[Help] Recovery of Windows 8.1

[VailxN]

I have an Alienware X51 R2 that came with Windows 8, that means if I use Alienrespawn to create my rescue USB, every time I reset it to factory state I will need to go through all the updates and re-download Windows 8.1

 

I am so done with this and disappointed that Dell doesn't even provide a free all around, user friendly backup software. In case my system crashes again, can anyone suggest me how I can create a bootable drive that restores my OS to my CURRENT state, or at least windows 8.1 not 8? I've bought a 16GB USB just for this purpose, plus a 1TB external hard drive.

 

Thx

[obsidian1200]

If you download the media creation tool from Microsoft, found here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media, it will download a clean iso of Windows 8.1. In my experience, this works fine for computers shipped with Windows 8.

 

If you want, you can use a tool like NTLite to load in the drivers currently installed in your OS into the media before you create your bootable USB drive. You can also use NTLite to further customize your installation media past drivers, too.

 

It's a bit clunky, but it should work. I've actually found that a lot of the drivers built into 8.1 tend to work nicely with dells out of the box, save for odd things like card readers, so if you don't want to go through and make your own custom 8.1 image, the clean version shouldn't be too bad to work with.

[VailxN]

If you download the media creation tool from Microsoft, found here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media, it will download a clean iso of Windows 8.1. In my experience, this works fine for computers shipped with Windows 8.

 

If you want, you can use a tool like NTLite to load in the drivers currently installed in your OS into the media before you create your bootable USB drive. You can also use NTLite to further customize your installation media past drivers, too.

 

It's a bit clunky, but it should work. I've actually found that a lot of the drivers built into 8.1 tend to work nicely with dells out of the box, save for odd things like card readers, so if you don't want to go through and make your own custom 8.1 image, the clean version shouldn't be too bad to work with.

 

Appreciate your suggestion!

 

To make things clear, after creating this refresh media, it works just like the USB I created with Alienrespawn, but instead it reinstalls Win8.1, correct?

 

I am also a bit confused, since Alienrespawn used ~9GB but this method uses 4GB only. Why is that?

[obsidian1200]

Appreciate your suggestion!

 

To make things clear, after creating this refresh media, it works just like the USB I created with Alienrespawn, but instead it reinstalls Win8.1, correct?

 

I am also a bit confused, since Alienrespawn used ~9GB but this method uses 4GB only. Why is that?

 

Not exactly. With Alienrespawn, you get all of the original software that came preinstalled with your system. This method gives you a clean installation of Windows 8.1, as if you had built your own PC and were installing Windows for the first time. So this method won't automatically have all the alienware utilities or drivers, but the built-in drivers for 8.1 should be enough until you install the drivers from the manufacturers/alienware.

 

The other thing is that Alienrespawn will create a recovery partition on your drive whereas this won't initially. It'll provide a repair environment for applying system restore points and such, but you'd always need the USB if you needed to reload your operation system. However, I found with the last alienware I worked on, if you go through and install your drivers, the Windows updates, and any utility software from Alienware you may want, installing respawn last will create a recovery partition based on the current OS state.

 

So basically, the reason the clean install ISO is smaller than the respawn is because of missing drivers/utilities and the recovery partition respawn would automatically create in the installation process.

[VailxN]

Not exactly. With Alienrespawn, you get all of the original software that came preinstalled with your system. This method gives you a clean installation of Windows 8.1, as if you had built your own PC and were installing Windows for the first time. So this method won't automatically have all the alienware utilities or drivers, but the built-in drivers for 8.1 should be enough until you install the drivers from the manufacturers/alienware.

 

The other thing is that Alienrespawn will create a recovery partition on your drive whereas this won't initially. It'll provide a repair environment for applying system restore points and such, but you'd always need the USB if you needed to reload your operation system. However, I found with the last alienware I worked on, if you go through and install your drivers, the Windows updates, and any utility software from Alienware you may want, installing respawn last will create a recovery partition based on the current OS state.

 

So basically, the reason the clean install ISO is smaller than the respawn is because of missing drivers/utilities and the recovery partition respawn would automatically create in the installation process.

 

I see, so this methods gives me a completely clean install of Win8.1 without recovery partition and I can do it with a new/formatted drive, plus the USB alone(with my OEM windows code) is enough to run the installation, correct?

[obsidian1200]

I see, so this methods gives me a completely clean install of Win8.1 without recovery partition and I can do it with a new/formatted drive, plus the USB alone(with my OEM windows code) is enough to run the installation, correct?

 

Correct. Unless there's something out of the ordinary with your config, that's exactly right. I always recommend trying to get the key from the firmware before doing a reinstall just in case it makes you manually punch it in. There are tools online you can find to help with this.

[Master Disaster]

Start > Control Panel > File History > Create System Image.

To restore boot from your Windows disc, go Repair My Computer > Advanced > Restore From System Image.

Eh voilla

[VailxN]

Correct. Unless there's something out of the ordinary with your config, that's exactly right. I always recommend trying to get the key from the firmware before doing a reinstall just in case it makes you manually punch it in. There are tools online you can find to help with this.

 

What about reinstalling in a drive that already have windows in it, does it matter?

[VailxN]

Start > Control Panel > File History > Create System Image.

To restore boot from your Windows disc, go Repair My Computer > Advanced > Restore From System Image.

Eh voilla

 

Unfortunately, Dell didn't include a Windows disc for me, I guess that's because they included the recovery partition in the hard drive.

 

So if my drive crashes, this method doesn't work, does it?

[obsidian1200]

What about reinstalling in a drive that already have windows in it, does it matter?

Nope, I've used this for both clean drives and just OS reloads on drives that already have the OS installed.

[Master Disaster]

Unfortunately, Dell didn't include a Windows disc for me, I guess that's because they included the recovery partition in the hard drive.

 

So if my drive crashes, this method doesn't work, does it?

Sure, OEM machines include WinRE, your laptop will boot into it automatically in case of a problem or you hold down shift while you click Restart (from in Windows) to manually enter it.