How can i restore the F8 menu so it shows the "Repair your computer" option?

Hi

You can not because you over wrote the master boot record and F8 will

no longer work !!

 

Now i can't restore to factory settings even after returning the Recovery partition

to it's original place. 

But

if you really did replace all of the files and folders back to its original partition

and the partition is in its original place ,

You may be able to use this link and do the Factory PCRestore . 

 http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&l=en&s=gen&docid=298A2E89689E13C2E040A68F5B280AA4&cs

Now it may go into a boot loop after you do this but you can fix

that by booting back to the Vista DVD and restore the master boot record

again then it will boot into Vista and be almost like it was new

but 

you will never be able to use F8 again {period} .

Good Luck

  

 

Hi there C3PO,

 

Thanks for replying!

 

Is it possible to get to another Inspiron 1525 and backup it's bootloader? and then restore this backup to mine? If yes, how? Would Partition Magic (or something on that effect) help?

 

Yesterday night, reading about WinRE, WinPE and Windows AIK, i managed to restore the "Repair Your Computer" option on the F8 menu, although, the system boots to a Vista login screen, where i can read "Other User" and asks me for both login and password (witch i do not have).

 

I suspect that the problem is my partition numbers: WinRE can be installed to partitions, but it's required that the target partition comes before the OS partition. My DSR partition is number 3, while my OS partition is number 2, so, that must be the problem. I'm trying to figure out how i'm going to correct that, so i can give WinRE another shot

Hi

I know there are tools that can backup and restore master boot records

but i have never used them so i would not be much help on that .

 

But D:\Recovery does have to be the first partition and C:\OS

has to be the second partition so it can restore

the partition the little Dell utility partition does not count

but it should be there .

 

If you can find a post about restoring XP using DSRV FIX

i think that's what they call it ,  

there is a option of backing up the MBR to a floppy

then restoring it , witch might work for Vista .

I am in the same fix as you are but i can restore back to

factory settings but i do get a boot loop and i can not use F8

because of the MBR is not right and i do not have the option of

using repair my computer is not showing after F8 . 

 

My DSR partition is number 3, while my OS partition is number 2, so, that must be the problem. I'm trying to figure out how i'm going to correct that, so i can give WinRE another shot .

If

DSR is not number 2 the DSR will not work the only way i

found to fix this part is to delete all partitions except the utility partition  

then restore the files and folders back to D:\Recovery and the C:\OS

after that it will restore using the link i posted to you . 

Good Luck

AT LAST!

 

I finally was able to salvage my DSR Partition!

 

Here's the solution:

 

1- You MUST have the original partition contents

2- Create a primary partition BEFORE Vista's partition. It's important to watch partiton numbers! The reovery partition number must be smaller the vista's!

 

Here's the factory default partition table layout:

 

Partition 0: Dell Utility, 65 Mb

Partition 1: DSR, Arround 10 Gb

Partition 2: Windows Vista, arround 70 Gb (My Hard drive is small)

Partition 3: LBA Extended

Partition 5: Media Direct 3.5 partition, arround 2Gb

 

Note that DSR partiton is number 1, while Vista partition is number 2!

 

3- If you can boot into vista, skip to setp 5. If you can't boot into vista for some reason, boot from the supplyed Vista DVD and select the "Repair your computer" after choosing a keyboard layout. We'll now restore your Inspiron to factory defaults. (Note: If you do not want to restore it, find a way to boot into your windows setup and skip to step 5! i'll not cover windows repair procedures in here)

 

4- Cancel out any sugestion to recover your startup settings, We'll cover that later on. Now get to the recovery console. It's the last option! Once the console is runing, run diskpart to check witch one is your recovery volume:

 

> Diskpart

DISKPART> select disk 0

DISKPART> list partiton

DISKPART> list volume

DISKPART> exit

 

Now you can figure out witch is your Recovery partition's drive lette (I'll assume it's D: please change that to yours)

 

path d:\windows;d:\windows\system32

d:

cd Tools

PCRestore.exe

 

Fallow the steps in this new window to finnish the restore process

 

5- Once you get into your vista setup, download and install Windows AIK. Here is the downlod link from Microsoft (Note: Genuine Validation is required): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C7D4BC6D-15F3-4284-9123-679830D629F2&displaylang=pt-br

 

6-  Open an elevetad command prompt windows and type:

\Recovery\SetAutoFailOver.cmd /target D: /partition 1  (Note: Remember to change the driver letter and partition number to yours!)

 

If everything goes fine, you'll see a lot of messages sayng that the operation was completed successfully.

 

Voilè! Now reboot your computer and press F8 during bootup, choose "Repair your computer" and pray that you can see the original recovery console!!

 

 

Hope that you all can do it!

Note: This tutorial is based in Inspiron 1525 bought in august/08, but it should work in any dell with similar recovery systems!!

5- Once you get into your vista setup, download and install Windows AIK

Hi

I am sure this will many other people including Me.

Can

you edit in a link to where you download

Windows AIK  Please ??

And

its Grate , Grate you came up with a solution to this problem:smileyvery-happy:

Many Thanks to you !

Good Luck 

 

Done

hi pedrohp

 

same problem i facing now can u help me

i try below solve ,it not working to my laptop dell studio 1535

i can loginto vista no problem but

when press f8

"Repair your Computer" option

then vista login screen

it ask login and password (other user)

i type all user but no result

 

pls help me

Hi,

 

I've faced that problem while trying to fix my system. That happens 'cause you've pointed the WinRE recovery option to the system partition or something like that.

 

There's a few info i need to help you:

 

1- What's the partition schema you have on your hard-drive? Can you dump that to me (like the one i did above)

 

2- Is your DSR partition still intact? If not, did you make a backup copy?

 

3-  Did you had Windows AIK installed? Can you use setAutoFailover.cmd?

 

I'll stand by you new post!

 

See ya.

Thank for replay

 

1.partition

 

Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
 -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
 Partition 1    OEM                 78 MB    32 KB
 Partition 2    Primary             10 GB    79 MB
 Partition 3    Primary             59 GB    10 GB
 Partition 0    Extended           229 GB    69 GB
 Partition 4    Logical             59 GB    69 GB
 Partition 5    Logical             59 GB   127 GB
 Partition 6    Logical             59 GB   186 GB
 Partition 7    Logical             27 GB   244 GB
 Partition 8    Logical             27 GB   271 GB

 

Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
 ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
 Volume 0     I   CD_ROM       CDFS   DVD-ROM      184 MB  Healthy
 Volume 1     J   RECOVERY     NTFS   Partition     10 GB  Healthy
 Volume 2     C   VISTA        NTFS   Partition     59 GB  Healthy    System
 Volume 3     D   GAMES        NTFS   Partition     59 GB  Healthy
 Volume 4     E   SONG         NTFS   Partition     59 GB  Healthy
 Volume 5     F   SOFTWARE     NTFS   Partition     59 GB  Healthy
 Volume 6     G   XP PRO       NTFS   Partition     27 GB  Healthy
 Volume 7     H   SERVER 2003  NTFS   Partition     27 GB  Healthy

bcdedit

 

Windows Boot Manager

--------------------

identifier              {bootmgr}

device                  partition=C:

path                    \bootmgr

description             Windows Boot Manager

locale                  en-US

inherit                 {globalsettings}

default                 {current}

resumeobject            {5460d9d2-d391-11dc-9d9f-aba67a8797c5}

displayorder            {current}

                        {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}

                        {ntldr}

toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}

timeout                 30

 

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier              {current}

device                  partition=C:

path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description             Windows Vista

locale                  en-US

inherit                 {bootloadersettings}

recoverysequence        {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}

recoveryenabled         Yes

osdevice                partition=C:

systemroot              \Windows

resumeobject            {5460d9d2-d391-11dc-9d9f-aba67a8797c5}

nx                      OptIn

 

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier              {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}

device                  partition=J:

path                    \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe

description             Windows Recovery Environment

osdevice                partition=J:

systemroot              \windows

nx                      OptIn

detecthal               Yes

winpe                   Yes

 

Windows Legacy OS Loader

------------------------

identifier              {ntldr}

device                  partition=C:

path                    \ntldr

description             Earlier Version of Windows

 

3. try AIK and i used setautofailover.cmd

 

thank you

wait for u replay...

Well, since you didn't confirm your DSR patition status, i'll assume it is sitll intact and untouched (you did not format ou deleted it):

 

Since the partition is intact and DOES contain what we need, all you have to do is get into your vista setup and :

 

1- Download and Install Windows AIK;

2- Open an elevated command prompt (cmd.exe as Administrator) and type:

     \Recovery\SetAutoFailOver.cmd /target J: /partition 2

 

Note that i chanced the drive letter and partition number to the ones your Volume and Partition dump assigns to the Recovery partition.

 

As far as i know, the partition number MUST be 1, or at least SMALLER the Vista's partition.

 

Please, post back the results!

 

*NOTE: OMG!! that's a HUGE hard drive!

*NOTE2: Where are you from?

 

SDS,

Pedro Peixoto