Reformat And Completely restore

[Nikki]

I need to know how to re-do my entire computer. Previous computers of mine
came with a step by step disc set to reformat and restore all the originial
data from when you bought it. But I don't see the option to do that with
Vista. I have the reinstall disc for vista, but that isnt going to delete
all of what has been put on there. Help?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I need to know how to re-do my entire computer. Previous computers of mine
came with a step by step disc set to reformat and restore all the
originial
data from when you bought it. But I don't see the option to do that with
Vista. I have the reinstall disc for vista, but that isnt going to delete
all of what has been put on there. Help?

If you have a restore disk from the computer's manufacturer just boot with
it and restore. It will return your computer to the factory condition.

In future please give information. What is the computer make and model,
version of Vista, x86 or x64, and whether Vista came preinstalled or is an
upgrade or full license of Vista?

 

[Nikki]

Colin,

thank you for responding. I have the restore disc, but it won't let me
restore it to February. It will only go back to June. I have a dell
Inspiron Laptop 1526. It has Vista Home premium 32 bit on it. This is a
preinstalled version. Can I reformat the hard drive completely? I bought it
in February

Thanks, Nikki

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Colin,

thank you for responding. I have the restore disc, but it won't let me
restore it to February. It will only go back to June. I have a dell
Inspiron Laptop 1526. It has Vista Home premium 32 bit on it. This is a
preinstalled version. Can I reformat the hard drive completely? I bought
it
in February

Thanks, Nikki

Nikki

You have to BOOT from the recovery disc.

As the machine powers up, look for an F key on the screen that will take you
to set up, and then go into BIOS and ensure that the CD/DVD is first on the
boot list.. then reboot the computer..

You need to take the option to format the drive during Windows setup..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
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[Mick Murphy]

After you have followed Mike Hall's advice to set DVD drive to be 1st in boot
Order, reboot with the Vista DVD in the Drive, and follow instructions to
load files.,. delete existing vista Parition, format and install again.
Everything will be back to how you bought from the shop.

Save ALL your data before doing this, as all will be lost, including
progrmas that you have installed yourself.

You are confusing System Restore(which puts the comp back in time, while
still saving all your files), and System Recovery,, which wipes the lot!