Problems restoring factory image (Vista)

Question

I have a partition containing the factory image.  I am trying to restore the factory image since my operating system is corrupted.  When I press F8, I see the menu items you would expect to see in the Advanced Boot Options Window except for the menu item which I need: 'Repair Your Computer'.  Is there some way to get this 'Repair Your Computer' option for restoring the factory image using the Windows Vista reinstallation DVD? If so, please give me the procedure.  I have a XPS 420.  Thanks.

DELL-Nikhil D1 · Accepted Answer

Hi ewshorty,

If Repair your computer option is not available, you can try to repair the computer from the Operating system disk. If you have the Windows Vista operating system disc, please follow the steps to repair your computer:

Insert the operating system disk in the optical drive.
Restart the system by tapping F12 at Dell logo. Select Boot your computer from the CD/DVD and choose Repair Your Computer option.
Choose your operating system and click Next. A list of system recovery options will appear. Here you should choose Startup Repair.

Startup Repair will automatically find problems with your computer and try to repair it. Once it’s finished, restart your computer and check.

If the problem persists then you need to do a manual reinstallation of the operating system in the computer and download the drivers.

Note: In the process of reinstalling operating system you will lose all the data in the computer.

Please reply for further help.

PudgyOne · Accepted Answer

ewshorty,   Try reading... How to restore Dell factory image when PC restore does not work?     Rick

ewshorty · Answer

Is it correct that the above does not try to restore the o/s using the factory.wim file in my recovery partition?  I see the following file stored on my hard drive: Computer\Recover(E:)/dell\Image\Factory.wim

ewshorty · Answer

Can I instead do the following from the command prompt? >e: >cd tools >imagex/apply e:\dell\image\Factory.wim 1 c:\

ewshorty · Answer

After typing exit and rebooting from hard drive (no CD in drive), I got the windows setup screen asking if the keyboard layout was US, but I could not select the Next button since the keyboard was not working.  In one of the other boot up modes, I was able to type in characters in the box prompting for administrator password.  What am I doing wrong?

ewshorty · Answer

I was finally able to get through the setup screens using keyboard shortcuts.  Thanks for all of your help.  I really appreciate the speedy responses.  I just realized that my mouse did not come with the PC.  I'll probably need to install some software to support it.

DELL-Nikhil D1 · Answer

Hi ewshorty,

Glad that the issue is resolved. I appreciate all your efforts in fixing the problem. In case of a similar situation in future, you can always refer to the link http://dell.to/YegVvF .

Feel free to reach out to us on SDC for any help.

Windows General

Problems restoring factory image (Vista)

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