Factory restore disk availability

Question

I was trying to figure out if Dell sells factory restore disks for my Vostro 1520. I can't find anything through the actual support pages. My laptop is about 5 years old and I'm thinking of selling it. It originally came with Vista Business during the period when Microsoft was offering free upgrades to Windows 7, but that required a clean install which wiped out any preinstalled software. I think I wiped out the recovery partition during that process. I've found a website that says they have the restore disks, but they require the original product key to activate the operating system. The problem with that is the CoA sticker on the bottom of my laptop faded, which I assume is due to the heat from the running laptop. Ideally, I could have this configured as a factory restored computer before selling it. What is the best course of action to take in this situation.

ieee488 · Answer

The Windows 7 would have been a DVD.

Philip_Yip · Answer

That system will work with Dell OEM SLP activation if its BIOS is updated to the latest version.

Follow the instructions here to prepare and download installation media:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/

I advise securely wiping it to erase any of your data:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/securely-wipe-your-hard-drive-with-dariks-boot-and-nuke-dban/

Follow A Clean Install of Windows 7:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/a-clean-install-of-windows-7/

I instruct in securely wiping. Downloading Windows 7 media, updates and drivers. I then instruct in the installation and the creation of a new Factory Image of the clean installation using Dell Backup and Recovery.

Windows General

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