Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Factory Restore

Thank you!!! I'm glad I read your post!!!

Mine would not do F8 or CTRL F11 restore with the keyboard on the machine but would if a USB keyboard was attached before it was powered on.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&l=en&s=gen&docid=DSN_362066&isLegacy=true

Just did a restore on mine.

• F8 Several times after Dell logo and before the OS starts, This should bring up Advanced Boot Options
• Use keyboard to select Repair Your Computer
• This will bring up a GUI, clock Dell Factory Image Restore
• Select Yes to Reformat and restore system to factory condition

i have a dell Inspiron mini with windows 7.  tryed the F8 but i see no advanced boot options. i do not see how to restore this computer. why does'nt dell just include a restore disc. cheap  company cant offer support like thye used to....

any help how to reformat this

All Dell Mini 10's come with factory restore partition.  XP versions use the CTRL F11 which I've had issues with unless using USB keyboard.  And F8 recovery for Vista and Windows 7.  However if you upgraded the windows from the original version the factory restore may no longer work.  There are ways to repair this for XP using DSRfix.  The New Dell Datasafe partition is encrypted and is usually lost when upgrading unless recovery media was made BEFORE doing any updates.  The Dell Datasafe recovery can restore the original Factory setup to a drive at least the same size as the original drive.

Go out and Buy a 16 Gig good quality FAST USB 2.0 flash drive.  The Dell Datasafe utility will backup the diag and restore partitions and the factory image onto the flash drive.  Dell provides this with all their systems.

Thank you so much, I had the same problem and your post helped me fix it!

if you have the partition and xp but none of the above options work, FLASH THE BIOS

Hi, I have read all posts with interest as have very similar problem.

I have a Dell Inspiron mini 1011 (bought Dec 09) running Windows XP, but have no optical drive, nor any backup discs. I have an external hard drive which I have already backed up all my necessary files to. Following the steps above to check, it appears that there is a small partition on the machine. Finally, I have attached a separate keyboard to aid with he following steps...

Ctrl+F11 does not bring up anything despite over a dozen attempts. I've also tried just F11 on it's own.

F12 brings up the Boot Menu with +Hard Drive // +USB Storage // CD/DVD/CD-RW // Removable Devices // Network Boot and Enter Setup which then opens the BIOS Setup Utility you get when pressing F2.

F8 brings up a Windows Advanced Options Menu but without the option to "Repair Your Computer", only the following...

Safe Mode // Safe Mode with Networking // Safe Mode with Command Prompt // Enable Boot Logging // Enable VGA Mode // Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked) // Directory Services Restore Mode (Windows domain controllers only) // Debugging Mode // Disable automatic restart on system failure // Start Windows Normally // Reboot.

So after 2 days of searching the web I now have the follwing unanswered questions... can I perform a factory settings reformat of the notebook without the need for discs? If not, is it possible to perform the manual reformat using the external hard drive instead of CD's?

Any help on this would be great, even if it's to say that it's not possible so I can stop looking for an answer that doesn't exist!

Thanks in advance

F8 is the key... Instruction manual says to hit several times to access the advanced options window.

Keep hitting F8 till the Dell logo screen goes off... u should then see the menu to do complete system restore

or back to factory settings.

woo hoo on this end also.  thanks so much for the exact step to get this to work:emotion-2: 

F8 is the key... Instruction manual says to hit several times to access the advanced options window.

Keep hitting F8 till the Dell logo screen goes off... u should then see the menu to do complete system restore

or back to factory settings.

Hope this helps... I actually gave mine away so I can't look at the keyboard.

I have a dell mini 10. The mini is showing a reminder helper of an unknown error. I was going to restore it and found the keyboard was up to F10 on it, Where do I find the F11 key at????

     Thanks,

      AnitaReid

F11 is not on the kbd you have to attach a usb keyboard and then turn it on.  same for f8 on my dell.