Factory Image Restore

Although I'm running Windows 7 and not Vista, these instructions allowed me to restore my Zino to a factory build.  I am EXTREMELY grateful for these instructions.

All I needed to do was to install the WAIK kit on my other Win 7 desktop, copy imagex.exe to my recovery partition on my Zino, and boot into the repair mode (using F8).  I dropped into the command prompt, and applied the factory.wim image.  I'm a happy camper!

The actual restore time reported by imagex was 7 min 26 sec.

Thanks again,

   .../Ed

Ewilts,

Glad these instructions helped you Ed.   So often we see posters ask a question before searching the Forum fo see if the question has already been answered in older posts.   Nice to know when someone takes the time to search for a solution to their problem.

Tony

Thanks to all for submitting your aid but  I am still having an issue with this.  After I running the Image /apply command I get the follwoing error.

The instruction at '0x77c4805f' referenced memory at '0x77629304'. The required data was not placed into memory because of an I/O error status of '0xc0000185'

 I have had trouble finding what could be causing this error.  Some places I have found seem to have labeled it as a hardware issue and something having to with a SCSI drives.

I checked System Information and found no errors concerning IRQs.  

Wasn't sure if anyone could help.

Hi Tony

Please provide me the Detail for accessing the dell factory image and restoring to factory setup

LucasvdM, You can manually restore your Vista Factory Image.  It's fairly easy to do, but does require some patience, mainly downloading the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) ISO from Microsoft.  WAIK takes a while to download.  It's over 1.3Gb.  You then install the WAIK on another Vista or Windows XP SP2 machine and copy about 26Mb of files to removable media.  You then boot your machine with a "live" CD such as Bart's PE or UBCD, access the files on the removable media and manually restore the Vista Factory Image to your C:\ drive.   This will restore future access to the Factory Image using the F8 key. If you're interested in restoring your original Factory Image, let us know and I'll give the details on how this can be done. Tony

Alokcool,

First and foremost, have you backed up your existing data files, documents, music, pictures, etc.?  This can, and should, be done even when a hard drive will not boot.

Next, have you tried the normal procedure to restore your system to its "as-shipped" condition?   That is, you restart the computer and press F8 while the Dell logo is on the screen.   After selecting language, time zone,and keyboard, you then select  the Factory Restore (PC Restore) option. 

If the F8 at startup doesn't work, you probably have a corrupt boot record.  You can get around this as follows:

Insert your Dell Vista DVD.

Restart computer.

Press F12 while the Dell logo is on the screen.

Select the DVD-ROM as you boot device.

Select the language, keyboard and time zone.

Select the "Repair your computer" option.

Select the "Command Prompt:" option.

At the Command Prompt type: D:  and press the Enter key.

At the D:\ prompt, type: cd\tools and press the Enter key.

Type: pcrestore and press the Enter key.

If this doesn't start the PC Restore application, you can do the following:

Type: imagex/apply d:\dell\image\factory.wim 1 c:

Within 8 to 15 minutes your system should be restored to its "as-shipped" condition.

If you run into problems, do not despair.  You may have to boot from a "live" CD such as Bart's PE or UBCD for Windows to get your system restored.

Let us know how you fare.

Tony

Hi ewilts, I am also using Windows 7 64 edition. Can u please tell me the procedure step by step to restore my windows 7 to factory settings.

I will be really helpful.

Thnx

I have a dell 1558 model with windows 7 home premium dvd shipped with it from the company. I forget to create the the recovery disc first and I installed windos7 manually. But there is a hidden Recovery partition intact with no drive letter assigned to it, I haven't touched that. Is there any way to restore the factory settings from that hidden Recovery partition? Please help me out with this..............

Thanks in advance!

See the last post by TGSMITH http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19243206.aspx,

download WAIK->Create a Bootable CD/USB Drive->copy Folders AMD64, IA64, SERVICING, and X86 from WAIK into that bootable CD/USB.

Boot from that CD/USB->check in which partition Recovery is present (In my Studio 1557 it is in C:\ drive) and also the OS Partition volume name

  Navigate to the Tools\x86\ folder on your USB ->apply following command

imagex /apply C:\dell\image\factory.wim 1 H:\

Note:Recovery partition on my system is C and OS partition is H, change it according to urs.

I hope it will solve ur problem

Thank you manniit for your reply to my post.......

As indicated in the post I downloaded the WAIK and installed it using on my PC.

I copied the folders specified folders into my usb drive named ajay.

Then by opening the command prompt I entered the following commands......

and I got this error......

When I booted from USB drive........

I got the message.....    "There is no Operating System found."

In case of Booting from USB drive, I think error is caused due to the USB drive not being the Bootabe Flash USB drive.

If this is the cause then please tell me how to convert it into bootabe flash drive for this particular case. I really don't know how to make it.

Use  Bart's PE or UBCD for Windows to make Bootable CD or USB drive.

you can also use Win7RescuePE

Ajaym05,

As Mannit suggested, go to www.ubcd4win.com.  Download the UBCD for Windows.  One of the mirrors is on www.download.com, so you can download the UBCD for Windows from there.  Once you download the UBCD for Windows, install it.  I would suggest that you create a folder on your C: drive called WinXP.  Insert a Windows XP (Home or Professional) CD with SP2 or SP3 in your CD ROM drive.  Open My Computer.  Click on the CD ROM drive.   Click on Edit|Select All.  Click on Edit|Copy.  Click on the C:\WinXP folder.  Click Edit|Paste.  This will copy the entire contents of the XP CD into the C:\WinXP folder.

Now, click on the UBCD4WIN icon on your Desktop.   Under Builder|Source: type C:\WinXP.  Click on Build.  If you are using a Dell or other OEM Windows XP CD you will receive a warning.  You can safely ignore this warning.  Once the build is finished, the UBCD4WinBuilder.iso image will be located in the C:\UBCD4Win subdirectory.  Use Roxio, Nero or whatever program you have to burn this ISO image to a DVD because the image is over 700Mb and cannot be burned on a CD. Once the ISO image is created, you can create a bootable USB UBCD4Win flash drive, by clicking on Plugins, locate the USB-drive item (it's the sixth item in the Plugins list), Make sure it's enabled, then click on the Config button.  This can be a handy device for working on netbooks which have no DVD drive.

Note that you can put your imagex files in a folder and include that folder in your UBCD build or you can insert the flash drive with your imagex files prior to booting the Windows7 machine with the UBCD4Win DVD. 

Now, insert the UBCD4Win DVD in the Windows 7 DVD drive.  Restart the computer.  While the Dell logo is on the screen, press F12.  Select the DVD drive as your boot device.  Once you get to the UBCD4Win desktop, click on Start|Command Prompt (CMD).  When you get the Command Prompt window, navigate to the folder that contains  your imagex files. On an Inspiron 1720, the image files are located in D:\Dell\Image\Factory.wim.  

Type the command: imagex /apply d:\dell\image\factory.wim 1 c:\

Let us know how you fare.

Tony

Hi tgsmith, you can call me simply ajay.....

As you instructed I downloaded UBCD4Win and installed it. Copied the all contents of SP2 CD to folder WinXP on C:\ drive. Started UBCD4Win application and typed C:\WinXP  under the field Builder|Source path and clicked on the build. when build finished, I checked UBCD4WinBuilder.iso image under the C:\UBCD4Win subdirectory which was less than 700 MB ( exact 697 MB). So I burned this image to a CD using nero burning rom.

By inserting this CD in the CD ROM, I restarted the PC and chose the option Boot From CD/DVD ROM by tapping F12  at starting  up  window.  I got  the  message

Starting CD........ ok, and I saw the Ultimate Boot CD screen. From there I chose the default option Launch Ultimate Boot CD and I saw the screen showing Now Loading the files.....

After the loading finished I got the error on a blue screen like this........

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

..............

..............

and in the end of message....

Technical Information

STOP: 0X0000007E (0XC0000005, 0XF73B8D66, 0XF78CDEA4, 0XF78CDBA0)

acpi.sys - Address F73B8D66  base at F73AD000, DateStamp 41107d27

then I restarted the PC manually by pressing the power button.

Your BIOS is probably set to SATA/AHCI.  Try setting the BIOS to IDE and try again.

Tom

Ajay,

When you installed Windows 7 from the DVD, it overwrote the Dell Proprietary Boot Record (PBR).  Once you restored the Factory Image manually, it should have also restored Dell's PBR.    Review the instructions given here for the proper method to access the Dell Factory Image Restore option: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?docid=362066

I hope this info helps.

Tony