Trying to repair install Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit.

Please read in its entirety before posting anything. As I will chronologically take you through my issue. Also I am very long winded but that is only because I am trying to be as clears as I possibly can be. For that, I apologize.

Note, This is information anyone planning on posting might need to know about my situation.
1) I do not have the Windows 7 installation disc
2) I do not have a system repair disc that was made from my laptop.
3)I do have a system repair disc made from an Acer desktop. (Important to note that)
4) My internal disc drive no longer works, However I have an external drive that I've been using.

I have a Dell Inspiron laptop and Dell computers have a factory image you can restore to through the advanced boot options (Pressing or Holding F8 at startup when the manufacturer logo appears) and selecting "Repair your computer at the top of the screen and then selecting the factory restore using "Dell Datasafe local backup". Initially I was having issues with selecting that option. When I would select it, I would get the error message "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause" and at the bottom of the screen it would say "Status: 0xc000000f". I wouldn't be able to do anything but restart the computer.

I made a repair disc from an acer desktop with the exact same version of Windows 7 and had hopes of it working, though it did boot to the same "system recovery options" menu that the "repair your computer" option would have if it worked. In the past I restored my laptop several times by selecting the "Dell datasafe restore and Emergency backup". Instead this time that option was replaced with "Acer eRecovery management" as the repair disc was from a acer desktop, obviously. When I clicked it, all the options were grayed out as it may have been trying to boot from a recovery partition setup by acer. It could not access the recovery partition set up by Dell, So that's out of the question. I cannot create a system repair disc from my laptop either because I get the same 0xc000000f error as I do with the F8 boot options.

I posted a thread earlier this month inquiring on how to fix it. Here is a link to it as it may have more information on my situation, I'm trying to factory reset my Laptop - Windows 7 Help Forums

Through some suggestions, I was going through the disc management portion of Windows, assigning letters to my recovery partition, making the OS (C: ) partition active and as far as I can remember that is all I did. I no longer have a letter assigned to my recovery partition and I have not resized, moved nor formatted any of my partitions.

I then found another forum on another site that addressed my issue and it had to do with going into an Elevated Command Prompt and using bcdedit /enum all and then posting the results from the thread. Here's a link to it: Windows 7, F8 boot option not working (SOLVED) | Acronis Forum .

I tried the bcdedit command myself and compared what I was getting to those that posted on the thread. On the thread, the scans I saw people posted was on their C: partitions, my scans were on, if I remember correctly, partition D: ) which I'm pretty sure is my internal dvd drive. I did not know how to get it to scan partition C: ) so I decided to restore my laptop back a few days before I messed with disc management (BIG MISTAKE!)

The restore failed and windows failed to boot and I would get an error "bootmgr is missing"

Using the system repair disc I made from the acer, I ran a "startup repair" diagnostic and now it boots normally again. However, now when I try to press F8 at startup, the "repair my computer" option no longer exists.

Now I need help getting that to show up again.

Here is what I need help with:
1)If someone could help fix the missing repair option at the advanced boot options menu or
2) help on how to use bcdedit in the command prompt or
3) Any other solution that would help either access my factory image or
4) A solution that would allow a repair install of windows 7

I am a NOVICE at all this command prompt/disc management and abbreviations people tend to use on these forums. I require CRYSTAL CLEAR instructions on how to work my way around the more advanced portion of windows. I know it will be a pain to and I am sorry in advance.Again, I suggest that people check out my previous thread I made in the link above for more info. Thanks

If anyone could help me with these problems I would really appreciate it.

Also here is how both my disc management window and the results of my bcdedit /enum all scan look if anyone needs them.

Hi again Slick.

READ THIS FIRST

DELL ARE A PAIN.

Unlike other OEM's they play more radically with thier BIOS, and they dont play well with other OEM recovery software, but im not entirely sure if they remove, "Grey Out", the MS option..

As you now have 3 Recovery system options on your comp, i suspect they are interferring with each other
1) Dell, 2) Acer 3) MS,

I take it you did not follow my advice in the earlier thread and download the OS to a USB

In your situation i would start from scratch
Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 - Windows 7 Help Forums

The above tutorial is Extensive, it includes ALL the actions to be taken Before and After, as well as suggestions for retrieving your data after a catastrophic failure.
see the specific comment re Dell machines.

Please note
IF you decide to clean install from a USB >>> UNPLUG your external caddy <<<


Roy

I would suggest that you create a set or two of factory restore DVDs. There should be an option for this in Windows. If you have no way of making these disks yourself, then you can purchase a set from Dell for your laptop.

Then use the Dell factory restore disks to do a factory restore.

Please explain:
- "4) My internal disc drive no longer works, However I have an external drive that I've been using."
- From witch drive did you booted to get the disk management image?
- What do you want to do, repair your windows installation or do a Dell factory recover?

Megahertz07 said:

Please explain:
- "4) My internal disc drive no longer works, However I have an external drive that I've been using."
- From witch drive did you booted to get the disk management image?
- What do you want to do, repair your windows installation or do a Dell factory recover?

I meant optical drive that is built in the laptop no longer reads or writes disks. I use an external optical drive.

What I want to do is Factory restore my laptop. The repair installation is just an attempt to get the "repair my computer" to show up again and work.

Contact Dell if you need a set of Factory Restore disks. A while back I paid Dell $20 for a set of these disks.

Here is more info:

http://www.dell.com/support/contents...s/Media-backup

SIW2 said:

You can borrow my boot media. It has explorer, diskmgmt, internet browser, audio, ets. Also includes Winntsetup ( under Startmenu>Install ), which can be used to install from a .wim, or.swms or .esd files.

You can use that to install the dell factory.wim (which is on your recovery partition ) to your windows OS partition. (recovery Partition\Dell\Image\Factory.wim ). You want install image 1 from the factory.wim

Or you could use dism++ in my boot media to do the same thing.

Winntsetup may be simpler as it will also automatically correct the boot menu entry ( if needed)

boot media 17514x64-v4.iso

So do I use the boot media? Do I put it on a usb drive and boot from it at start up? Also, as for the recovery partition, I couldn't search inside of it, even after assigning a letter to the partition. This is what I mean when I need crystal clear instructions as I am not used to this. Thanks again.

Did you try to launch the Factory recover from windows. It must be somewhere under Dell links under Start menu.