windows 7 system restore help!!

[dreday876]

i have dell inspiron 1545 brand new came with windows 7 i did a system restore with the windows 7 disc it came with when i did it all of the factory features were gone and i want them back the only thing i see is windows old folder...is there a way i can use that to get the features back??

 

[gregrocker]

System Restore should not have removed the factory utilities. You must have done a clean reinstall using Win7 DVD.

You can roll back to your factory installation using the windows.old folder using these steps: How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder

You can also run the Dell Recovery partition by pressing Control F11 at bootup.

But first I'd test the performance on the clean reinstall as you may find it outweighs the benefit of the Dell utilities which are mostly duplicated by better Win7 features. Most tech enthusiasts are willing to give these up to get rid of the bloatware which bogs the system and often corrupts system files by its uninstall.

 

[dreday876]

i tried the How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder but for everything i type in the command prompt comes up "The system cannot find the file specified".

 

[gregrocker]

Did you try running the Factory Recovery partition by pressing Control F 11 at bootup?

 

[dreday876]

yeah didnt work..you only can press F2 for step and F12 for boot options

 

[dreday876]

F2 setup

 

[gregrocker]

A Search for Dell Inspiron 1545 Recovery reveals this:

Tapping F8 at the LOGO (just like if you would want to see SAFE mode options), and then picking "Advanced Options", there is an option to do a "Recover Install" or something along those lines. Older DELL have a Recovery Partion also, but to acsess those were by pressing F12 at the LOGO. This is solved. Thank You All.

Source: http://www.pchelpforum.com/windows-vista-7/83602-dell-inspiron-1545-factory-restore.html

 

[dreday876]

yeah i see it got to the system restore but its restoring to an earlier point the date and time shown were it would restore is like an hour ago so it would be exactly how it is now?

 

[gregrocker]

Are you running Recovery? That sets your computer back to exactly like it was when it left the factory. It reimages the HD with the factory image.

Did you originally run System Restore or clean reinstall? Your Dell utilities would only be gone if you reinstalled. System Restore could not remove them.

But if you want to System Restore to see for yourself, go back to before you did whatever you did.

 

[dreday876]

i used the windows 7 reinstall disc it came with..and when i do the system restore or recovery it only does it to an eariler time.

 

[gregrocker]

Did you reinstall Windows 7? This is the only way that the Dell Utilities would disappear as you say, and the only reason a windows.old folder would appear.

If so, you need to run Factory Recovery if you want to restore the computer to exact factory condition with the Dell utilities. Press F8 at bootup and look for Advanced Tools to choose Recovery. Report back what you find.

 

[dreday876]

i used this : Dell - Support only thing is there no dell factory image restore..its asking me for an backup harddisk or its giving me an option to select an system image.

 

[dreday876]

Windows 7 PC Restore | Dell

 

[gregrocker]

So when you boot into F8 menu, you selected Repair My COmputer, but Dell Factory Image doesn't appear as an option?

Check again. If it doesn't appear you may have deleted the Recovery partition since you're not sure what you did.

Try operating Win7 with the much-preferred clean reinstall for awhile to see if you can do without the Dell utilities, which are almost all unneeded and have better options built into Win7.

For example you can make a Win7 backup image to reimage from the prompt you see there at F8 or from the DVD Repair console: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

If you decide you want to reinstall the factory image with all of the bloatware included then you'll need to contact Dell to order the Recovery Disks. Most users only want the Win7 DVD to clean reinstall as you did.

Do you have all the drivers in Device Manager? Check optional Windows Updates for newer or the Support Downloads webpage for your Dell tag number.