove the HDD and then load the factory image on the SSD. After the factory image is loaded you can insert the HDD and initialise it in Disk Management.

See here for details:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery-1-8-1-71/

Thanks for the reply, and I think your advice about the removal of the HDD is sound. Thanks for the link, I shall go through it.

I had a tech at my house yesterday who installed Win 10 on the SSD, although I can't see the partitions on the SSD that I was expecting to see - the EFI partition and the recovery partition are all on the HDD. The tech then told me he had installed all the default software (Alienware Command Center, External Graphics Amplifier to name a couple) and all was working fine. However, when I checked, I found this is not so and that attempts to install the ACC fail with error messages. So my expectation that I get a competent tech who is honest, failed on both counts.

I have a lot on my plate and can't really afford to spend hours attempting to get things sorted on this machine, which is why I wanted Dell to supply what I paid for by sending a technician to do the OS install properly. But it seems to be a harder task than I originally believed.

I'm still trying to get satisfaction from those involved.

I guess this can be marked as "solved" or similar. I got tired of having a gorgeous machine that wasn't configured properly, and found the time to do it myself over the weekend. I now have a machine that boots and runs from its SSD.

Thanks to those here who had suggestions and really tried to help, plus I guess, those on the forum who have walked this path before and left some breadcrumbs for me to follow. More thanks to Hadin and Marmie (Tech Support/Escalations) who tried their best to resolve this and showed great patience.

Time to move on.

Cheers,

Michael P