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Installation hangs at data backup when reinstalling Win8 from Dell Recovery & Restore USB
I need to wipe and reinstall Windows 8.1 because the administrator password has been lost, no password recovery disk is available and as t
he machine now only logs into the Guest account and you cant run the Dell Recovery and Restore from a Guest account without logging in as an admin
We have no data that needs backing up as the machine is being assigned to a new person in the company and we don't need any installed programs s
o we purchased the Dell OS recovery and restore USB for the machine in the belief that this would allow us to restore back to day one.
I was informed that the version of Windows that will be restored is 8.0 and then require upgrading again after... not a problem
Unfortunately the recovery process insists on running a data backup so it can be restored later ...
- If I shutdown the PC when logged in as Guest before running the USB OS recovery, when it gets to the Initialise Backup and Migration it goes to the desktop and does nothing
- If I log out of Guest before shutting down it sits in at the USB OS recovery screen with "Initialise Backup and Migration" "Please Wait" and the rotating processing icon
I have waited waited 2 hours after both the above and no apparent progress so had to force shutdown.
All tests up to this point find no errors ... well there aren't any, we just don't have the admin password !
There is not an option to bypass the backup and go straight to the restore
Any advice on doing a clean install ?
Many thanks
Chris
Philip_Yip
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November 17th, 2014 04:00
I advise securely wiping your system:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/securely-wipe-your-hard-drive-with-dariks-boot-and-nuke-dban/
Download the new Windows 8.1 with update 1 a.ISO:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/
This will work with your OEM license, see a clean install of Windows for more details:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/a-clean-install-of-windows-8-1/
This will take you through the installation of Windows 8.1, its drivers and making a recovery partition from the clean install using Dell Backup and Recovery.
Chrisbz
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December 16th, 2014 23:00
Hi Philip
Just wanted to close this thread and thank you for your assistance.
The instructions you pointed me to worked a treat.
I did allot of reading on your site before proceeding and it went relatively smoothly ...
Well almost ... I forgot to switch the BIOS settings back to Secure Boot and Windows installed as a Legacy Boot. So the boot from disk was not available in the boot sequence when I eventually switched secure boot back on... rooky mistake !
I re-ran install with Secure Boot on, removed the existing partitions before installing again and all went well after that.
Thanks again
Chris
Chrisbz
3 Posts
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November 18th, 2014 00:00
Hi Philip
Thanks for the reply ... and sorry for my late response, had to go out of office yesterday at the last minute.
I appreciate the information but I was hoping for something a little simpler seeing as I was sold a restore USB by Dell
In theory all I need to bypass the backup process and restore back to the original disk image ... Is it not possible now from the Dell supplied media ?
Unless it is necessary to allow the reinstall to work correctly; a secure wipe is not necessary as the pc is going to another employee and no secure data on it ... The PC should have gone strait to the new employee but the previous one decided to 'help', created a new user for them with a new password, removed their own account and promptly forgot the password to the new account !!!
I don't mind doing all the updates and I would prefer to recover from a manufacturer supplied image if possible.
If not, I will have to revert to your method in you previous email (nice site BTW very informative)
Thanks for your help
Chris
Philip_Yip
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16K Posts
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December 17th, 2014 05:00
Great glad to hear. Thanks for posting about your successful installation.
You had flagged your own post as spam/abuse opposed to marking it as an answer. This menu is a feature in the forum which has been giving user problems and should hopefully be fixed in the next forum update. In the meantime I removed the post from moderation and marked it is answered.
AlistairMcGinni
2 Posts
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August 1st, 2015 05:00
Hi, i am using the recovery USB to attempt to fix my computer as i am having the inaccessible boot error screen when i boot it up my pc.
This means that I cannot do any of the suggested things above. Is there any other way for me to fix the backup and migration stage being stuck?
Sorry for the year late response.