Re-installing Windows 7 From Recovery Drive


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allhyundaicars

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hii , i own a dell inspiron n5110 laptop with windows 7 home basic.

i bought kaspersky internet security which requires microsoft net framework 4 to be installed. but i have tried numerous links and failed to do so.

also i'm having problems with windows update service and it has been 4 years since i did any repair to the windows.

Screenshot - 02-07-2014 , 15_05_14.jpg

so i wanted to know how to reinstall windows 7 from recovery.

main question is whichever method you suggest me , will it delete all the data from C , D and E drive ? i know backup is recommended but i don't have an external hard drive.

what's will be the size of the backup if i wanted to do so ?

ps : i don't have the original windows CD with me , just the important drivers CD.
 
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Brother,
I had replied to that thread in the morning ? I think you have not noticed it.

I would suggest to copy your data from C drive to other drives (if they have partitioned properly)


Restore CD ? Buy a blank cd. Click on start (window button) and type in Backup (or click on control panel and the first option would be back up and restore). Select 'create a system repair cd'.
View attachment 139551
Start with CD , and follow 'restore system image'. It will find the image automatically (if someone has created).

If NOT,
Right click on my computer, click on manage, then Disk Management
Do you see any recovery partition other than the 100MB, Windows and your DATA partitions? If yes, tell me the laptop model/manufacturer .
If it is Dell, it is simple.
After the Dell logo and before windows loads, keep tapping F8 to get the safe mode menu(system repair, last known good configuration, enable vga mode etc).
Select system repair. Click next after entering your password(if it asks).
There you get an advanced option. Click that. You will see Dell restore/datasafe option. Select that and follow the steps. You can restore the factory image (all the software you installed after getting your laptop will be gone including the store guy's software installation).
There is an option to take the backup of files & folders using the Dell Datasafe/backup in advance recovery options. But, I would suggest to do manual copy/paste to D/E drive as the copy data option will take more time.

Please copy all your personal data to D Drive or E Drive. It wont erase anything in other drive !

Nothing to worry about this restore. As a friend I can promise about the DATA ! Nothing will be gone as DELL keep asking many confirmation before going to restore. They even notify you that 'C drive will be erased completely and nothing will be happening to other drives'.

The programs - Mostly Microsoft office might have installed by store guys (As your laptop might have came with Office 2010 trial). You may have to install that again. All your drivers, initial software like Acrobat reader, skype, etc will be there as part of Dell install.

After restore, install ccleaner and uninstall the software which you do not need/remove from Startup (ebay, webcam central etc). That will definitely speed up your computer

(If this happened yesterday morning, I could have posted 'step by step images' as I had restored the system image in one of the dell laptop yesterday morning)


Grr. Just found the same info in Dell website (step by step).

WarningWarning: Restoring your computer to the factory settings will remove all files and programs except those it came with. You will lose all personal files, including photos, emails and programs, if you do not back up your files and data.
To restore your Windows 7 computer to factory settings

Back up important files and data. If you do not back up your files, you will lose them.
Turn off your computer.
Disconnect everything but the monitor, keyboard and mouse. This includes your:
scanner
printer
modem or network cables
mobile phone and tablet
USB flash drive or other external hard drive
If your laptop is docked, remove it from the docking station.
When the Dell logo appears, press F8 several times to open the Advanced Boot Options menu.
NoteNote: If the Advanced Boot Options menu doesn't open, wait for the Windows login prompt. Then restart the computer and try again.

Use the Arrow keys to select Repair Your Computer and then press Enter.
On the System Recovery Options menu, select a keyboard layout and click Next.
To access the recovery options, log in as an administrator and click OK to open the Dell Factory Image Restore menu.
Depending on your configuration, you may need to select Dell Factory Tools and then Dell Factory Image Restore.
Click Next to open the Confirm Data Deletion menu.
Select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box and click Next.
NoteNote: The restore process begins and may take five or more minutes to complete. A message appears when the operating system and factory-installed applications have been restored to factory condition.

After the restore operation is complete, click Finish to restart the computer.
Restore any data or programs you want from back up files.
Wish I had seen earlier so that I would not have typed so much when a neat step-by-step guide was available
http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?docid=DSN_362066
 
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hii , i own a dell inspiron n5110 laptop with windows 7 home basic.

i bought kaspersky internet security which requires microsoft net framework 4 to be installed. but i have tried numerous links and failed to do so.

also i'm having problems with windows update service and it has been 4 years since i did any repair to the windows.

View attachment 139557

so i wanted to know how to reinstall windows 7 from recovery.

main question is whichever method you suggest me , will it delete all the data from C , D and E drive ? i know backup is recommended but i don't have an external hard drive.

what's will be the size of the backup if i wanted to do so ?

ps : i don't have the original windows CD with me , just the important drivers CD.
Press F11 after powering up and before windows loads. This will take you to the windows recovery screen where you can select to restore the laptop to factory settings. Other option will to launch the recovery manager from windows and tell it to restore factory settings.

Either of these methods will quick format your windows partition. Hence it is recommended to back up any of your important files and data.
 
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Thread Starter #4

allhyundaicars

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@ appus - thanks for the detailed steps. I will follow this tomorrow.

@ tai newbie - i got my Friend's external hard disk and moved all the things that i want to it and left all the unnecessary things.

So now i'm thinking to format all the drives since there are many things which i don't use. 50-60 gb games that i hardly play now.


Anyways i tried system restore by pressing the f8 key , i never made a restore but it only showed restore points of today.
Ie when i uninstalled A programme.

I was thinking i would get an option to restore from the very beginning but it didn't happen so cancelled it and will try tomorrow from the control panel.

Thanks guys for your help. Will update the progress tomorrow.
 
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Thread Starter #5

allhyundaicars

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There you get an advanced option. Click that. You will see Dell restore/datasafe option.
i'm not getting this option. i just got the same restore points in both the menus. ie via control panel and pressing the f8 key [sad]

IMG_20140703_143037.jpg

IMG_20140703_143131.jpg

it shows restore points from march 2014. i want restore point from the very first day.
 
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Click on system Image recovery and see whether he had created an Image of the same. DELLs installation seems missing.

When you click on System Image Recovery, it should select the location directly. Check for that

System restore is not meant to restore to your very first day. System restore keeps last few restore points so that if system crashes after some installation, it can go back to a stage before those installation happened. System restore mostly uses 1-6% of your C drive space (So we can not expect a system recovery points from day1)

The above screen normally shown for our installations (if we install the OS/software manually).

By the way, Do you see lots of dell software in your program menu ? If not, the shop guys might have installed it separately. If you see Dell software in program file, look for some Dell Datasafe backup/restore software. You can try restoring from there too
 
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Thread Starter #7

allhyundaicars

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hey.
so the other day i tried restoring , none of the points are working. [sad]
i am going through all this just because i need to install kaspersky.

i lost my original windows CD when my other laptop got stolen. so is it possible that i can get serial key for my original windows from DELL ?

edit : just saw a sticker at the bottom of my laptop but the last 8 characters are hardly visible [frustration]
 
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Somehow I have a feeling that there can be corruption in your MBR. If your CD is corrupt then again you may not be able to boot from CD.
Why don't you create a USB boot drive and try.Google to know how to make a USB boot-able device.Re install the entire Windows and then the software.
You may have to forgo only C drive data .Other data will not be changed. Since you have the driver CD nothing much to worry.

By the way ,Kasperky is not so innocent ,in this whole program.
 
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Thread Starter #9

allhyundaicars

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"re-install the entire window" this is the step i'm stuck at :P

i googled nearby dell service center and went there hoping it'd be a good center. it wasn't good at all. just 1 guy and i turned on the fan [lol]

anyways , i bought the laptop from my friend , have to go near his office tomorrow for some work and will get this problem fixed as well.

just one question - if i am able to get my product key , can i use any windows 7 CD and activate original windows ?
 
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I really do not understand what went wrong on the steps. You have an image recovery option as per the screen shot you provided. why did not you try and see whether it can select the image in the other drive. Select the system Image recovery. IT WONT DELETE YOUR OTHER DRIVES !

If you install from a dvd, you need to install all other software one after another. If you can get the Factory image recovery, most of the programs are already installed (drivers, basic software etc). You still may have to install Office as Dell gives only a trial version


.

just one question - if i am able to get my product key , can i use any windows 7 CD and activate original windows ?
If you install the same version say Home Basic with any other windows 7 Home Basic, it will automatically activated. You need not enter any serial key for that matter. Because, your serial number is embedded in the board and it collects the data automatically.


Another observation:- If you install next higher version of home basic ie, Home premium, it gets activated with the same serial number. Does not work if you install professional, ultimate or enterprise. Basic to Premium always works for me (tried atleast in 10+ laptops)
 
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allhyundaicars

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i got my original windows CD [:D] so re-installed it. it didn't ask for any serial key just like you said.

now everything is working.
 

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