August 27, 2015 - No option for Window Factory Image Restore [Solved]

Post date: Aug 28, 2015 2:09:30 PM

"Dell computer, Windows 7 is corrupt, no installation disk, it does have a Recovery Partition, for a Factory Restoration"

A malware infested, virus, Trojan, unwanted programs, messed up desktop computer shows up at my door, it has no Optical Drive (its busted), there is no option working to connect and implement its Recovery Partition, for a Factory Restoration of its system.

I can see it has a Recovery Partition, for a Factory Restoration, the normal Recovery Partition access-methods do have options, i.e., using a recovery disk (on USB flash drive, since Optical Drive is busted) and or "When the Dell logo appears on the screen, press F8 several times to open the Advanced Boot Options menu.", however the effective 'Recovery Partition access-option' is not there.

This is what I did get:

Too much reading was ending no where, for a remedy, i.e., I thought, "There must be a way, to reach this Recovery Partition with using a USB flash drive!", there was, the remedy was found here, where it reads,

After hours and hours of searching for a solution to there being no "Factory Image Restore" option, this is what I did to reset my own Dell laptop (should really work on any manufacturer) to factory original. Of course, be sure you have your documents backed up before beginning as you will lose everything.

Assuming your recovery partition has not been damaged (if it has, this will not work)

Download Hiren's BootCD from http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Burn Hiren's BootCD to a CD

Put the Hiren's BootCD into CD Drive and Reboot computer

Select "Mini XP" from the menu

Double click on "My Computer"

Identify the partition that you use for your operating system

Right click on that partition and select "Format" to ensure a clean install

Identify the recovery partition and go to the "Imaging" folder

Right click on the "Imaging" folder and select "Command Prompt Here"

At the command prompt type (substituting c for your particular recovery partition and e for the partition that you use for your operating system)

imagex /apply c:\dell\image\factory.wim 1 e:\

After the image is successfully applied, close the command prompt.

Close "My Computer"

Remove Hiren's BootCD from CD Drive

Reboot computer

Your computer should now be reset to factory.

And as a bonus, if you try and use the Dell DataSafe Restore it will be there now! Woohoo!