Windows 8 Recovery with no OEM DVD or USB drive or recovery partition

Dell made a software called "Dell Backup and Recovery" to help it's users to backup or recover the Operating System, Factory Installed Drivers and Applications and Personal User Data like Music, Videos, Photos and documents etc. To do so, Dell creates a Hard Partition called Recovery which contains an image of the Operating System, Drivers and Factory installed 3rd party applications like Mcafee Anti Virus which are all together known as Factory Image. Dell recommends it's consumer to backup this Recovery Partition in USB Flash Drive or Multiple DVD's as soon as they Fire the PC for the first time. Now, as you mentioned that you're recovery partition is corrupt, and you don't have the Recovery Media Disc's, none of your data could be recovered. If you PC is covered under warranty, you can call Dell Technical Support and request for the Windows 8 Media Kit & License Key and can simply do a full Operating System Reinstallation. If your PC isn't covered under warranty, you might need to Purchase the Retails Version of Windows 8 Media Kit with License Key for a $100. Remember that you can't use any other Dell Windows 8 Media Kit that didn't not came with your Dell PC as each Dell Windows 8 Media Kit has a Unique System Specific License Key for Windows 8 which is Injected into the System Bios and can't be retrieved by the User.

Next Time if you purchase a new Dell PC, Always remember to make the Recovery Media using Dell Backup and Recovery Software to protect your PC from such issues in future. 

"In the past I would have just re-installed the OS from the provided discs and I'm not sure what to do next."

That is what you will need to do here.  If you don't have an installation DVD, you can contact Dell and order one.

$100 for a "Windows 8 Media Kit & License Key"? If the machine is not covered under warranty, wouldn't the OP be better off buying a retail version of Windows 8.1 and doing a full install? The retail version of Windows 8.1 is just about the same price as what Dell is apparently charging for Windows 8 and you would wind up with the most recent Windows OS (8.1) without the Dell bloatware. 

$100 for a "Windows 8 Media Kit & License Key"? If the machine is not covered under warranty, wouldn't the OP be better off buying a retail version of Windows 8.1 and doing a full install? The retail version of Windows 8.1 is just about the same price as what Dell is apparently charging for Windows 8 and you would wind up with the most recent Windows OS (8.1) without the Dell bloatware.

There has been mass confusion with installation media. Microsoft have made the situation extremely complex whereas they should make installation and setup as easy as possible including downloading media which includes the 8.1 service pack.

Windows 8.1 media rejects a Windows 8.0 license key.

Moreover there is no direct download link for Windows 8.1 with a Windows 8.0 retail product key. There is a convoluted workaround using a badly thought out downloader/setup from Microsoft but no direct link. Finally there is no direct download link to media which can be used for installation/repai on an OEM install.

However there have been reports that installation of retail media with a generic product key and then change key to the OEM key (found by RW Everything) activates fine. A complex procedure because Microsoft messed up both the media in terms of both product key and online distribution. 

Anusha here has reported success:

http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/31385-how-do-i-install-windows-8-1-my-dell-latitude-10-a.html

In addition here are instructions for RW-Everything:

http://forums.tweakarena.com/showthread.php?t=226

I have no Windows 8/8.1 OEM system so haven't managed to reproduce these findings.

On the other hand all XPS 8500s should still have some warranty as the model is less than a year old.

If you reside in the US fill out this form:

http://lt.dell.com/lt/lt.aspx?CID=266887&LID=4921161&DGC=SM&DGSeg=DHS&RED=301&DURL=https://www.dell.com/support/diagnostics/us/en/19/nondiagnostichome

If you reside outside the US phone Dell Technical Support.

It is still unclear why Dell do not offer the online media request form globally as it can be more convenient than calling technical support.

No, but the Dell DVD can read the Product Key from the BIOS (non-Dell discs cannot and will not activate).

Hello,

Does the DVD installation disk that Dell sends out have a product key?

Thanks

Thanks for the information and the links. I managed to recover the OEM keys for my machines but, as your post implied, they really won't do me a lot of good considering I don't currently have retail media. Thus, in the event I wanted to perform a clean install of 8.1, I'd pretty much be forced to shell out ~$100 for a retail license. Parenthetically, I can't figure out why Dell doesn't ship brand new systems with 8.1, rather than 8, pre-installed. That failure, coupled with the failure on the part of Microsoft, is creating a lot of confusion and angst for customers.

Re the media request from Dell, it appears as if I may also be out of luck on ever getting that fulfilled since I bought my machines through a retail outlet rather than from Dell. At least I haven't had any luck getting the request put through online. It's sort of a moot point in my case, though, because I use a third party imaging product and image my systems regularly and, frankly, would do just about anything to avoid having to restore my systems to the state in which they were shipped from Dell (a big "No thanks" on that one!).

Thanks for the information and the links. I managed to recover the OEM keys for my machines but, as your post implied, they really won't do me a lot of good considering I don't currently have retail media. Thus, in the event I wanted to perform a clean install of 8.1, I'd pretty much be forced to shell out ~$100 for a retail license. Parenthetically, I can't figure out why Dell doesn't ship brand new systems with 8.1, rather than 8, pre-installed. That failure, coupled with the failure on the part of Microsoft, is creating a lot of confusion and angst for customers.

I agree, I have mentioned these problems many times, I mentioned that these problems would occur even several months before Windows 8 was released. http://philipyip.wordpress.com/

As Microsoft/Dells policies currently stand you need to look for unofficial sources to get Windows 8.1 media to clean install or buy another license which you don't need. However you can try calling Dell Technical Support to see if they can provide you a better solution.

HI

I'm trying to re-install Windows 8 as it is not working properly, but did not make a copy of the  Dell software image when I bought my Dell XPS 8500. I can not now make a copy of the software image.

When I use Dell Backup and Recovery, it says "it can not detect the recovery partition on this computer it may be missing or corrupt. To recover your computer to the original factory state and restore the recovery partition please use your system recovery discs"

In the past I would have just re-installed the OS from the provided discs and I'm not sure what to do next. At the moment the OS is not working correctly.

Help!

Thanks
Paul

As Microsoft/Dells policies currently stand you need to look for unofficial sources to get Windows 8.1 media to clean install or buy another license which you don't need. However you can try calling Dell Technical Support to see if they can provide you a better solution.

Thanks for the response, natakuc4. I would contact Dell if I believed there were any chance they would provide the one and only solution I consider acceptable (providing installation media for Windows 8.1 in order to do a clean install of the OS).

I suspect, however, that they would merely provide me with media that would allow me to recover my system to the original state when it was shipped. The best case scenario would be providing installation media for Windows 8 (and if I ever do a clean install, I would not install Win 8 and then do an in-place upgrade to 8.1). 

Since I image my systems on a daily basis, the installation media is really not all that critical in my case (I can always restore a full image). However, it would be nice to have the option, at some point, to do a clean install of Windows 8.1, particularly if I ever decide to replace my HDDs with SSDs.

Would like to suggest you to go for a third party tool,Various Windows recovery tools are available into international market to make Windows’ hard drive accessible without losing single property.

I appreciate the suggestion, but I already have licenses for data recovery and imaging software. I image my systems religiously. 

In fact, my primary issue here is the fact that Dell does not provide installation media requisite to perform a clean install of Windows 8.1, but merely recovery media which essentially restores the system with the factory-installed OS. 

[quote user="natakuc4"]As Microsoft/Dells policies currently stand you need to look for unofficial sources to get Windows 8.1 media to clean install or buy another license which you don't need. However you can try calling Dell Technical Support to see if they can provide you a better solution.

Thanks for the response, natakuc4. I would contact Dell if I believed there were any chance they would provide the one and only solution I consider acceptable (providing installation media for Windows 8.1 in order to do a clean install of the OS).

I suspect, however, that they would merely provide me with media that would allow me to recover my system to the original state when it was shipped. The best case scenario would be providing installation media for Windows 8 (and if I ever do a clean install, I would not install Win 8 and then do an in-place upgrade to 8.1). 

Since I image my systems on a daily basis, the installation media is really not all that critical in my case (I can always restore a full image). However, it would be nice to have the option, at some point, to do a clean install of Windows 8.1, particularly if I ever decide to replace my HDDs with SSDs.

[/quote]

I agree with you. Try to call their technical support and explain your situation. They might have a solution for you. You won't find out unless you try.

Hi
Many thanks for the advice. I contacted Dell and had to buy an OEM recovery USB(£30), but after about 20-30 tries I am still unable to reinstall Windows 8 and now can’t use my PC at all. This is the process I have tried:-

1. I insert Dell USB and boot from it.
2. The software then analyses the drive- No errors
3. Smart repair finds no issues and the Win 8 OS installation begins(creating partitions etc)
4. System reimage results-“the Dell recovery solution was able to find and fix the issue, remove any connected USB and click restart”. I click restart.
5. “getting devices ready” completes.
6. Windows reboots.
7. Then the message “the computer started unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed, To install Windows, click ‘OK’ to restart the computer and then restart the installation”
8. I restarted Windows and the same message appeared.
9. I re-inserted the Dell recovery USB, rebooted and the installation process begins again (2-6), then scanning and repairing of the drive occurs (I don’t think the scan completes, the PC may just turn off)
10. Windows reboots and I get this message
    “Your Pc couldn’t start properly, the operating system on your PC failed to start, so it needs to be repaired. Error code 0xc0000001. You’ll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media.”

I have tried this fix http://heresjaken.com/the-computer-restarted-unexpectedly-or-encountered-an-unexpected-error-during-installation-of-windows/ . The OS does boot up but sticks at the Administrator Welcome page.

I’m not sure what to do now!!. Thanks in advance

try running Dell Diagnostics on the hard drive