Dell restore?

[The Astroman]

Hey guys. Is there a way I can restore my dell laptop to what it what when I first got it? Like keep the XP and other software that was pre-installed, without having to format it all and reinstall (I would also loose the XP license).

 

[Verve]

I'm 99% certain that Dell's have a built-in restore feature, but unfortunately I don't know how to do it.

 

[The Astroman]

OK. I read somewhere that I just had to press Ctrl+ F11 at the dell logo on startup, and it would restore. Is this true?

And what's better, Format vs. restore?

 

[meanman]

try it and if you restore i think it formats anyway and any preloaded programs should be contained in the restore image so they should still be on your pc after the restore

 

[Dirkpitt289]

First backup the data you want to save to some kind of external media. reboot the PC. When the Dell splash screen comes up hit the F12 key. There should be an option in there that will allow you to restore the PC to its original factory state, but keep in mind if you don't save your data everything will be lost.