The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Buy Recovery CD although I can't log onto acc?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by CavsFan23, Jul 30, 2009.

  1. CavsFan23

    CavsFan23 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Ok, I have this little nagging issue with this Dell Inspiron 1501 that I bought from a friend for $50 (He even said if you can't get the issue resolved, I can send it back, no problem).

    He doesn't use the labtop no more and getting this one for $50 was a steal, except that when start the computer and it goes to the menu screen for choosing an account and logging into the desktop, it is password protected and he doesn't know the password. He hasn't used the labtop in like a year so It sucks that I can't seem to get this to work..

    I also read online to see if there was any way to manually reboot my whole computer, and looked pages through pages, but you can't do that, unless you have a recovery cd. I see some online that I can buy for 10$ but I need to know this;

    If I buy a Recovery CD and use it to reboot my whole computer so that it is fresh as If it came out the factory, will the Recovery CD still work even If I am not logged onto an account on the desktop, will it still load up correctly If i'm at the menu screen.. I need to know this please because If it wont load unless your on the desktop, I might have to return this nice lab top which was a steal for $50.
     
  2. Mastershroom

    Mastershroom wat

    Reputations:
    3,833
    Messages:
    8,209
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    206
    You do not need to get into Windows to use a Vista recovery disk. Insert the disk, reboot the computer and hit F12 to select your boot device; select the CD/DVD drive. This will allow you to completely reinstall Windows and make a new user account.

    Make sure you order the right disk; match the exact same version of Windows that's installed; if it has XP Pro, buy an XP Pro disk. If it's Vista Home Premium, get a Vista Home Premium disk, and so on.