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Can’t clean reinstall Windows 11
Hello
I have an Inspiron 7415 that I just got before the holidays.
We corrupted Windows update on it somehow (spent hours trying to fix this, probably caused by a force reboot at some point). Right now we’re just trying to reset it back to a clean install as we don’t have much on it yet. The problem is that the reset from the “SupportAssist” tool fails when it tries to download Dell specific software with “We are missing some of your system details needed to finish the restore. We are aware and working to fix the issue. You can try again later or please go to https://www,dell.com/support/osrcovery for immediate suppport.”.
Is this really a transient issue (and we should wait for the right software to appear on Dell’s servers) or we have to follow instructions from that page? The problem with that page is that it only gives options to build USB recovery images for Windows 11 “S” it seems and I am not sure it’s going to actually reactivate Windows properly.
nyc10036
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January 10th, 2022 13:00
clean install using Windows 11 ISO https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11
nyc10036
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January 10th, 2022 12:00
Did the laptop come originally with Windows 11?
NicBar
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January 10th, 2022 13:00
yes Windows 11 Home
NicBar
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January 10th, 2022 14:00
Thanks for the suggestion. I was told to follow in a DM to follow the instructions to clean install "Windows 11 S" from the support page as activation information is linked to hardwarer information. I will try that first as it keeps Dell software around.
I prefer to have something setup as close as possible to what was shipped by Dell at least until the warranty expires.
NicBar
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January 12th, 2022 16:00
OK going the support route was a total waste of time. They blame it on the user and tell me that "nobody else is having this issue" (which is a lie, I found several other posts on the exact same topic in this forum).
I ended up performing a full Windows reinstall using the "Create Windows 11 Installation Media" (to create a bootable USB drive) from the link above.
As a bonus, this allowed me to delete all previous Dell created partitions (I will use Microsoft recovery if I ever need it in the future) before installing Windows, and just let it create the appropriate partitions.
nyc10036
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January 12th, 2022 19:00
You may want to consider backing up your hard drive so that you can restore to a more recent point in time. https://www.ubackup.com/windows-11/windows-11-backup-and-restore.html