Factory settings for latitude E

Hello, in my previous notebook XPS it was possible to return operating system back to the factory settings by pressing F8 during booting. On my new latitude there is no possibility to do it. How can I return notebook to the original factory settings? thanks for answers...

 

if you didn't delete the recovery partition, you can just use the recovery cd to bring it back

otherwise, you just have to format and reinstall the basics

 

The recovery partition is still on my computer. but how to use it? Do I have to boot from the recovery partition instead of system disc C?

 

Can anyone tell me what for is the recovery partition, when there is no restoring program?

 

ah.... the restoring program is the cd included on your package
just click repair

 

But the cd is just a cd with windows and I don´t need any recovery partition when I want to reinstall windows. So what is the partition for?

 

in Windows Vista, PC makers can use a microsoft tool to create the partition-That's what Dell has done. You won't need your recovery disk for this method.

To recover from the partition, after the dell logo appears tap F8 until Advanced Boot Options appears on screen

Press the Down Arrow>on the keyboard to select Repair Your Computer on the Advanced Boot Options menu, and then press Enter.

Choose the language, and then click Next.

Log in as a user who has administrative rights, and click OK.

Click Dell Factory Image Restore.

In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.

Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.

Click Next, and the recovery process will start.

click Finish to restart the computer.


If your machine won't show these options, it's likely that the recovery partition was damaged some how, in this case, you need to use the Windows Vista reinstallation DVD and the Drivers and Software DVD to restore the computer. This is more involved because you'll actually be installing Windows Vista from scratch (not from a premade image of your hard drive as it came from the factory) and installing drivers and software from scratch. This is what's known as a "clean install" and it's not difficult, just a bit time consuming, and the benefit is that you'll have a essentially clean slate to work with, with no junk trialware apps loaded up. (Latitudes usually have none, but still)

Steps to perform a recovery using this method:
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?docid=339949#Issue3

You never mentioned what OS your E series has, the recovery steps on Windows XP varys, since that uses a dell/symantec recovery partition solution instead of Microsoft's (Microsoft's didn't exist until Vista)