Restore windows to factory default

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thatisit1

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#27065 12-Oct-2008 19:29

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW I CAN TOTALLY WIPE MY COMPUTER AND REINSTALL WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM WITHOUT A DISC.

I have Acer Empowering technology and i tried 'restore computer to factory default' but it asked me for a password (which i typed in) but it would not accept it. I did write the password down when I first got the computer.

Can anyone help me!!!

scottjpalmer

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#170776 12-Oct-2008 20:25

Can you still load the current windows install? Somewhere in there in the Acer menus in the Start menu you should find the option to create a receovery DVD?

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rscole86

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#170779 12-Oct-2008 20:40

AFAIK the password you provided was for all of your back up options from the acer recovery console in windows.

However, you can usually access while the PC is booting. I cannot remember what key(s) you press, but something like F11 will take you to the recovery console out of windows. From here you should be able to perform a recovery without a password.

scottjpalmer

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#170780 12-Oct-2008 20:44

You can call 0800 ACERNZ tomorrow and ask the key combinations to press, unless things have changed be prepared to be on hold for a wee while.

grant_k

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#170792 12-Oct-2008 22:32

rscole86: ...However, you can usually access while the PC is booting. I cannot remember what key(s) you press, but something like F11 will take you to the recovery console out of windows. From here you should be able to perform a recovery without a password.

I did this last week on a laptop with Windows XP. The key combination is ALT-F10, but it did not work from within Windows, even though the Help File said it was supposed to.

Instead, I pressed ALT-F10 during POST (while rebooting) and got straight into the Acer Recovery Console.

It asked me for a password, but then said that the default was 000000 i.e. 6 zeroes. That worked and I was then able to restore the original factory configuration. Maybe it is different for Vista, but possibly will be the same, so I suggest you give it a try.

thatisit1

37 posts

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#170888 13-Oct-2008 16:40

I can still load windows. I tried the ALT-F10 and it did take me to the right place but it still asked me for the password and it did not accept 000000.

If I burned the recovery DVD then would I be able to restore the computer without a password?

The password seems to work on all the other applications but just not th recovery one.

Thanks for the responses.

thatisit1

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#172291 20-Oct-2008 16:07

I managed to find out my password. When I first got the laptop it must have had caps lock on because i tried it with caps lock and it worked lol!!!
Thanks for the help