Restore to factory setting

Question

Hi

I bought this laptop from dell outlet therefore no recovery disk came with it. I want to reset the laptop factory setting (or window re-install what ever its called) but it seems like i cannot do it with out the cd. When i try to do it I see two option 1. 'Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer' which i never did nor received one with laptop and 2. 'Re-install window' which requires windows installation disk which i don't have either. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

DELL-Chinmay S · Accepted Answer

Hi Unforgiven9191,

You can perform a factory image restore on your computer. Before you proceed, I will advise you to take a complete backup of your data (pictures, music, applications, videos, documents) as this step leads to complete data loss. Remove all the external peripherals (like printers, scanners, any USB device except keyboard and mouse) connected to your computer.

You can follow the steps below to perform a factory image restore:

Restart PC, press 3-4 times when the Dell logo appears.
Advanced Boot Options menu appears, ‘Repair your Computer' is highlighted, press Enter. (Use the arrow keys to highlight your choice)
Windows is loading files screen appears. Wait for it to load.
System Recovery Options prompt appears. Specify the language and keyboard input that you want, and then click ‘Next’.
Log in as a user who has administrative credentials; select the username from the drop-down list, type the password and click OK.
Choose a Recovery Tool Window appears, select Dell Data Safe Restore and Emergency Backup.
The Welcome screen will show 2 options; Restore computer and preserve my new or changed files and Select other System Backup and more options. Select the second option (Select other System Backup and more options) and click Next.
The next window shows these options; Backup Files and folders and Restore my computer. Select ‘Restore my computer’.
Select the Factory Image and click ‘Next’.
The next window shows 2 options; 'Preserve new or changed files before restoring to selected System Backup' and 'Restore without preserving new or changed files'. Select the second option (Restore without preserving new or changed files) and click Next.
A prompt appears stating that your computer is about to be restored all data currently on your computer will be deleted and replaced with your selected Full System Backup. If an Emergency File & Folder Backup was created, it will still be saved in the location you selected. Click 'Yes, continue' and click Next.
PC restore will initiate. Once done, click Restart.
Follow the onscreen instructions to create a user account.

You can also refer to Article: http://dell.to/TYFihj on support.dell.com. Hope it helps.

Please reply for further clarifications.

Piginho · Answer

Hi,

This helped the OP, but it won't help me. I just bought an M14x secondhand from my local Cash Converters and it also came with no disks. I'm not worried about wiping any data as I haven't put anything on it yet. But the shop where I bought it said that they did a fresh restore and my system doesn't have 'Respawn' on it, so when I go F8 on boot up and get to the system restore options, the two Dell restore options that you mention above, don't appear.

There is a hidden recovery partition 'drive O' on the hard disk, but I cannot select this in the restore options.

Any ideas for what I can do?

System seems to be working OK, but I'd like to start out with it restored to factory settings. Please bear in mind that it came without any disks.

Spec is i7, 8Gb ram, 500Gb hard disk, GT555 video, Win 7, if that helps or makes any difference.

Thanks

Pete

Unforgiven9191 · Answer

Hi It worked thanks very much

kkb0 · Answer

same problem here. can anybody help

Windows General

Restore to factory setting

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