I am not computer savvy, nor do I have the $280 that "Geek Squad" wanted to get rid of the multiple viruses on my Dell. They recommended that I "restore" my computer, but they refused to show me how. I bought a 32GB thumb drive from Walmart for $20, and I googled "How to reset my dell to factory settings" and this video popped up. Lucky for me I have the exact computer that was shown in the video. It took me a few hours, and I did it myself. The Virus is gone so thank you for posting this video!
The problem I have is at 11:33 of the video, the problem being the recovery tools list only goes down to command prompt so I do not have the bottom one you used during this video?
You are totally awesome. One of my friends just happen to be in the hospital. She's sick and her computer was sicker then she was. I promised that I would have her computer well and back to her before she came home. To make a long story short, because of you I was able to keep my word. Thank you sooooo much. God Bless You.
+Melanie, Would you care to explain what was different with your Vista laptop? My wife and I are seniors and have almost no experience with computers. See my post above. Merci beaucoup! Alain
do you guys have a dell computer? This only works with dell computers. If you have a dell and this is not showing up, im sorry I don't know what to tell you. hope this helps. :)
your instruction is so easy and your voice is calming.. i am restoring formating on my own my dell window 8.. but i am taking the needful step on doing the needed backup from you. Thank you very much for sharing the knowledge.
Thank you thank you thank. This video did exactly what I was looking for. Before I even found this I called someone and they wanted $129 to restore it. So glad I found you
I love you man, you taught me how to intsall a graphics card 2 years ago, and now, I have this custom built computer. You really changed my life style man! Thanks! Cheers
"Windows Easy Transfer doesn't transfer viruses" This is very incorrect. Viruses, worms, trojans, etc. don't need to be "installed" on a machine for it to be infected. Any of the files you transfer can be infected with all sorts of malicious code that can easily take foothold on the new machine. This laptop could have been fixed without going through the pain of reinstalling everything. Removing those fake malware removal applications and doing a general system cleanup would have resolved pretty much all of the issues.
+Brian Tumor *gasp* there actually exists another honest and competent computer tech in this world, I though I was all alone out there. Dirtbag techs that go through peoples' files or run unprotected backups can remain happily ignorant from the fact that most computer users; When time to upgrade will send their computers out to recycling, the dump or some second hand shop will never bother wiping their machines. It's still disgusting they get away with it on a daily basis though. I can't tell you how many computers I've acquired over the years from such sources that have had financial records, business records, SSNs and even their childrens medical records on them. And people wonder why identity theft is at an all time high. I do these unknown people favors when I get them and run a department of defense extended wipe on them before reusing them for something else. I also have the fair share of cleaning up after other techs messes stories, but that could write a small novella.
Very well done I learned a lot ! I find your manner of speaking and presentation to be easy to follow and understand so many others may have the skills but if they talk real fast I cannot follow what they say . THANK YOU ! Bob in Michigan in a big snowstorm
Very good teaching video,sure wish you lived next door to me to help me out on my computer problems,but with videos like these,it's made it possible for me to work on my computer since I don't have anyone close by to help me.
Thank you so so much for this video. My laptop was completely fried with adds and popups. My laptop is now working 100% completely fine and brand new. This was very helpful and you explained everything thoroughly. Thanks again!
Thank you for this video. I was just looking online for instructions to restore my Dell from Recovery Discs and found your video. It was exactly what I needed. Again, thank you very much.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU BEAUTIFUL SONOFABITCH!!!!! I have had this Dell Inspiron 1018 Mini for a very long time and finally I have a chance to start over.
This guy's video's are SO HELPFUL!! No matter how good (or not) you are with computers, these videos are a huge help!! I have ALREADY saved so much money fixing my own computer problems myself WITH the help of these informative videos!! Thank You for taking up your own time to help us all out!!
Thank you for your timely video. I have a Dell 530 w/ Win 7 to upgrade with new drivers and a laptop being sent to the manufacturer. I will use your step by step video to remove all files prior to shipping. Regards
dude thanks sooo much. after watching your video on this my comp is running perfect! your so awesome! and i will be using you as my go to guy for any issues!!
Thank you for posting this video it helped me immensely! I have been meaning to fix (restore) my mother's old Dell computer and reset it for my sister to use. You quickly and easily explained the process. Once again Thank you!
Thank you, I don't know anything in advance but this video has giving me good information on how to restore my window 7 computer to factory settings... Thank you once again...
Thankyou very much for the video, its has helped me a great deal, in fixing my brothers laptop. i have subscribed to you and will watch the rest in due course. always nice to know there are people out there with good information and that are willing to help others. once again thankyou
Many thanks for this. It has to be the easiest and clearest guidance I have come across and is exactly what I need to restore my wife's PC which has virtually locked solid! I had no idea this option to restore existed. :-)
The whole point of troubleshooting and repair is to go through each step. The process is tedious and boring but each step is important. I did skim through it and thought it was a very useful and helpful how to. Nice work overall.
You are AWESOME to provide broadcast this video as a public service. My system was infected with spyware, Trojans, viruses, etc. you gave me the confidence to restore my computer back to the original factory settings. I struggled fir two weeks trying various types of "anti this and that what a JOKE! You saved me money and gave me peace of mind. You are my tech hero. God Bless You!!
Thank you for your tutorial I have done many factory resets for friends & family & i never new about windows easy transfer, I did every thing manually but not any more thanks to you.
Ooooooh Myyy Goshhh.... I'm about to throw my laptop in the garbage yo!... thank you so much for taking the time to make this video GURUBREW!!! my laptop runs like new.. I saved 30kajillion dollars. This works ladies and gents...well for my laptop, which is a dell.
Thank you very much, I had been trying to do this for a while now, and it wasn't until I stumbled across this video that I was able to perform, thanks.
Yes, that is basically all reseating means. If you have any cables connected to the drive , also remove them and then reassemble. If you are still getting the message about reseating the hard drive after doing this then I would say your hard drive is defective because BIOS cannot see it. And that means you will have to get another hard drive and an operating system on disk that matches your computer.
Thank You, you were lots of help. I purchased a used Dell laptop and need help. I couldn't do anything with the System Administrator Password still in effect. I'm still trying, but this video has helped me alot. Thank You.
Thanks for the great video! I'm working on rebuilding my Precision M4600, and I hope this will work for me. As long as I didn't delete something I shouldn't have, it should work great. I didn't know that windows easy transfer would also install programs! That's huge! That's the biggest pain for me after rebuilding...getting all my software I need back on the machine.
Thanks man. Great job. I was looking for 10hrs before finding this and had it sorted in 15mins. I downloaded google chrome just when i had removed my antivirus and got bobrowser which hijacked all my browsers. It added about 10 or more nasty programs. You are the best!!!
You can obtain system and driver disk directly from dell. I am assuming you have a windows 7 OS so that will be one that they still offer. Check the Dell support site for Operating system replacement disk. Should be less than 20 dollars shipped with a valid machine serial number
If your computer is not able to boot to Windows, you'll need access to another PC to complete these steps. It's easier than you think- & once you try this, you'll be able to always access data on any PC. Depending on the computer make/model you need to figure out which keyboard key/combo will let you into the BIOS (usually, it flashes up on the PC just as it starts up, lower-left hand side of screen). In BIOS, change the boot order to CD/DVD as 1st device. Save the changes. Download & burn the free Knoppix CD. Place CD into PC & also plug in an external drive to hold your data you wish to back up. Restart & follow prompts to boot this live Linux CD. Once it gets to it's own desktop, click on the file manager (like opening Computer in Windows) icon near the start button. You can launch two of these windows (& resize to fit, side-by-side): I browse the files I want to copy on the left window & the external drive on the right (I like to work left to right). From there, it's a simple copy/paste. You're done. Now you can work on restoring your computer without worrying about losing data. Cheers!
Such a great video! I ended up erasing everything on my laptop but that is what I was going for. All of my files and pictures were from I was young and I didn't need them. Thanks anyways!
have you checked to see if there is a partitioned drive on your HDD? Dell usually has it set up that way. If you check the "my computer" icon and should see your C drive and another drive right next to it. If you have that you probably have everything you need to hit F8 at start up. Then choose diagnostics option.
Thanks a lot for the video my computer was so slow and had a virus so bad I couldn't get the windows easy transfer to work so I switched only some pictures over to a USB drive so far it's running much faster
Try going into bios (Dell I think is F2) after reseating and see if the hard drive is listed in there under attached devices. It's is possible the drive interface might be turned off in BIOS setting but doubtful.
Very helpful. Esp. just now when I watched you through the steps on TV UA-cam. I could kick myself for not thinking of that before; so, much easier for this old girl. Thx, so much. Singing ur praises massively.
This was a fantastic video to repair a common problem. I'd like to commend you on achieving a clear narrative of this situation. This is an option I've decided I'm going to try and use, because I don't have the system disks. I'm wiping off a kid's pc, who'd ask me to speed up, & clear his crap applications and popups. You should get paid for this, if not already. Or try and obtain funding from the main PC vendor companies who can't guide their clients as lucid as yourself to solve their issues.
Thank You, Thank You & Thank You!!!! It worked like a charm :-) I thought I wasn't gonna be able to use my laptop again, because I had a BSOD. God Bless You!!!
Thanks , I was able to restore my computer to factory setting ... This is a Helpful video
I am not computer savvy, nor do I have the $280 that "Geek Squad" wanted to get rid of the multiple viruses on my Dell. They recommended that I "restore" my computer, but they refused to show me how. I bought a 32GB thumb drive from Walmart for $20, and I googled "How to reset my dell to factory settings" and this video popped up. Lucky for me I have the exact computer that was shown in the video. It took me a few hours, and I did it myself. The Virus is gone so thank you for posting this video!
The problem I have is at 11:33 of the video, the problem being the recovery tools list only goes down to command prompt so I do not have the bottom one you used during this video?
did you ever figure out what to do i have same problem
You are totally awesome. One of my friends just happen to be in the hospital. She's sick and her computer was sicker then she was. I promised that I would have her computer well and back to her before she came home. To make a long story short, because of you I was able to keep my word. Thank you sooooo much. God Bless You.
GuruBrew, thank you! I have a Dell Vista and the prompts were slightly different but close enough to get it done!
+Melanie,
Would you care to explain what was different with your Vista laptop? My wife and I are seniors and have almost no experience with computers. See my post above.
Merci beaucoup!
Alain
Steve, I just restored an old laptop to the factory settings using your sage advice.....worked like a champ....thanks for sharing.
This was very helpfull and even I could do this, and im only 12 so thanks for a good and easy tutorial
Same here broth
Same here too
Chicken broth?
He is 18 now ;)
im so happy that i was able to stumble upon your video , i called dell support and they were going to charge me $279 thank you sooo soooo much =)
Hi: i don't have the "dell data safe restore & emergency back up" please advise!!!
I don't have it either!
do you guys have a dell computer?
This only works with dell computers. If you have a dell and this is not showing up, im sorry I don't know what to tell you. hope this helps. :)
your instruction is so easy and your voice is calming.. i am restoring formating on my own my dell window 8.. but i am taking the needful step on doing the needed backup from you. Thank you very much for sharing the knowledge.
Thank you, I learned more than expected.
Thank you thank you thank. This video did exactly what I was looking for. Before I even found this I called someone and they wanted $129 to restore it. So glad I found you
I dont have the last option (Dell data safe restore and emergency backup) what shall i do?
Same plzzz help us
Go to Best Buy and make one
I love you man, you taught me how to intsall a graphics card 2 years ago, and now, I have this custom built computer. You really changed my life style man! Thanks! Cheers
"Windows Easy Transfer doesn't transfer viruses"
This is very incorrect. Viruses, worms, trojans, etc. don't need to be "installed" on a machine for it to be infected. Any of the files you transfer can be infected with all sorts of malicious code that can easily take foothold on the new machine.
This laptop could have been fixed without going through the pain of reinstalling everything. Removing those fake malware removal applications and doing a general system cleanup would have resolved pretty much all of the issues.
+Brian Tumor *gasp* there actually exists another honest and competent computer tech in this world, I though I was all alone out there.
Dirtbag techs that go through peoples' files or run unprotected backups can remain happily ignorant from the fact that most computer users; When time to upgrade will send their computers out to recycling, the dump or some second hand shop will never bother wiping their machines. It's still disgusting they get away with it on a daily basis though.
I can't tell you how many computers I've acquired over the years from such sources that have had financial records, business records, SSNs and even their childrens medical records on them. And people wonder why identity theft is at an all time high. I do these unknown people favors when I get them and run a department of defense extended wipe on them before reusing them for something else.
I also have the fair share of cleaning up after other techs messes stories, but that could write a small novella.
Very well done I learned a lot ! I find your manner of speaking and presentation to be easy to follow and understand so many others may have the skills but if they talk real fast I cannot follow what they say . THANK YOU ! Bob in Michigan in a big snowstorm
I HAVE WACHED THIS VID..A FEW TIMES IN THE PAST. AND JUST FORGOT TO SAY THANKS ..SO IM SAYING IT NOW...
Wow! Me too, I seen this video awhile back remembering how helpful it was but forgot to say thank you....very cool.
Thank you so much!!!! this video allowed me to restore my super old Dell for at least the next few months till I wait for laptop prices to drop
good work.
great way to go.
I just rewatched the video, I have a Dell Pc and I am in the process of doing what your video has shown. THANK YOU I will see how this goes!
Omg,Im Totally laughing right now Haha xD
Why? this is an easy tut
an Otaku Or Votaku would get the joke.
Puchii Tsukayin keep your immature jokes to yourself!
It's not a 'Immature Joke' and you might aswell leave this comment i'm not even a troll ._. you're not a Vocaloid Fan,so you don't get it.
Nobody is a fan of that shit
Very good teaching video,sure wish you lived next door to me to help me out on my computer problems,but with videos like these,it's made it possible for me to work on my computer since I don't have anyone close by to help me.
What if you can't find the last option
Aroe Xo yeah
Aroe Xo same
Skip to 8:42 if you don't care about backing up data. Thanks man it worked perfectly.
Help! I have the Restore Option but when I select that, it just reboots the computer. It doesn't allow me to restore.. What am I doing wrong?
me 2 T-T
I'm having the same problem you are 😢
I am having the same problem? Now what do we do?
It's been two years and the guy doesn't bother with a reply nor does anyone else. 2012 BS if you ask me.
Helped me see what I needed to do BEFORE jumping in. Thanks!!
Well spoken, non-intimidating!!!!! 10 thumbs up!!!! lol
Thank you so so much for this video. My laptop was completely fried with adds and popups. My laptop is now working 100% completely fine and brand new. This was very helpful and you explained everything thoroughly. Thanks again!
What a life saver this is! Was ready to buy another computer after mine was hacked but this was so easy to follow. Thanks!
You are a tech life saver. I restored my computer so I could give it to my little sister 😍😍😍 thanks so much you are so very helpful
Thank you for this video. I was just looking online for instructions to restore my Dell from Recovery Discs and found your video. It was exactly what I needed. Again, thank you very much.
Thanks for the help ! I've tried lots of places asking how I can do this but nobody gave me a straight answer ,keep going man ! :D
Dude thanks so much I've been trying to restore this for hours and your vid is the only one I found with helpful info
THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU BEAUTIFUL SONOFABITCH!!!!! I have had this Dell Inspiron 1018 Mini for a very long time and finally I have a chance to start over.
This guy's video's are SO HELPFUL!! No matter how good (or not) you are with computers, these videos are a huge help!! I have ALREADY saved so much money fixing my own computer problems myself WITH the help of these informative videos!! Thank You for taking up your own time to help us all out!!
Thank you for your timely video. I have a Dell 530 w/ Win 7 to upgrade with new drivers and a laptop being sent to the manufacturer. I will use your step by step video to remove all files prior to shipping. Regards
dude thanks sooo much. after watching your video on this my comp is running perfect!
your so awesome! and i will be using you as my go to guy for any issues!!
Thank you for posting this video it helped me immensely! I have been meaning to fix (restore) my mother's old Dell computer and reset it for my sister to use. You quickly and easily explained the process. Once again Thank you!
Thank you, I don't know anything in advance but this video has giving me good information on how to restore my window 7 computer to factory settings... Thank you once again...
This video helped me fix my PC... But even better is the GlamourShots on the wall! Golden.
Thank you! I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon on my laptop and the 2 desktops in the house! You have saved my household some money! Smooches!
Thankyou very much for the video, its has helped me a great deal, in fixing my brothers laptop. i have subscribed to you and will watch the rest in due course. always nice to know there are people out there with good information and that are willing to help others. once again thankyou
You're a great man to guide others to their truth of learning meaning-full skills.
Thanks!
Many thanks for this. It has to be the easiest and clearest guidance I have come across and is exactly what I need to restore my wife's PC which has virtually locked solid! I had no idea this option to restore existed. :-)
The whole point of troubleshooting and repair is to go through each step. The process is tedious and boring but each step is important. I did skim through it and thought it was a very useful and helpful how to. Nice work overall.
You are AWESOME to provide broadcast this video as a public service. My system was infected with spyware, Trojans, viruses, etc. you gave me the confidence to restore my computer back to the original factory settings. I struggled fir two weeks trying various types of "anti this and that what a JOKE! You saved me money and gave me peace of mind. You are my tech hero. God Bless You!!
Thank you! My computer is running top notch from following this video.
Thank you for your tutorial I have done many factory resets for friends & family & i never new about windows easy transfer, I did every thing manually but not any more thanks to you.
Thanks a lot...I fixed my longtime PC issue because of you..Have a wonderful day :)
Ooooooh Myyy Goshhh.... I'm about to throw my laptop in the garbage yo!... thank you so much for taking the time to make this video GURUBREW!!! my laptop runs like new.. I saved 30kajillion dollars. This works ladies and gents...well for my laptop, which is a dell.
Very professional and helpful video! You saved me money, time and my computer. Thank you!
Thanks, I was able to restore my Dell Inspiron running windows Vista! It had the exact problem the computer in the video did
guruBrew i followed your directions...& computer came out PERFECT...THANKS
Thank you very much, I had been trying to do this for a while now, and it wasn't until I stumbled across this video that I was able to perform, thanks.
I had never heard about tapping F8 to open system repair that's new for me but I am very tech savvy and found this to be a very interesting video
Mate I must say that was a massive help and it was so easy to do...thanks heaps from Australia cheers
Yes, that is basically all reseating means. If you have any cables connected to the drive , also remove them and then reassemble.
If you are still getting the message about reseating the hard drive after doing this then I would say your hard drive is defective because BIOS cannot see it. And that means you will have to get another hard drive and an operating system on disk that matches your computer.
Thank You, you were lots of help. I purchased a used Dell laptop and need help. I couldn't do anything with the System Administrator Password still in effect. I'm still trying, but this video has helped me alot. Thank You.
Very easy to follow instructions. Currently half way thru the process. will keep you posted
You did the right thing by getting that disk. It will make quick work and fix the problem.
Nice job, not to fast, not to slow. I'll save it to my favorites !
I love watching you troubleshoot computers. I find it strangely amusing xD. Also a very detailed tutorial. Nice one!
UA-cam is the best for all friends we watch every video which we need to watch. Thanks UA-cam.
I had an old computer, I used the windows disk method. Thank you, nice video
Sincere thanks, i just reinstalled windows vista following your guide and everything went to plan.Now for the updates...
Thanks for the great video! I'm working on rebuilding my Precision M4600, and I hope this will work for me. As long as I didn't delete something I shouldn't have, it should work great. I didn't know that windows easy transfer would also install programs! That's huge! That's the biggest pain for me after rebuilding...getting all my software I need back on the machine.
Thanks man. Great job. I was looking for 10hrs before finding this and had it sorted in 15mins. I downloaded google chrome just when i had removed my antivirus and got bobrowser which hijacked all my browsers. It added about 10 or more nasty programs. You are the best!!!
thanks guru brew for an excellent tutorial once again... keep up the great work, you videos are the best on yourube for sure!!!
You can obtain system and driver disk directly from dell. I am assuming you have a windows 7 OS so that will be one that they still offer. Check the Dell support site for Operating system replacement disk. Should be less than 20 dollars shipped with a valid machine serial number
Hi guru, u're such a good & useful tech for Dell 14z. U help me to fix my 14z real easy. I give u 10 thumb up. Tks
Awesome! I feel like a computer geek now. I have vista so hopefully everything will run smoothly.
Thank you so much...you just saved me over 300.00 in repair. God Bless You!!!!
An excellent job. Do you have a build for the hard drive and PC power supply?
Thanks for being there for us. New needs for me...For proxy Server How can you keep this from blocking access to the internet?
This is the dude. Accept no substitutes. Thx, Steve.
I'm a tech moron, thx to this one video I stopped pulling out my hair. Really, a public service video if ever there was one.
Very good! Am trying restore, upgrade a 5 year old Dell. Hopefully will be able to use your tip here!👏👏👍👍
If your computer is not able to boot to Windows, you'll need access to another PC to complete these steps. It's easier than you think- & once you try this, you'll be able to always access data on any PC.
Depending on the computer make/model you need to figure out which keyboard key/combo will let you into the BIOS (usually, it flashes up on the PC just as it starts up, lower-left hand side of screen). In BIOS, change the boot order to CD/DVD as 1st device. Save the changes.
Download & burn the free Knoppix CD. Place CD into PC & also plug in an external drive to hold your data you wish to back up. Restart & follow prompts to boot this live Linux CD. Once it gets to it's own desktop, click on the file manager (like opening Computer in Windows) icon near the start button. You can launch two of these windows (& resize to fit, side-by-side): I browse the files I want to copy on the left window & the external drive on the right (I like to work left to right).
From there, it's a simple copy/paste. You're done. Now you can work on restoring your computer without worrying about losing data.
Cheers!
Thank you for the step by step instruction, it solved the laptop issues
One of the best video I have ever seen .
Thank you for sharing...Steve....you're a profesional Guru Brew!
Thank you so much, clear and easy to follow and now I have a new working computer!
Thank you for taking time to help us!
Such a great video! I ended up erasing everything on my laptop but that is what I was going for. All of my files and pictures were from I was young and I didn't need them. Thanks anyways!
have you checked to see if there is a partitioned drive on your HDD? Dell usually has it set up that way. If you check the "my computer" icon and should see your C drive and another drive right next to it. If you have that you probably have everything you need to hit F8 at start up. Then choose diagnostics option.
Thanks a lot for the video my computer was so slow and had a virus so bad I couldn't get the windows easy transfer to work so I switched only some pictures over to a USB drive so far it's running much faster
Thank God! I was able to fix my Dell laptop quickly and easily with this straightforward step by step video. How do I give you money?
Over 2 days but finally done Thanks so much.
Awesome!! Thanks to good people like you who offer genuine help to people like us. You have earned my respect.
Try going into bios (Dell I think is F2) after reseating and see if the hard drive is listed in there under attached devices. It's is possible the drive interface might be turned off in BIOS setting but doubtful.
Thank you the only video to really help me restore my Dell Desktop !
you are THE MAN!!! Thank you so much. I have a Dell XPS, and your tutorial is still very helpful.
Wow, It worked!!! Excellent tutorial. Thanks a million.
Very good video. Too bad so many people's computers get messed up. Glad guys like you are around to fix them.
Very helpful. Esp. just now when I watched you through the steps on TV UA-cam.
I could kick myself for not thinking of that before; so, much easier for this old girl. Thx, so much. Singing ur praises massively.
Very nicely done. It was at my level of computer expertise.
This video is excellent! The instructions were simple and clear. Thank you.
Good stuff buddy. It was real helpful with the understand of something I needed to know. Thank you.
thank you very much,i restored my Dell xp which i only use occasionally in case my Win 7 ever has a problem 100% great tutorial
This was a fantastic video to repair a common problem. I'd like to commend you on achieving a clear narrative of this situation. This is an option I've decided I'm going to try and use, because I don't have the system disks. I'm wiping off a kid's pc, who'd ask me to speed up, & clear his crap applications and popups. You should get paid for this, if not already. Or try and obtain funding from the main PC vendor companies who can't guide their clients as lucid as yourself to solve their issues.
Thank You, Thank You & Thank You!!!! It worked like a charm :-) I thought I wasn't gonna be able to use my laptop again, because I had a BSOD. God Bless You!!!