missing power button optionsI have a Dell xps 17 9700. My power options in Windows do not work properly. Specifically if I choose power options>choose what power buttons do The only available options are sleep button (I don't have one) and choose what to do when lid closes.
I need the options for the power button but they are no longer there
Dell warranty rep hypothesized it is a Windows problem.
My question is is it safe to do a Windows 10 installation in place using the iso from Windows Media Creator to preserve files and apps? I would use windows restore but it was never set up..
Another alternative would be to fix the power button to shut down Windows using the registry but that is beyond my skill set
@recDNA Reinstalling Windows using Microsoft media created by the Media Creation Tool is "safe", but since it gives you a brand new Windows installation, you might find that many of your apps don't work. I suspect the "apps" referred to in the "Preserve files and apps" are the "modern" Windows Store apps. But traditional apps that rely on being installed in Program Files and having registry entries will likely not work properly. So essentially you'll be setting up your system from scratch except that your personal data will still be there. But you'll also have an archived Windows installation on your system. So I personally would much rather back up my data -- which you should be doing anyway, of course -- and then perform a totally clean install. That said, I don't think that's going to solve this. I'm surprised the Power button option is missing, but given that it is, I'd be kind of surprised if a clean install brought it back. If you haven't already, run Dell Update to confirm that all of your drivers and firmware are up to date in case that fixes an issue that allows Windows to see that there's a Power button installed. Also, try configuring the Sleep button there to operate the way you want the Power button to operate, just to see if it works. If you don't have an actual Sleep button, you don't really have anything to lose there, and you can of course revert the changes later anyway.
@recDNA Not sure what apps you're referring to, but a reinstallation from regular Microsoft media would not include any Dell apps. But you can download them several Dell apps from the Dell Support site by entering your Service Tag or system model and then going to the Downloads section.
As for the fingerprint reader, that's just a driver that you can get through Dell Update or install manually, and then you'd just enable Windows Hello fingerprint authentication for your user account.
Sounds easier to restore original Dell setup. Then all I have to do is setup Google drive and windows 365 and allow windows update to take care of the rest?
jphughan
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Posted June 4th, 2021 12:00
@recDNA Reinstalling Windows using Microsoft media created by the Media Creation Tool is "safe", but since it gives you a brand new Windows installation, you might find that many of your apps don't work. I suspect the "apps" referred to in the "Preserve files and apps" are the "modern" Windows Store apps. But traditional apps that rely on being installed in Program Files and having registry entries will likely not work properly. So essentially you'll be setting up your system from scratch except that your personal data will still be there. But you'll also have an archived Windows installation on your system. So I personally would much rather back up my data -- which you should be doing anyway, of course -- and then perform a totally clean install. That said, I don't think that's going to solve this. I'm surprised the Power button option is missing, but given that it is, I'd be kind of surprised if a clean install brought it back. If you haven't already, run Dell Update to confirm that all of your drivers and firmware are up to date in case that fixes an issue that allows Windows to see that there's a Power button installed. Also, try configuring the Sleep button there to operate the way you want the Power button to operate, just to see if it works. If you don't have an actual Sleep button, you don't really have anything to lose there, and you can of course revert the changes later anyway.