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Restore Vista to Factory Settings
I have a new Latitude E6400 with Windows Vista Business SP1 just out of the box yesterday. I haven't done anything but poke around in Vista. I plan to dual boot XP so I've been reading plenty in these forums. Before I do anything, particularly changing or removing the drive letter of the D: recovery partition, I wanted to make sure I could quickly restore to the factory settings if necessary. Following the instructions in Restore Your Computer's Software to the Factory Settings I used F8 to get to the Advanced Boot Options, chose Repair Your Computer, and logged on but there is no Dell Factory Image Restore option in the System Recovery Options dialog. Where is it? Isn't that the purpose of the recovery partition? These are my options in the System Recovery Options:
Startup Repair
System Restore
Windows Complete PC Restore
Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool
Command Prompt
I called Dell technical support and the rep said I had to create a system restore point. What? I have to create a restore point before I can restore to factory settings? Any ideas where I can find the Dell Factory Image Restore option? Thanks.
jojens54321
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Posted September 23rd, 2009 07:00
Jesse,
After selecting Windows Complete PC Restore as recommended, I get the message: A valid backup location could not be found.
Windows cannot find a backup on this computer. Attach the backup- hard disk or insert the final DVD from a backup set and click Retry.
The only software that came with this Latitude E6400 are DVD’s as follows:
Dell Drivers and Utilities
Dell Application
Operating System (Windows Visa Home Basic)
I am not sure if any of these DVD’s contain the original factory restore or how I should proceed. Please advise.
RobinBredin
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Posted September 23rd, 2009 07:00
Hi jojens54321,The only software that came with this Latitude E6400 are DVD’s as follows:
Dell Drivers and Utilities
Dell Application
Operating System (Windows Visa Home Basic)
Hi jojens54321, Click on Start the click on Computer on the start menu, to see how many partitions you have. If your drive is showing 3 partitions, C being the main one, and D Restore is your factory state partition, there also should be a small partition for your diagnostics. If you cant see your D Restore, the you will have to use your Operating System (Windows Visa Home Basic) disc that came with your system to reinstall your OP.
You might have an alternative; try this approach: Starting Vista Recovery Using Vista DVD.
Jesse L (retired)
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Posted July 14th, 2009 13:00
rcollard,
Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
Once you have all the options listed after pressing F8 you would choose the "Windows Complete PC Restore" option.
Jesse L (retired)