Member Avatar for fuzzypumpkins

I have a dell, and the way I wipe the pc clean is to restart the pc, then I press some buttons which brings up the restore "to when I first got my pc" I've done it before, I just forget those simple keys you press when the pc is booting up. Anyone know which keys I press. thanks.

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A short, practical summary for reinstalling XP on many Dells without a retail CD:

Many Dell systems that shipped with an OEM image include a hidden factory-restore partition. On those models the built‑in restore (Dell PC Restore by Symantec) is launched by pressing Ctrl+F11 when the little blue bar with www.dell.com appears during boot. That process overwrites the C: drive and returns the machine to factory condition, so back up any personal files first — this is exactly what and were referring to. (manualmachine.com)

Quick verification before you try it: open Computer Management → Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) and look for a small, unlettered recovery/utility partition (usually a few GB). If that hidden partition is missing or the Master Boot Record/partition table has been altered (for example after a clean install), Ctrl+F11 won’t boot the restore image. (learn.microsoft.com)

If Ctrl+F11 does nothing, options are: repair the Dell restore boot code (Dan Goodell’s DSRFIX can often repair MBR/boot issues so the DSR partition becomes usable again), order factory recovery media from Dell (may require registering the service tag/warranty and could incur a fee), or reinstall from a genuine Windows XP Home disc using the product key on the machine’s COA sticker — then reinstall drivers. Always back up first and expect to spend time reinstalling drivers/apps. (goodells.net)

A couple of clarifying notes (ties to other replies here): F2 opens BIOS setup, F12 is the one‑time boot menu, and F8 brings up Windows’ Advanced Boot Options — none of those invoke the factory image. Try Ctrl+F11 at the blue bar first; if it fails, check diskmgmt.msc and consider DSRFIX or recovery media as next steps. (dell.com)

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Member Avatar for Chaky

F8 ?

Member Avatar for jbennet

On my 5150 dimension its Control and F11 or something like that (similar to ibm thinkpads) during the bootup (cant remember if before or after post) to bring up the symantec system restore thing.

Member Avatar for tayspen

If you are referring to the BIOS. It can be the Delete key, or the F1 key, or the esc key. There are also more, but those are the more common ones.

More Keys:

Member Avatar for TiJay

Dell is F2 and another is F12

Member Avatar for fuzzypumpkins

On my 5150 dimension its Control and F11 or something like that (similar to ibm thinkpads) during the bootup (cant remember if before or after post) to bring up the symantec system restore thing.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

No, on some machines (my dell and thinkpad) you can push a button to get into the BIOS or you can push another F11 related combo to restore your entire system from a hidden pertition

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