On "consumer" models, the software (operating system and the drivers and utilities CD) are supplied with a new PC. If a customer buys optional software such as MS Office, a reinstallation CD(s) for that program are provided. Dell will supply replacement CD's (for many but not all) for the OS and drivers but if the optional software such as MS Office is lost or even never recieved they will not replace that. REPLACEMENT CD ORDER
On a commercial system such as the Optiplex, there can be different circumstances on the Operating System. Some of these can be ordered without any OS and the customer supplies their own.
Most likely you will have to buy a new copy of Windows, since you are not the original owner. You can download any drivers from the Dell downloads HERE and you will have to buy whatever applications software you want such as MS Office.
On SOME systems Dell did provide a Recovery Partition on the hard drive, but with commercial systems, again because of the various options available when it was ordered there may not be any recovery partition. On systems with XP, if there is a recovery partition on the hard drive it is accessed by CTRL/F11 at initial boot up. One other possibility is that this is not the original hard drive and if that is the case any Dell recovery would not be there.
Keep in mind on a reinstall (which includes reformatting the hard drive) the install sequence is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Intel Chipset drivers (3) Install device drivers including sound, video, etc.
firebred, Thanks for the reply and information. Not what I really wanted to hear but thats the way things are.. This must not be the original hard drive, because there is no recovery partition.. Oh well, back to square one..
fireberd, if I could follow up on my original posted question. Again I thank you for your informative reply. If I go to Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Disk Mangaement.. it shows the following information for Disk 0:
My question is, is that 31 MB FAT where the recovery files are stored and if so, how do I access them? I've tried the recommended CTRL/F11 key strokes, when the system splash screen is displayed, but I can't seem to get access. Or is this 31 MB FAT just something needed for the computer to run? Since it doesn't show any name, I guess it is a hidden partition.
The 31MB partition is your dell utility partition. It can be accessed by pressing the F12 key at boot time. Thereafter choose boot to utility partition.
Your system does not appear to have been shipped with a Dell restore partition.
The Dell Utility partition is a hidden fat16 partition and to expose it under xp, you'll have to use ptedit32.exe and set the DE code to 06, reboot and then you'll have access to your Dell utility partition under XP
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
May 30th, 2009 05:00
On "consumer" models, the software (operating system and the drivers and utilities CD) are supplied with a new PC. If a customer buys optional software such as MS Office, a reinstallation CD(s) for that program are provided. Dell will supply replacement CD's (for many but not all) for the OS and drivers but if the optional software such as MS Office is lost or even never recieved they will not replace that. REPLACEMENT CD ORDER
On a commercial system such as the Optiplex, there can be different circumstances on the Operating System. Some of these can be ordered without any OS and the customer supplies their own.
Most likely you will have to buy a new copy of Windows, since you are not the original owner. You can download any drivers from the Dell downloads HERE and you will have to buy whatever applications software you want such as MS Office.
On SOME systems Dell did provide a Recovery Partition on the hard drive, but with commercial systems, again because of the various options available when it was ordered there may not be any recovery partition. On systems with XP, if there is a recovery partition on the hard drive it is accessed by CTRL/F11 at initial boot up. One other possibility is that this is not the original hard drive and if that is the case any Dell recovery would not be there.
Keep in mind on a reinstall (which includes reformatting the hard drive) the install sequence is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Intel Chipset drivers (3) Install device drivers including sound, video, etc.
w55
3 Posts
0
May 30th, 2009 09:00
firebred, Thanks for the reply and information. Not what I really wanted to hear but thats the way things are.. This must not be the original hard drive, because there is no recovery partition.. Oh well, back to square one..
w55
3 Posts
0
July 2nd, 2009 16:00
fireberd, if I could follow up on my original posted question. Again I thank you for your informative reply. If I go to Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Disk Mangaement.. it shows the following information for Disk 0:
Disk 0 Your_Drive (C:\)
Basic 31 MB FAT 37.21 GB NTFS
37.24 GB Healthy (EISA Configuration) Healthy (System)
OnLine
My question is, is that 31 MB FAT where the recovery files are stored and if so, how do I access them? I've tried the recommended CTRL/F11 key strokes, when the system splash screen is displayed, but I can't seem to get access. Or is this 31 MB FAT just something needed for the computer to run? Since it doesn't show any name, I guess it is a hidden partition.
Thanks again for your previous reply.
Vishwamitra
1 Message
0
July 5th, 2023 10:00
The 31MB partition is your dell utility partition. It can be accessed by pressing the F12 key at boot time. Thereafter choose boot to utility partition.
Your system does not appear to have been shipped with a Dell restore partition.
The Dell Utility partition is a hidden fat16 partition and to expose it under xp, you'll have to use ptedit32.exe and set the DE code to 06, reboot and then you'll have access to your Dell utility partition under XP