How do I restore my computer to factory defaults?
How do I restore my computer to factory defaults? I have been having problems and I need to do this. (XP service pack 3).
BTW~ It didn’t come with a start up/recovery disk.
How do I restore my computer to factory defaults? I have been having problems and I need to do this. (XP service pack 3).
BTW~ It didn’t come with a start up/recovery disk.
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Check the menus to see if it included a program to make your own set of Recovery CDs. If it did make them before you do anything to the computer. If you watch the black boot up screen it may list or show what function keys you need to press to do the Factory Default Recovery.
If it didn’t come with a recovery disk, you either need to get one or get an XP disk. There is no way, within your current system, to restore back to its original state. Why? Because it doesn’t know! It doesn’t keep track of it’s state at all points in its history. That would eat up your entire hard drive in a matter of weeks. You can make your own backups, but not of your entire system (in Windows), because it won’t let you copy system files while the computer is running. This is why you need a recovery disk or XP disk. There is no other way.
If it didn’t come with a disk, it probably came with a recovery partition. You will have to use that. You will loose all data. It will restore it to factory defaults. You may have to install SP2 and\or SP3. Good luck.
what brand of computer
well, you need; your hardware drivers, you can try this nifty program to get them. http://majorgeeks.com/Prompt_Drivers_Bac...
and you need an OS. Boot from the OS disk and format/partition out the hard drives and install. Then in the device manager direct all your hardware to the folder, or disk, you backed up all your drivers at.
My Dell didn’t come with a disk either, but it does have a System Recovery partition built into the harddrive. To access this partition and restore your PC to when it was brand new, restart your PC. When you hear the "click" or "beep" of it restarting, press and hold the ALT key, then press F11 while still holding ALT. Then you can release both keys at the same time. You should then be prompted and asked if you’d like to recover your PC. I recommend backing up any important data beforehand, as you will lose everything on your harddrive.