Dell Pro Laptops State Warning BIOS Recovery Image Missing

Summary: Learn more about a warning on Dell Laptops: The BIOS recovery image is missing. Reinstall the BIOS to create a recovery image. Failure to reinstall the BIOS may result in boot failure.

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Symptoms

The following Dell laptops may display this recovery warning message:

Warning: The BIOS recovery image is missing. Reinstall BIOS to create the recovery image. Failure to reinstall the BIOS may result in boot failure.

Diagnostics Warning message

This occurs after reinstalling the Operating System and likely occurs each time. The warning message appears because the BIOS recovery image is not stored on the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) storage device after reimaging the laptop. (For example: By assessing clean, formatting the solid state drive (SSD), or replacing the SSD.)

Affected Platforms:

  • Dell 14S DS14260
  • Dell 16S DS16260
  • Dell Pro 14 Premium PA14260
  • Dell Pro 3 14 P314260
  • Dell Pro 3 16 P316260
  • Dell Pro 5 14 P514260
  • Dell Pro 5 16 P516260
  • Dell Pro 7 13 2-in-1 P703260
  • Dell Pro 7 13 P713260
  • Dell Pro 7 14 2-in-1 P704260
  • Dell Pro 7 14 P714260
  • Dell Pro Precision 5 14 PW514261
  • Dell Pro Precision 5 14S PW514260
  • Dell Pro Precision 5 16 PW516261
  • Dell Pro Precision 5 16S PW516260
  • Dell Pro Precision 7 14 PW714260
  • Dell Pro Precision 7 16 PW716260

Cause

Improvements were made for Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash healing and transitioning to NVMe base recovery. The BIOS recovery file is required to reside in the Dell recovery path on the storage device. This file may be cleared during reinstallation of the operating system.

 

Resolution

Each time the Operating System reimage process is completed, the BIOS must be updated to re-create the BIOS recovery file.

Note: Microsoft Windows Update and Dell Command Update do not update the BIOS if the latest BIOS version is the same as the current BIOS version. The BIOS file must be updated from the Dell Support Site to rebuild the BIOS recovery file.

The laptop restarts automatically and updates the BIOS after running the BIOS executable. The laptop restarts again after the BIOS update completes. The recovery file is now automatically placed into the Dell BIOS recovery path.

Dell 14S DS14260 and Dell 16S DS16260 update:

Updating the BIOS to version 1.2.2 or later on the laptop resolves the issue. To download and install the Dell_S_DS14260_DS16260_1.2.2.exe file, reference: BIOS Update Guide

Dell Pro 14 Premium PA14260 update:

Updating the BIOS to version 1.3.3 or later on the laptop resolves the issue. To download and install the Dell_Pro_14_Premium_PA14260_1.3.3.exe file, reference: BIOS Update Guide

Dell Pro 3 14 P314260, Dell Pro 3 16 P316260, Dell Pro 5 14 P514260, Dell Pro 16 P516260, Dell Pro 7 13 P713260, Dell Pro 7 13 2-in-1 P703260, Dell Pro 7 14 P714260, Dell Pro 7 14 2-in-1 P704260, Dell Pro Precision 5 14S PW514260, and Dell Pro 5 16S PW516260 update:

Updating the BIOS to version 2.1.6 or later on the laptop resolves the issue. To download and install the Dell_Pro_P31x260_P51x260_P7xx260_Dell_Pro_Precision_PW51x260_2.1.6.exe file, reference: BIOS Update Guide

Dell Pro Precision 5 PW514261 and Dell Pro Precision 5 PW516261 update:

Updating the BIOS to version 1.3.4 or later on the laptop resolves the issue. To download and install the Dell_Pro_Precision_5_PW514261_PW516261_1.3.4.exe file, reference: BIOS Update Guide

Dell Pro Precision 7 14 PW714260 and Dell Pro Precision 7 16 PW716260 update:

Updating the BIOS to version 1.3.2 or later on the laptop resolves the issue. To download and install the Dell_Pro_Precision_7_14_16_PW714260_PW716260_1.3.2.exe file, reference: BIOS Update Guide

Reimaging Information:

Search for your products Reimaging Guide for Window guide on the following link:

Note: Reserve 384 MB for the partition when making a custom Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) system partition.

 

Additional Information

Note: Your IT policies may block execution of the BIOS.exe file. In such cases, assistance from your IT team is required to grant the necessary permissions.

Affected Products

Dell 14S DS14260, Dell 16S DS16260, Dell Pro 3 14 P314260, Dell Pro 3 16 P316260, Dell Pro 5 14 P514260, Dell Pro 5 16 P516260, Dell Pro 7 13 2-in-1 P703260, Dell Pro 7 14 2-in-1 P704260, Dell Pro 7 13 P713260, Dell Pro 7 14 P714260 , Dell Pro 14 Premium PA14260, Dell Pro Precision 5 14S PW514260, Dell Pro Precision 5 14 PW514261, Dell Pro Precision 5 16S PW516260, Dell Pro Precision 5 16 PW516261, Dell Pro Precision 7 14 PW714260, Dell Pro Precision 7 16 PW716260 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000467636
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 03 Jul 2026
Version:  8
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