No FACTORY IMAGE RESTORE choice! ?

Hi!

So here's my problem. I have Dell Inspiron 1520 originally running Vista. I installed Windows 7 some time ago, keeping Recovery partition untouched. Now I'm trying to restore to factory defaults and...:

1. When I go through F8 - repair - there's no "Dell Factory Image Restore" choice.
2. If I run system recovery .exe file from recovery partition manualy (d:/sources/recovery/recenv.exe) it opens the same window, BUT WITH the "Dell Factory Image Restore" choice, but..
3. If I press it - it won't run because of "oledlg.dll" file missing.

I've attached screenshot of all I wrote about. I guess Windows 7 console loads it's files and misses something that Vista's recovery partition needs. Well, that's my lamer's opinion. =)

PLEASE advice!
THanx!

It seems your Recovery partition was damaged by the Win7 install as can happen.

Your options now are to call Dell Tech Support to order Factory Recovery disks for your model which will restore the machine to factory condition.

Or you can find a Vista retail installer to clean reinstall using the Product Key on COA sticker on machine.

If you only need to reinstall Win7, then Vista does not have to be reinstalled first.

Follow these steps for clean reinstalling either OS to get a purrfect install: re-install windows 7

What exactly do you mean by "damaged recovery partition"? Why would windows installation touch any other partition, then the one it's installing on??!

I'm interested in getting factory default notebook - that's the exact aim.

Any other suggestions? If I install Vista myself and try to "F8 - repair..." would it help to see Dell defaults choice?

If anyone could not just suggest, but explain possible problem of what I wrote in the beginning - I'd appreciate it!

TNX!

When you install another OS it loses all links to the Recovery partition, and the Partition itself can lose it's hotkey links. Maybe someone else can explain exactly how it happens but we have seen it enough here that we know it is not uncommon.

This is one reason why during Win7 install many choose to wipe their HD to rely only on Recovery disks to restore to Factory condition: You simply can't count on the partition once you've installed another OS.

Our expert SIW2 might be able to help you locate and run the factory .wim file from the partition.

Otherwise if you want Recovery to factory condition, I would order the Recovery Disks which can be made during setup.

1. Click Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options window.

2. In the Administrator window, type the following lines, pressing <Enter> after each line.
path d:\windows;d:\windows\system32

d:
CD Tools
PCRestore

3. In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.

4. In the Confirm Data Deletion window, click to select Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition, and then click Next. The message Factory image successfully restored! appears when the process is complete.

5. Click Finish to restart the system.

Our expert SIW2 might be able to help you locate and run the factory .wim file from the partition.

I can see .wim file in my recovery partition. Can anyone explain how to run it?

2. In the Administrator window, type the following lines, pressing <Enter> after each line.
path d:\windows;d:\windows\system32

d:
CD Tools
PCRestore

Can you explain what exactly to write in command prompt (I'm not good at it) - because you confused me? What do you mean by d:\windows;d:\.. etc.. ?

But if I try to run d:\tools\pcrestore.exe I get the same missing dll error. I guess I have to somehow run it throught D:\windows? Because there's Vista's clone? and it should have dlls I need? So how do I do that? I'm getting unproper commands messages in command prompt..

TNX

ps. and by the way, is it still possbile to write my recovery partition on DVD? I mean do the same thing, that my notebook ofered me in the very beginning? =)

Post screenshots of your recovery partition - showing the folders amd the wims - you may have several wims.

you can request Backup Discs from here:
Dell - Support


Have tried opening PCRestore from Windows 7?