Dell recovery disk

Simon · Oct 25, 2008, 15:29:43

Has anyone used a Dell recovery disk, and does it save or wipe all of your data?

I've spent the morning up at a friends, trying to rid them of a SpyAxe derivative (spyware that keeps popping up as a dialogue bubble from your system tray, telling you your machine is infected, and to download blah blah to remove it), but have actually made things worse!

I first tried SpyAxe Remover, which did as it said on the tin, at first, but then other things weren't right, such as applications taking ages to launch (even though nothing looked odd in Task Manager), plus the F-Secure icon has disappeared from the system tray, it wouldn't run a scan, and it didn't appear to be updating. At this point, Windows Update demanded to install SP3 (they had kept clicking 'later' when it had asked before), which I allowed to complete, then I re-installed F-Secure, to no avail.

I then decided to use CCleaner to see if that would help. After this, things were still slow, so I thought I'd try SuperAntiSpyware, but it refused to install, even in safe mode, and by this time, after umpteen reboots, the bloody SpyAxe thing had come back again, along with Windows asking to be re-activated, and Networking refusing to start.

By this time, I'm gathering it's pretty well knackered, and was going to use the Dell Recovery CD, but wasn't sure if it would wipe everything or not, hence my original question. I also have a feeling that the Dell CD won't work, as I seem to remember doing a clean install of Windows for them, when the machine was new.

Why do I offer to repair friends' machines? It's lost me a morning of my free weekend, and I'm now wound up after things being worse when I left it, to when I started, making me look a complete pillock!

Rik · Oct 25, 2008, 15:35:12

I suspect that it restores the machine to 'factory state', Simon, so will wipe all data.

Steve · Oct 25, 2008, 15:41:02

It either that or a Dell branded version of the OS. Sounds like you need a clean slate anyway,hopefully you can copy the data first.Good luck.

Glenn · Oct 25, 2008, 15:47:32

If you need a Dell XP CD let me know, we have a few hundred at work doing nothing

Simon · Oct 25, 2008, 15:54:11

I think they still have all the CDs that came with it, Glenn, and I have a copy of XP SP3 which I could use with their licence, but thanks anyway, I'll bear that in mind.

It's just so annoying that they had a working PC before I started, but I suppose, if it was infected with spyware, it wasn't a good idea to have been using it on the network anyway.

Rik · Oct 25, 2008, 15:57:11

Murphy's Law, Simon.

Steve · Oct 25, 2008, 16:12:02

Quote from: Simon on Oct 25, 2008, 15:54:11

It's just so annoying that they had a working PC before I started, but I suppose, if it was infected with spyware, it wasn't a good idea to have been using it on the network anyway.

I think the term "working" is a liitle strong.

Simon · Oct 25, 2008, 16:25:14

Yes, it possible is, Steve. I have a feeling I may have already done a fresh installation of Windows for them, when the machine was new, so unless there's still something hidden away in a dark corner of the drive, with the original Dell files on it, the Dell recovery CD may not work anyway. Thinking about it, even if it did, that would also reinstall all the cr@p that was removed from the machine when it was new, so I'm now looking at the Windows CD Repair installation route, to start with.

Steve · Oct 25, 2008, 16:58:27

According to your first post the spyware was still present, so won't a repair still leave you with problems.?

Rik · Oct 25, 2008, 17:01:13

Well spotted, Wilson.

Simon · Oct 25, 2008, 18:32:48

True, but with Windows functioning, I should have a better chance of removing it, shouldn't I? Or is that being over optimistic?

I have a feeling it was CCleaner that toasted the OS, after the registry clean, but I did take a registry backup I could possibly employ. By that point this morning, though, I'd had enough.

Rik · Oct 25, 2008, 18:33:51

It might just be easier to start from scratch, Simon.

Simon · Oct 25, 2008, 18:38:02

It would. Only problem being, they have a lot of family photos on the hard drive, which The don't want to lose, so I will need to try to save those.

Steve · Oct 25, 2008, 18:49:28

Can you not copy the data from the offending drive?

Sebby · Oct 25, 2008, 18:52:01

Simon, the Dell CD is just an XP CD. You can modify a copy of XP OEM to accept the Dell license key (completely legal). If you borrow a Dell CD from someone, remember that it doesn't ask for a serial during the installation as the key is already set using unattended installation. You can, however, change the license key once back into Windows.

Simon · Oct 25, 2008, 20:26:38

Hang on, so are you saying I can't use the product licence key stuck on the top of the case, with a 'normal' XP CD, Seb?

Steve, yes I'm hoping they can save the data they need.

Steve · Oct 25, 2008, 21:03:46

I think an OEM disk needs an OEM key and a retail disk a retail key,there may be more info here

kinmel · Oct 25, 2008, 21:55:17

QuoteSimon, the Dell CD is just an XP CD. You can modify a copy of XP OEM to accept the Dell license key (completely legal). If you borrow a Dell CD from someone, remember that it doesn't ask for a serial during the installation as the key is already set using unattended installation. You can, however, change the license key once back into Windows.

The Licence Key for any CD is written into unattend.txt on the CD and you can change it to your own key before installing windows.

Simon · Oct 25, 2008, 22:29:02

Quote from: kinmel on Oct 25, 2008, 21:55:17
The Licence Key for any CD is written into unattend.txt on the CD and you can change it to your own key before installing windows.

Thanks Alan, but I think I'm being a bit thick here. How would you change it, given that presumably you can't write to the CD?

I'm pretty sure that I installed a 'clean' version of Windows when they had the machine new, and would have used the 'Dell' licence to do so. Assuming they have managed to save their data, I should be getting the machine on Monday, so I'll dive into it all then.

Glenn · Oct 25, 2008, 23:01:26

The Dell XP install disks I mentioned earlier don't ask for the licence key if installing to a Dell.

kinmel · Oct 25, 2008, 23:03:37

Quote from: Simon on Oct 25, 2008, 22:29:02
How would you change it, given that presumably you can't write to the CD?

The hard way is to bust the ISO and then write a new disc after you have changed the file.

However, for a better way that gives a much faster install too, you should copy all of the Windows XP CD into a second FAT32 partition on the machine's hard drive and then you can edit the file at will.

To install from a hard drive, start the PC in DOS from a floppy or boot CD at the command prompt, change to the /i386 directory and run Winnt.exe which will then start the install in the usual way.

The install will be much faster than from a CD.

If you need a floppy or Boot Cd with SmartDrive to boot into DOS, PM me

Sebby · Oct 26, 2008, 00:43:58

Quote from: Simon on Oct 25, 2008, 20:26:38
Hang on, so are you saying I can't use the product licence key stuck on the top of the case, with a 'normal' XP CD, Seb?

Steve, yes I'm hoping they can save the data they need.

I believe not, Simon. You would definitely not be able to use a retail copy of XP, and I'm pretty sure that even an OEM copy won't accept the Dell license key. There is a file on the XP disc - called setupp.ini - and that determines which keys will be accepted. If you don't have a Dell disc, you can use a normal XP disc, but you need to modify it. I can send you the necessary files off of a Dell disc I have here that you need to replace for it to work.

By the way, this is not illegal in any way. It does not trick the XP installation into accepting the license key in any way (I think it may sound like that a bit). Ultimately, you will be installing the version of XP that you have a license for, but it's just that standard XP discs are not the same as a Dell disc.

Odos · Oct 26, 2008, 00:53:19

If you did do a different install initially then using the Dell restore disk ain't really an option BUT usually with those disks ( or the built in recovery partitions ) you get the option of either OS only restore or full factory reset.

OS only restore is supposed to only overwrite the OS and leave any user data untouched. Full factory reset does as has already been mentioned that is a drive format and re-install.

Sebby · Oct 26, 2008, 00:55:36

I've never seen a Dell CD that's a recovery disc. They are just XP CDs with the license key input into unattended.txt (and obviously the necessary files to make activation unnecessary, i.e. oembios.ini, oembios.dat, etc).

Odos · Oct 26, 2008, 01:03:54

Quote from: Sebby on Oct 26, 2008, 00:55:36
I've never seen a Dell CD that's a recovery disc. They are just XP CDs with the license key input into unattended.txt (and obviously the necessary files to make activation unnecessary, i.e. oembios.ini, oembios.dat, etc).

I've not seen one of those for a long time, though to be honest all of the Dells I've worked on have been recent laptops and they have all been recovery disks. True some of the older ones are only base OS's to enable access to the laptops recovery partition.