Manual Recovery from a Dell Vista Recovery Image - Step-by-Step
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.
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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.
(We're going to restore the Vista partition from the Dell factory image, so we do not need to repair the existing Vista installation.)
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.
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.)
("Cancel" returns to the System Recovery Options menu.)
("Cancel" returns to the System Recovery Options menu.)
(Note: we are not going to install a driver, but the other two options, "Search.." and "Cancel", will not let us continue.)
("Cancel" returns to the System Recovery Options menu.)
(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).
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.
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.














