All my partitions got wiped out and it seems as if I have no existing installation of Windows 8 on my laptop anymore.
How can I reinstall my Windows. Finally, where is the product key for the Windows 8 written?
I wiped my pb eastnote TE. I was restoring it to factory settings, i thought id just have put in my usb and it would reinstall everything for me, but it hasnt.. what to do, error mes im getting it ;there was a problem while resetting your pc, all I am getting is a blue screen, but the options they are giving me are not working...
View 7 Replies View RelatedI'm thinking of buying a new Dell desktop but not interested in Windows 8. With my current Dell desktop I have the Windows 7 OEM disk for reinstallation. Could I use that disk to install Windows 7 on a new Dell PC (or maybe even just a partition of it) or will it refuse to install because it's a different machine?
View 3 Replies View RelatedMy Dell XPS One 2710 was delivered with Windows 8 with wrong language. Dell therefore sent me a Windows 8 MUI Recovery Media-DVD, and told me to follow the instructions on this link: [URL] .....
At the first installation attempt I got to a point where a pop up asked for drivers. I didn't know which drivers, and I thought everything was included on the DVD (but even the DVD-ROM wasn't recognized, only "Boot (X:)"). I read a tip in the Dell forum to change the boot setup to legacy. So I did and I got a few steps further to the point where you shall choose the partition(s) under the custom menu. But no partitions were found. Perhaps the reason was the 32 GB mSATA with Intel rapid storage technology.
So I did exactly the following:
1. I downloaded the newest version of the IRST-driver and extracted the files to a USB device.
2. I booted from the recovery DVD (UEFI, safety mode: ON).
3. When it asked for the driver I installed the IRST-driver from the USB device (AHCI, 64 bit, located in the driver-folder - the only words I recognized from the forums... 0:).
4. A total of six partitions were shown: Partition 1 ("ESP", System), partition 2 ("DIAGS", OEM (reserved)), partition 3 (MSR (reserved)), partition 4 ("WINRETOOLS", recovery), partition 5 ("OS", primary), and partition 6 ("PBR Image", recovery).
5. I followed the instructions in the link (above) and deleted all of the partitions.
6. I installed Windows 8 on the new partition, without further complications.
7. I ran Windows Update.
8. I installed the Dell drivers for this service tag, in the order specified by Dell, starting with chipset, card reader, IRST, audio, video, network and everything else, and with a reboot between every single driver installation. The system, including the IRST, seems to work fine so far (no exclamation marks in the Device Manager).
9. I replaced some of the software, including Dell Backup and Recovery.
I started Dell Backup and Recovery and the program initially told me that it couldn't find a recovery partition, and therefore couldn't backup the system. Other programs in the Control Panel, like File History and Storage Spaces, can't find available drives.
The Disk Management tells me the following about my 1 TB HDD:
EFI System Partition 100 MB - Recovery Partition 898 MB - Primary partition (NTFS, boot, page file, crash dump) 930.11 MB - Recovery OEM partiton 300 MB - Recovery OEM partiton NTFS 300 MB
So finally to my questions: Should I have kept one or more of the recovery partitions during the Windows 8 installation? Could this affect Windows' System Restore (I guess not since Windows creates its own recovery partitions)?
And finally: Is Dell Backup and Recovery any useful? I already have the recovery DVD in case I need a factory reset. For backup purposes I will use a cloud service, and maybe a NAS in the future. Do I even need a recovery partition?
I bought a new XPS 13" Ultrabook this year and all worked fine. However, all of a sudden the laptop does not boot anymore. I am wondering if there is a way to reinstall windows 8 or to recover everything? I made I diagnostic check (F12 when booting) but no errors are found. However, my problem is that the laptop has a) no CD player and b) I also have not received another device like a USB stick with the software with the laptop. How can I reinstall the system?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI'm trying to reinstall win8 Pro w/ Media Center on an older Dell C2D system for a friend. She has no discs as she got it from her brother for x-mas a little while back and she's unable to get them as he lives out of state.
I used a program to extract the keys, but it seems that the media center add-on has overridden the pro key and it wont let me install windows. I noticed it gave me an internet explorer key that was different from the win8 key, but it rejected that too.
Is there a way to extract the original win8 pro key? I couldn't seem to find anything with google.
I purchased a dell inspiron 5521 a few months back but i didn't get any windows 8 CD with it. I have to reinstall my windows, but when i try to do it with my friend's original windows CD, error says product key entered is different. I don't even know the product key for my windows 8.
View 4 Replies View RelatedI bought yesterday an OptiPlex 7010 with windows 8. Product key is in the bios as I have read on the internet. Due to a crash of the os I had to reinstall windows 8 using the operating system cd included in the package. I have booted from dvd. After a clean reinstallation the os is not activated and I can not do anything about it because no product key is available. What should I do?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI am having trouble reinstalling windows 8 on my Dell XPS 8500. Since installing a new SSD and having reset the BIOS using a jumper, my copy of Windows 8 will no longer detect my product key that i assume is embedded in the BIOS.
View 11 Replies View RelatedWhat is the procedure for walking in a unit to Dell Canada for repair? How do I protect my confidential data? Will Dell repair my two month old machine if i walk in without their OEM hard drive?? I hope to they do. What if it were stolen? I don't care about the cost and don't want anything for free, I just want to get my system working so I can rebuild it. I am only on an iPad.
View 15 Replies View RelatedI recently purchased a dell inspiron 14 5000 with a windows 8.1 preinstalled; I would like to reinstall the operating system and partition the hard, but I didn't get a copy of Windows (and a disc would not be actually useful since the laptop doesn't have a CD unit) which is the easiest way to reconfigure my laptop?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI just bought a new Dell Inspiron 15 7537 laptop and have noticed that the hard drive has 6 partitions on it. 2 OEM partitions (one 40mb and one 8gb), 2 recovery partitions (one 490mb and one 7.8gb), 1 EFI system partition and 1 primary partition. I am unsure which one is useful and which one I can safely delete. Also, all of them except for the primary partition are 100% free (nothing on them at all!) . Also, I am unable to right click on any of the partitions besides the main one (C.
View 9 Replies View RelatedMy computer came with Windows 8 (non-pro) preinstalled and I would like to do a clean reinstall of 8.1 on a new hard disk.
Since there is no OEM key anymore, what should I do to activate once the OS is installed?
So i have a 12 duo, and it has been acting slow lately and i figured it is time to bring it back to its younger days. I tried doing the reset within windows 8, but it asked for installation/recovery media, which i don't have. And i know what you're thinking, just use the recovery partition. No can do... it is gone. I do not remember getting rid of it but anyways, its not an option. I tried creating a recovery usb via this link but my key did not work for retail versions. What can I do?
View 4 Replies View RelatedI got a (at the time new) MSi laptop several months back with just a regular Windows 8 Core x64 on it and a UEFI boot system (or whatever is the name for "BIOSs"). At some point I had problems with the settings - I couldn't open any of my computer's settings - and I researched long and hard to no avail.
So I installed Windows 7 32-bit (the only disk I had). Now, I'm trying to upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro. I noticed that after the installation of 8.1 Pro my system was still running in 32-bit, so I made a bootable USB stick with the retail version of Windows 8 Core with no key just to get the system back to x64. It worked just fine. I cannot, however, boot in UEFI mode. I believe the partition got wiped somewhere in the Windows 7 installation.
Whenever I enter UEFI by pressing the DEL button (I cannot see the UEFI firmware settings tile under the Troubleshoot option) I see the boot mode is LEGACY and when I change it to UEFI, save and reset, it doesn't boot, giving me a "No media found" error. I don't care about my settings/files as long as I get UEFI back with Windows 8.1 Pro running. My next attempt would be to try and install 8.1 Pro from USB stick, wipe all the partitions and hope the installer will create new ones. The reason this would work when it didn't before is because I had the OS running in x86 not x64 (which UEFI doesn't support). So maybe now that the system is back to x64 the Windows installation will restore the UEFI back to its original state.
I have managed to wipe my Windows partition while installing the latest release of Ubuntu (v14.04). I've had my HDD split in two with both Windows 8 (updated to 8.1 Update) and Ubuntu and dual-booted between them for over a year.
During the Ubunut install it informed me that I had a previous version of Ubuntu and would I like to wipe the partition that it occupied and install cleanly. I chose that. It also offered a chance to use free space. Now, why I accepted that I don't know but the definition of free space seems to include any other partitions on the drive and didn't warn of this either!
The upshot is that I now have a 1TB drive with no Windows on it. I've lost all my email, pics etc etc.
I tried using my rescue DVD that I created from within Windows and at 29% I am asked to insert the second disc. I don't have a second disk. I had to force my laptop to power down in order to do anything. In order to get online I ended up installing Ubuntu again and it definitely shows no Windows partition.
I've already ordered a retail copy of Windows 8.1 and I'm hoping that I can install this with no issues on what is effectively a clean drive. Am I correct in that assumption? Is there anything else I can try that might rescue it?
I have a Dell Inspiron 17r SE that is out of warranty so no support from Dell.
My troubles began just after an amicable game of Starcraft with my siblings (Starcraft 1 running through chaoslauncher in window-mode and LogMeIn Hamachi, on Windows 7 at the time). Apparently I closed out of the application too hastily, since my system seized and displayed a lovely and very informative BSOD (STOP: 0x00000116; nvlddmkm.sys).
This BSOD would return every time I would boot Windows 7, sometime during the loading screen. However, I could access safe mode just fine. I did some research and decided to reinstall the graphics driver through safe mode, but it didn't seem to work. Since this PC is primarily for games and all my important documents/media were synced with my laptop, I decided to wipe the HDD (using DBAN) and take this opportunity to upgrade the OS.
I got an .iso of Windows 8.1 from my university and created a bootable DVD using the Windows USB/DVD boot tool. Now when I attempt to boot it in my PC, the blue Windows 8 icon appears for about a minute and then the system restarts. I've put the boot disk into another computer and it won't even display the Windows 8 logo. It simply skips the disk boot even though I select 'boot from disk.' I've tried all of this with about 5 different DVDs using ImgBurn as well as the Windows USB/DVD boot tool.
Strangely, my Windows 7 boot disk loads just fine on the wiped PC, to the point where I can select the language, etc. and control the cursor.
Is it possible that the Windows 8 boot disk loads a display driver that is incompatible with my GPU? Or is it more likely that the disk burner I'm using is garbage? Could any tools on something like the Ultimate Boot CD provide any useful information?
COMPUTER INFO
PSU: 600 Watt (OCZ600MXSP)
Mobo: MSNV-939
CPU: AMD dual-core, not sure of exact model, couldn't find an invoice for it and my HDD is wiped
GPU: Palit 9600GT sonic 1GB DDR3
RAM: 4 sticks of Kingston ValueRAM 1 GB 400MHz PC3200 DDR DIMM (KVR400X64C3A) - might have 2 sets of 2 different 1GB models, but 2 of the sticks have heat-sink covers that I couldn't remove
HDD: Maxtor 6G160P0 160GB ATA133 7200rpm 8MB Hard Drive
So I was getting bsods before and had my HDD wiped. when attempting to install windows 8 I get a bsod. Not sure which as it is too quick to read. I have flashed the bios to the most recent version. But it still bsods. I tried using a known, good working HDD with windows installed and it still caused a bsod.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI've decided to go ahead and reinstall w8pro given my extensive messing around with it has finally caused some quirky, unexpected results - it's a relatively new installation, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle, didn't get a chance to install a lot of third party programs and such. The thing is, I did purchase and install the Windows 8 media center pack - how do i go about getting this back? do i have to contact ms? I'm fairly certain that i don't have an activation number for the pack, if i recall i just paid for it online and then was allowed to download it and install it.
Also, i thought i would go ahead and do a clean install all over again as opposed to a reset or refresh given i want to make certain that i'm starting from scratch again... or do you think a reset or refresh might be the better option (i'm not concerned about keeping any personal settings or files intact).
So recently my windows 7's some system files got corrupt . won't start after windows logo (when the arrow shows up=>always bsod, even in safemode). so I decided to format C and install fresh windows 8.
Then I had four partitions C:windows(7) D:Softwares E:Games F:Mix Stuff.
My plan was to format C (of course for windows 8) and D (as C had only 20Gb space so I thought I would also format D 46Gb and give C 45Gb and D 20-21Gb as it was useless to me and contained only a bunch of crappy softwares ). Well, it FAILED here's how. after formatting C and D I deleted them thinking that boths unallocated space will merge. but it DID'NT.
After deleting I tried creating new partition on D but it FAILED "we cannot create create new partition" . Then I did same thing with C and it WORKED. I had to give it again 20Gb (maximum) - NO CHOICE. Then I installed Windows 8 on C. (thinking I will later format D on desktop)
Now here's the scenario : I DO NOT WANT TO FORMAT E: AND F: AS IT CONTAINS MY PRECIOUS DATA. After the startup config, 'Startup' came up I went to Desktop then Computer and then what????
WHERE THE HELL ARE OTHER PARTITIONS????????
Only C: I found there 7.67Gb free of 19.5GB.
Where are others gone .
I went to disk management and saw only (C:) other 138Gb (something) was unallocated space. Then I booted my pc from windows installation usb and on the drive screen I saw C 19.5-20Gb and Unallocated space 138Gb.
recently my windows 7's some system files got corrupt . won't start after windows logo (when the arrow shows up=>always bsod, even in safemode). so I decided to format C and install fresh windows 8.
.
Then I had four partitions
C:windows(7)
D:Softwares
E:Games
F:Mix Stuff.
My plan was to format C (of course for windows 8) and D (as C had only 20Gb space so I thought I would also format D 46Gb and give C 45Gb and D 20-21Gb as it was useless to me and contained only a bunch of crappy softwares ). Well, it FAILED here's how. after formatting C and D I deleted them thinking that boths unallocated space will merge. but it DID'NT. After deleting I tried creating new partition on D but it FAILED "we cannot create create new partition" (search google 'cause others also sometimes have this ****** error many times). Then I did same thing with C and it WORKED. I had to give it again 20Gb (maximum) - NO CHOICE. Then I installed Windows 8 on C. (thinking I will later format D on desktop)
.
Now here's the scenario : I DO NOT WANT TO FORMAT E: AND F: AS IT CONTAINS MY PRECIOUS DATA.
After the startup config, 'Startup' came up I went to Desktop then Computer and then wow what?
Only C: I found there 7.67Gb free of 19.5GB. Where are others gone .
UPDATE :. I went to disk management and saw only (C:) other 138Gb (something) was unallocated space .Then just for checking I booted my pc from windows installation usb and on the drive screen I saw C 19.5-20Gb and same Unallocated space 138Gb.
how to combine two partitions in windows 8..
First Of all You Need To Open Control Panel Then Go to System Security-Administrative Tools Then Computer Management
In Second Step You need To Open Storage And Then Disk Management
In Third Step . Now you need a partition which will be added to the targeted one (E: drive will be added to D:). The drive which will be added to another, should be back-up before this major change on disk partitions.
So be Sure that You Done Backup Files Then Delete the Partition Then After Getting a Free Space Partition,Move To partition (D Drive) Which Will Be Extended and right-click on it. Select the Extend Volume and go Next.
Select Next From the Bottom Side And Then It will take a Few Minutes To Merge Two partition Into Single Drive.
Suddenly Win 8.1 (on partition F) can't read anymore my other partions on the same drive, also it coudn't read my external USB drive.
When clicking on the partitions c: or d: it says 'cannot access local device' and 'device not ready'.
I have a dual boot system with Windows 7 and 8.1. I can boot into Windows 7 and read all partitions. I also checked the MBR which looks fine. I also have controlled in Computer Management that all drives have a letter assigned.
However Windows 8.1 can read my USB drives and the installation DVD of Windows 8.
Clicking on properties of e.g. drive c: there is of course no security tab, so it shouldn't be a question of permissions. Also no error codes in event log.
Booting in safe mode does still does not solve the problem. Of course Windows 8.1 can read perfectly its partition where it has been installed.
I know, a repair or refresh might be the solution, but if possible I want to avoid it.
Checked also with my different antivirus and spyware programs. All comes clean.
I run 3 HDS. 1 SSD, and 2 normal drives.
I just clean formatted my SSD and installed Windows 8 on it, which I always put on that drive.
However I am seeing a bunch of partitions, 4 recovery partitions. Are these normal? If not, how would I get rid of them?
I have 2 partitions: System Reserved (100mb) and Windows 8 (465gb). Windows 8 is marked as the system partition while system reserved is marked as Active & Boot. Is there any way I can like split windows 8, copy the files onto the new bit of unallocated space and make that partition the system partition instead of the "old" windows 8 partition?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI installed Windows 8.1 on two computers but got different partitioning on the SSDs...I would like to know which is the best/correct one, and should I tweak the one thats not setup properly?
DESKTOP--> 240SSD
Disk Management shows:
C: 214.25GB NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)18.63GB Unallocated
LAPTOP--> 120SSD
Disk Management shows:
300MB Healthy (Recovery Partition)100MB Healthy (EFI System Partition)C: 118.73GB Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
NOTE: I dont know if this is related but for the laptop (the one with the most partitions), I performed a Reset Windows 8.1 to fix a few things.
I am using the guide to install Windows 8 over two partitions and I get the error:
Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. The partition contains one or more dynamic volumes that are not supported for installation. I followed all the steps 100%
Found this Get the paid version of EaseUS Partition Master at discount. Magic Partition Manager Freeware for PC/Server users. Upgrade EaseUS Partition Master Free can I use this to copy partitions?
Worked it all out, the software linked above was able to convert my Dynamic drive to a Basic drive for free!
I was playing an online game when suddenly I've got a runtime error which froze the screen. I had to push the power button and my laptop restarted, slowly than usually but otherwise O.K. However, when I tried to do the maintenance using the Optimize tool this is what I see now:
The "volumes" (for the lack of a better word) Push Button Reset and ?Volume{9789f0... that have never been showing before are showing now and when I try to force a manual optimization the window just blinks but doesn't do anything. I've had the optimization set to "weekly" but after that I and it changed to "daily" for at least 3 days now but this didn't solve the problem. Highlighting and right-clicking doesn't work.
I am currently attempting to dualboot 7 onto my 8 computer. I made my partition got everything ready, and realized... i have way tomany partitions? What do i dackup what do i keep? ...
Currently i have Windows 8 / (blank)win7 / lenovo app / recovery. And 5 other ones!? Are they important? Do i need them? How do i find out?
I have a notebook with windows 8 OEM. In the past I have experimented with dual-booting other OSs, then deleting them and now I have a few extra partitions in my drive. I was wondering if this community could tell me what partitions are safe to merge to my "working" volume (C: or E: ). I have some screenshots of Disk Management and Disk Internals Linux Reader windows. I think there's a better way of showing You the contents of my volumes, but I don't know what program to use.
q8yepU0.png
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I also have a few questions: Is my windows 8 OEM inside my hard drive? For example, if I format my whole hard disk completely, would I lose the OEM?
Can I replace my windows 8 OEM with windows 8.1 OEM or even with custom windows 8.1 OEM (for example: fully updated one, if it's possible)?
I have an pre-installed Windows 8 in my notebook. When I first got the PC, I got only C:/ partition so I needed D:/ and for doing this I used EaseUS Partition Manager. This is just a guess but I guess Windows can't find those recover partitions that are in my HDD. I haven't deleted those partitions just created D:/ and here is a screenshot I just take to show you the partitions I have.
I have already tried copying the Install.wim from my BIOS_RVY partition which was about 9GB and I moved it to C:/WinRec and used this command as I saw it from internet : reagentc.exe /setosimage /path C:WinRec /target c:Windows /Index 1 But i still get the error:
"Insert media some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery medial will provide these files."
This method didn't worked so any other too. I wonder how can I refresh or some sort of return my notebook to the factory settings from the recovery parts I have.