Manual Recovery from a Dell Vista Recovery Image - Step-by-Step

[The original document is located at http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/vista/vistarecovery.shtml.]

The Dell Vista system can normally be restored to factory settings through a selection on the Vista Advanced Boot Options screen. To perform a factory restore, first try the F8 method, "Dell Factory Image Restore Option in the System Recovery Options Menu". If that doesn't work, next try the DVD method, "Run PC Restore From a Microsoft Windows Vista DVD".

Try the above two procedures first. If neither of those works, try directly accessing the factory image using the procedure below. Note this procedure assumes the Factory.wim file is still intact and has not been damaged.

(Note: Click on any image below to view a larger image. Click your browser's 'Back' button to return to this page.)

Screen 1: Boot from the Vista Recovery CD

Insert the Vista Recovery DVD in the CD/DVD drive.

Reboot the computer.

At the POST ("Power-On Self Test") screen with the giant Dell logo, press F12 a few times to get to the BIOS One-Time Boot Menu.

At the One-Time Boot Menu, select the option to boot from CD/DVD.

Press any key when you see the prompt, "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.."

The Windows Recovery Environment will begin loading files.

Screen 2: Select your language.

Screen 3: Click the "Next" button to continue.

Screen 4: Select the option to "Repair your computer".

Screen 5: If you see this screen, click "No".

(We're going to restore the Vista partition from the Dell factory image, so we do not need to repair the existing Vista installation.)

Screen 6: Click the "Next" button to continue.

Screen 7: This is the main System Recovery Options menu.

We will use the "Command Prompt" option to perform the factory image restore. However, to avoid accidentally overwriting the wrong partition, it would be wise to first confirm the drive letters the Recovery Environment has assigned to the relevant partitions.

To check the drive letters, select the "Windows Complete PC Restore" option.

Screen 8: To check the drive letters, select the "Windows Complete PC Restore" option from the System Recovery Options menu.

If you see this dialog box, click the "Cancel" button to tell Windows to stop looking for a Windows backup.

("Retry" just returns to this same dialog box.)

Screen 9: Click the "Next" button to continue.

("Cancel" returns to the System Recovery Options menu.)

Screen 10: Click the "Advanced.." button.

("Cancel" returns to the System Recovery Options menu.)

Screen 11: Click "Install a driver" to continue.

(Note: we are not going to install a driver, but the other two options, "Search.." and "Cancel", will not let us continue.)

Screen 12: Click the "OK" button to continue.

("Cancel" returns to the System Recovery Options menu.)

Screen 13: Click the "Computer" button to show the drive letters that the Recovery Environment has assigned to the drives.

(Note: your computer may show different drive labels or sizes than shown in this example.)

On a Dell-configured hard disk, the main Vista OS partition will be identified as drive C: with the label "OS", and the Recovery partition will be identified as drive D: with the label "RECOVERY". If you have readjusted the partition layout, you may have different labels or drive letters.

You may double-click any drive letter icon to study the files and folders in each partition. Once you are satisfied that you know the drive letters of the Recovery partition and the partition we are going to overwrite, press "Cancel" until you return to the System Recovery Options menu (screen 7).

Screen 14: From the System Recovery Options menu, select the "Command Prompt" option. The following instructions assume the Recovery partition (as determined in screen 13) is drive D: and the Vista OS partition to be overwritten is C:.

At the command prompt, type "d:" and press [Enter].

At the 'D:\' command prompt, type "cd \tools" and press [Enter].

At the 'D:\Tools' command prompt, type the following command:

  imagex  /apply  d:\dell\image\factory.wim  1  c:\  

When you press the [Enter] key, the ImageX utility will begin overwriting the C: partition with the contents of the Factory.wim image.

Finished.

The Vista OS partition should now be restored to its contents as it was when originally shipped.

Reboot and the computer should boot into Vista.

Easy way to find Server / PC serial number

Many times I find myself needing the serial number of a remote server or pc. Below is a simple command line that will provide the information quickly and easily.

C:\>wmic

wmic:root\cli>systemenclosure get serialnumber

SerialNumber
xxxxxxxx

wmic:root\cli>exit

C:\>

No network connectivity - IPSEC Event ID's 7023, 4292

I ran into an issue with a few servers that shutdown unexpectedly. After rebooting the servers appeared to boot normally but would lose network connectivity during the bootup process. I noticed that the IPSEC service would not start with Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified. This is also associated with Event ID 7023. Also in the Windows logs was Event ID 4292 which states that the IPSEC driver has entered Block mode. That error indicates that all inbound and outbound TCP/IP traffic is being blocked.

To resolve this issue I followed the solution in Microsoft KB article 870910 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870910 . I noticed, however, that the servers didn't have the key indicated in step one so I skipped that part and went to step two to register the dll (regsvr32 polstore.dll) and that resolved the issue for me. Once the dll was registered successfully I was then able to start the IPSEC service and connectivity was restored. I rebooted again for good measure.

Ubuntu Customization

To add effects run the command below:

sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-plugins compiz-gnome compiz-core emerald compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-extra fusion-icon compizconfig-settings-manager

Blank Screen with Blinking Cursor

This is not a pretty site. After trying to boot your pc all you see is a blank, black screen with a white, flashing cursor in the upper-left corner. Below are the steps I took to resolve this issue in Windows 7 (should work in Vista as well, not sure about XP).

-Enter the Recovery Console (boot from the Vista/Win7 dvd, system repair, command prompt)

-Type both commands below at the command prompt:
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /fixmbr

-Exit the Recovery Console and reboot

That most likely has resolved the issue and the pc will now boot normally. If not you may also have to enter Safe Mode and disable UAC.

How to allow Power Users to add printers in Windows XP

For XP and greater the Load Driver privilege was removed from Power Users
for security. You can add this ability back to Power Users by following the instructions below.

-Logon with admin privileges

-Go to Control Panel/Admin Tools / Local Security Policy / Local Policy / User Rights Assignment/ Load and unload device drivers

-Add machine\power users or the specific user

Configuring RPC over HTTP (Outlook Anywhere) in Ubuntu

At this point it doesn't exist as you might think but there is a fairly simply workaround. I've been able to simulate the same functionality as Outlook Anywhere by using Thunderbird and DavMail. The reference for this info is at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1237875 .