Restoring Vista Home Premium to factory settings

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Spuddy

47 posts

Geek

#38898 5-Aug-2009 16:15

Does anyone have any idea on how to restore back to factory settings? I know you could do this on other version but am unsure on how to with Vista

tersam98

14 posts

Geek

#243863 7-Aug-2009 11:37

Hi there, did you receive any discs with the computer other then the windows vista cd as proprietry systems such as HP or Dell usually come with recovery tools on a CD in which you can restore back to Windows default settings?

Would recommend that you back up all data first before doing the restore

cheers

Terry

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tersam98

14 posts

Geek

#243865 7-Aug-2009 11:44

Or within Vista you can do a system restore from using the tool under Programs --> Maintainance --> Backup & Restore Center you can then click on the repair windows using system restore link on the left hand pane.

From here you can run through the wizard and restore from a restore point if need be.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#243869 7-Aug-2009 11:51

tersam98: Hi there, did you receive any discs with the computer other then the windows vista cd as proprietry systems such as HP or Dell usually come with recovery tools on a CD in which you can restore back to Windows default settings?

Would recommend that you back up all data first before doing the restore

cheers

Terry

Most HP systems today come with a recovery partition on your HDD. They have a program that will create DVDs from that partition - only one set though, so make sure you do it as soon as you get the laptop. If the HDD dies you lose the recovery - so make sure you have the DVDs.

As for the original question - no there isn't a restore to factory settings on the OS. You have to use the original DVDs or recovery partition. Or get replacement ones from the OEM.

My technology disclosure

tersam98

14 posts

Geek

#243878 7-Aug-2009 11:59

Freitasm thanks for that :) your right about most HP's and Dells even have the recovery partition now on the HDD. The windows restore is only for restoring back to a restore point if you had some underlying fault and wanted to restore before the system encountered the problem.