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Build your own Factory.wim file and use F8 to restore it ,a How to !
Hi
The question is do you want to try it ?
I have made my own factory.wim file and have tested it over
and over on 2 Inspiron 1501,s one with Vista Basic and the other with Home Premium
to make sure this does work before i posted it here .
Now i need your help so we can say it will work for other people !!
Yes build your own factory.wim file
and use the
Dell F8 PCRestore to use your factory.wim file
to restore your computer back after a Vista,software or hardware crash !
Here's what you need in the 10 gig D:\Recovery partition ,
Dell >you will { {move}} this folder to a USB OR DVD drive for safe keeping
so now you will have these folders left on the recovery partition .
Dell >and rename it to Dell1 if you leave it on the partition .
Program.files
Program.data >it should be hidden !
Sources
Tools
Users
Windows
Look in the {Tools} folder and make sure you have these files .
CmdShell.cmd
dp.sc
Facimg.exe >{this file is a must have} it will build your factory.wim file !!
imagex.exe
intlcfg.exe
PCRestore.exe
wimfltr.inf
wimfltr.sys
wimgapi.dll
wimscript.ini
Now
copy the {TOOLS} folder and the files in it to same USB hard drive ,
Now you need to make sure your main OS Drive
is {backed up just incase something goes wrong} with your factory.wim file !!
OK
here we go restart your computer with the USB drive plugged into a port
so it can be seen latter ,
After you reboot tap F8 to get to the advance boot options menu at the top you will see repair your computer you have it high lighted then tap the enter key after a little screen action you will come to the keyboard select screen
you select your keyboard layout then you click
{click next}
to get to the administrator screen on the drop down menu to select your {login name}and
password if you have one and click { {OK}}!
Now you will come to the choose a Recovery tools screen where you see the
repair startup >and down to the Dell Factory Image Restore AT THE BOTTOM options !
You
Click on the C:\> Command Prompt you should see X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32> you type
CD\ Hit the enter key you get
X:\ now you type your USB drive Letter D: E: or F: it may be tricky to find it , mine is
F:\>
Now you type cd tools hit the enter key
F:\TOOLS>
Then you type Facimg.exe hit then enter key
now a little screen will start up with Dell Factory Image at the top
with a progress bar going left to right
It will say Building the factory image file Waite until it reads and writes the file to the USB drive ,
my little screen
goes all the way to the right then it starts over again For the 3rd time !!
After it does its thing building the file it may take a long time to build yours
mine only took about 20 to 30 minutes to complete the process it will compress your OS drive down to where it should fit on the 10. gig D:\Recovery partition after it Finnish !!
Now type exit hit the enter key .
Now select restart after windows restarts you copy your Dell\image\factory.wim folder back to your D:\Recovery partition now to test it ,
start over with F8 again but do the Dell Factory Image Restore
it will be { {your factory Restore image}} that you just made !!!
And by the way i made 2 personal factory.wim files one is about 4.40 gigs the other is about 4.11 and they do fit one the 10.1 gig Recovery partition about 1.2 gig,s left over ,
it will depend on how many gig,s of information you have on the C:\OS
partition .
Good Luck
zrtom
160 Posts
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September 27th, 2008 01:00
Jerry, this sounds great! As you'll recall, I tried to make some headway on this idea a couple months ago but got sidetracked. I will be giving your technique some tries and will certainly report back.
One thing I had "problems" with is the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool (memtest.exe) sometimes didn't work after remounting an image other than the factory image. It would schedule correctly but on restart would return an error of being corrupt or missing. I'm curious whether it works for you.
Can't wait to give this a try tomorrow.
Tom
XPS 420, Q6600, 4GB, 500x2, Radeon HD2600XT, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate SP1
XPS 420, Q6700, 4GB, 750GB x 2 (RAID 0), GeForce 8800 GT, Xcellerator, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.2GHz, 4GB, 200GB (7200), Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.0GHz, 4GB, 320GB, Quad-Boot: Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1, XP Pro 64-bit, Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit & Media Direct
mombodog
12.7K Posts
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September 27th, 2008 01:00
C3PO5
2.7K Posts
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September 27th, 2008 07:00
Hi
I did check the memtest and it does give the same error message with my factory.wim file !
I am going to try it with the Dell factory.wim file and see what the outcome is !
The only other draw back i found is Avast says my key has expired all i have to do is copy
and past it back in and its good to go after that !
Edit
I tried with the Dell factory.wim file and the memtest does the same thing !
It says
file: \boot\memtest.exe
status: 0xc000000e
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is
missing or corrupt !
Plus every time i use the Dell wim file after it is applied my 1501 goes into a boot loop
and i have to use the Vista DVD to repair the start up or the boot manager !
I wish i know how to fix this with the Dell factory.wim file !!
When i use {my} factory.wim file my compute it does not go into a boot loop !
When my 1501 was new it did the same thing plus it did not even have the F8 option that would work
i could select repair my computer and it would just boot into windows !!
It has taken me many months just to get it to work
the way it works now with F8 thanks to Microsoft and windows waik kit .
So if memtest does not work that does not bother me that much i am just happy i can restore my
computer back with {my factory.wim file} no boot loops or using the Vista DVD to get it out of the boot loop !!
OH by the way this process does work for my E 521 that my dad is using .
Good luck to the other people that uses this find to build your own factory.wim file .
I would like to hear from someone that has a Vista 64 bit OS preinstalled on there computer
to see how this works for them !!
So if you try this please post your out come so I and other people will know if it works or not!
Thanks and
Good Luck
zrtom
160 Posts
0
October 7th, 2008 23:00
Jerry,
I first learned of the memtest problem when I cloned a factory HDD with Acronis TI11, then used the F8 restore on the cloned drive. Memtest would work on the cloned c:\ partition, but not on the c:\ partition after using the F8 restore on the cloned drive. Acronis worked with me for months trying all kinds of different things. They ended up saying it had something to do with the HPA that they cannot completely clone. And, they say it was related to requiring Startup Repair on the first restart after the F8 restore.
Back then, the system was new and I wanted everything to work. I worried that if memtest didn't work, then what else might not turn up not working. Now, many months later, I'm also not as worried about memtest not working. But it does bug me.
By the way, I've searched all 4 of my new systems and cannot find facimg.exe. Not in d:\tools, not anywhere. I know I have it (or at least I did) because I have the Factory Reinstallation DVD sets for all of these systems and I've watched as it reloads everything as it came from the factory and then builds the factory.wim just before going to the OOBE. Maybe it normally deletes itself on some systems after creating factory.wim. Is there a way you could get me a copy of facimg.exe? Thanks.
Tom
XPS 420, Q6600, 4GB, 500x2, Radeon HD2600XT, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate SP1
XPS 420, Q6700, 4GB, 750GB x 2 (RAID 0), GeForce 8800 GT, Xcellerator, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.2GHz, 4GB, 200GB (7200), Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.0GHz, 4GB, 320GB, Quad-Boot: Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1, XP Pro 64-bit, Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit & Media Direct
zrtom
160 Posts
0
October 7th, 2008 23:00
Regarding 64-bit Vista and F8 restore. Although not exactly what you were inquiring about, I have tried this: I installed Vista 64-bit on the c:\ partition of a drive that has a "valid" (restorable) 32-bit factory.wim. Then I tried using the F8 restore. It returns an error that the operating systems are not compatible. BUT, I did get it to restore the 32-bit image eventually. Just can't remember exactly how I did it. I think I might have kept trying several times until it "took." I usually take meticulous notes, but didn't that time.....
Tom
XPS 420, Q6600, 4GB, 500x2, Radeon HD2600XT, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate SP1
XPS 420, Q6700, 4GB, 750GB x 2 (RAID 0), GeForce 8800 GT, Xcellerator, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.2GHz, 4GB, 200GB (7200), Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.0GHz, 4GB, 320GB, Quad-Boot: Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1, XP Pro 64-bit, Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit & Media Direct
C3PO5
2.7K Posts
0
October 8th, 2008 00:00
Hi
Tom
{ {Yes}} i will send you the D:\tools folder in a zipped file just send me a PM with your
email address .
Yes i tried the same thing with a 64 bit OS and i get the same errors .
I think its because we would need the D:\recovery partition files and folders for a 64 bit OS
preinstalled from Dell !
I have did this with a retail 32 bit version using the Dell restore partition !
I have just finnished doing it on my D 8400 with retail Vista Home P .
The next step is to do it with Ultimate retail 32 using the Dell recovery 32 bit partition
files and folders.
I
for sure would like to try this with a 64 bit recovery partition if someone would send me
just the folders without there Dell\image\factory.wim file .
Hint Hint anyone willing to do this ?
Thanks
C3PO5
2.7K Posts
0
October 8th, 2008 01:00
I wish i know how to fix this with the Dell factory.wim file !!
Hi ALL
Well my wish came true i got the Dell factory.wim restore boot loop problem fixed so now i am a happy camper with it !
zrtom
160 Posts
0
October 8th, 2008 01:00
What did you do to fix it?
Tom
XPS 420, Q6600, 4GB, 500x2, Radeon HD2600XT, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate SP1
XPS 420, Q6700, 4GB, 750GB x 2 (RAID 0), GeForce 8800 GT, Xcellerator, Bluetooth, eSATA, Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.2GHz, 4GB, 200GB (7200), Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
XPS M1330, 2.0GHz, 4GB, 320GB, Quad-Boot: Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1, XP Pro 64-bit, Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit & Media Direct
C3PO5
2.7K Posts
0
October 8th, 2008 02:00
Hi
I did a Pcrestore it went into a boot loop then i used the Vista DVD to fix the boot loop
and used F8 before it got the the screen where you put the check marks to
except the Dell and Microsoft agreement and then built a new Dell factory.wim file ,
just like i did with my factory.wim file .
I deleted the old Dell wim file and copied the new Dell factory.wim file back to the recovery partition
rebooted and used F8 to restore with the new wim file now it works just like it did when it was new
no more boot loops !
If i want a new factory restore it works like it did when it came from Dell you know all of the pre setup you have to do before you get into windows .
schwabenlise
1 Message
0
December 20th, 2008 10:00
Hi Jerry,
I am getting crazy as I try to restore my factory settings the whole day.
It seems the file Facimg.exe is not at my PC at all (although I am not aware of any deleting on the recovery partition at all).
I found a factory.wim file that looks as created by dell.
When I start the recovery process (as described by you) sooner or later the program states that the facimg.exe is missing (correct). I tried to find it by google but without success. Where can I get this file?
Yours,
Soenke
pcgeek11
1.9K Posts
0
December 21st, 2008 07:00
This is much easier using Acronis True Image software and a hidden disk partition " Acronis SecureZone" except you will see "Press F11 for system restore" at boot time. You can also schedule incremental backups so the image is always up to date. This WIM thing is just too much trouble. Acronis will set this up along with the hidden partition and the boot prompt in a few clicks of the mouse.
pcgeek11
Cat-flap
27 Posts
0
February 15th, 2009 02:00
Hi. I'm Having problems restoring my system. Just to say the hardrive is formatted and i have a full copy of the recovery wim file and all the associated folders from my D drive. can i restore my hard drive from my external drive using the copy. If so how
Thanks
andy
Cat-flap
27 Posts
0
March 1st, 2009 11:00
Hi CP305
Thanks for the info. Ive tried this and it worked apart from a boot up problem, kept re booting, which vista disk fixed the boot problem
Ive got the XPS M1530 and checking the "Tools" folder i do not have the "CmdShell.cmd".
Not sure what this file does. Is it related to my boot up problem after using F8 for restore?
Thanks
Andy
minhtan67
2 Posts
1
April 3rd, 2009 10:00
Hello,
Where can i find the " Facimg.exe " ?
I had not sucessfully found any where in the RECOVERY (D:) > Tools (folder) and on the webs for this file.
Please help.
Cat-flap
27 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2009 13:00
The Facimg file should be in your tools folder. sugest you download and install windows "A.I.K" file. Click on below link and download.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C7D4BC6D-15F3-4284-9123-679830D629F2&displaylang=en
After it installs go to your programme folder on C and find it
This should create a new FacImg file. You can copy and paste it to where ever you need it, for example into your D drive folder, tools..
Good luck
Andy