Hello, I wanted to restore my system. I am using Dell Inspiron Mini laptop. Can someone tell me how to do it without a CD? My mini laptop does not come with an optical drive so I wonder whether I could do a system restore without any disks. I went to Dell Service Center but they just didn’t help. My reason for this is because I wanted to sell my laptop so I want all my personal information to be deleted first. Can someone tell me? Thank you in advance.
Restore Dell Inspiron Mini without CD
Here is the procedure to do that:
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You will click on start, and then point to all programs.
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Next you will click on accessories, and then choose system tools, and then click on files and settings transfer wizard.
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You will then select the New Computer option, and the click Next; that will specify that is the computer that you want to restore the files to.
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Next you will locate ‘Do you have windows XP CD’, and then select the ‘I don’t need the wizard disk option’, and then click Next.
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You will then select the location where you saved the files to previously, and the system restore process will begin.
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Wait until it finishes.
-Clair Charles
Restore Dell Inspiron Mini without CD
Dell has this feature that allows you to load an image of your system the way it was back when you first turned it on. You should be able to access that by pressing F8 after turning the computer on and choosing Repair Your Computer. Choose the language and keyboard settings and you may also be required to enter your credentials. Afterwards you will have the option that says Dell Factory Image Restore. Select that. Be sure to backup your important files since the process will wipe the machine clean. After that it will be the same as when you first pushed that power button.
Restore Dell Inspiron Mini without CD
Thanks Clair Charles. I followed everything you said and successfully restored my system. I'm really glad with your help on the files and settings wizard. now I could sell my laptop without worrying about some of my personal information or files. Thanks again.
Thank you TechyV.
Restore Dell Inspiron Mini without CD
The “System Restore” feature available in Microsoft Windows is different from the kind of restore you want to do with your computer. The built-in system restore can only be used to restore the system back to a previous date which is useful when you want to fix a problem. But you can only use it if a restore point is available in a specific date.
If no restore points are available in a particular month, you cannot use System Restore to restore the system. If you want to restore your system back to when you first use it similar to factory reset on a Smartphone, the best way to do it is to reinstall Microsoft Windows but this will require that you have the Windows setup CD or DVD.
There’s actually no need for an optical drive because you can install the operating system from a USB flash drive. But to do this, you still need to use an optical drive to create a bootable USB with your Windows setup CD or DVD. You can create a bootable USB flash drive on another computer with an optical drive.
To create a bootable USB flash drive, you need to download Rufus. You also need to create an ISO file of your Windows setup CD to use with Rufus. The instructions to create a bootable USB flash drive is described in this post: I am not able to setup windows in my laptop but why.
You don’t need to download the “NTDETECT.COM” file because it is only needed in Windows XP.
