Format my pc

[F9]

i am trying to format my pc(and finally also install linux) but i want to recover it to factory condition.Its a toshiba satelite.BUT, i get to repair my pc option, and get all the way to system recovery options which has 6 options of which i do NOT know who to choose:thumbdown:

a)start up repair
b)system restore
c)window pc complete restore
d)windows memory diagnostic tool
e)command prompt
f) Restoring the complete Windows operating system

and the options are 2 basically, b and f.B seems most possible but it says as a subtitle(restore windows in an earlier point of time) and most importantly the procedure i found and followed to get myself there says not to choose this option(b) but another option which is replacing f(on that procedure) and it says "toshiba recovery wizard" instead of "Restoring the complete Windows operating system". :s

any ideas?i definitely dont want to screw up my pc...

[F9]

no one knows?:(My blue/grey screen has been waiting for hours

[Nox]

I'd go for B.

[F9]

I'd go for B.

as a wild guess or...?:D

[Susurrus]

Flip a six sided coin(or roll a die).

[Nox]

as a wild guess or...?:D

A system restore allows you to restore your windows to a previous date. This includes all of your files and settings too.

[F9]

A system restore allows you to restore your windows to a previous date. This includes all of your files and settings too.

But i dont want my files, i just want my pc to be just like i just opened it for the first time.Some viruses needed to get rid of also

[Nox]

But i dont want my files, i just want my pc to be just like i just opened it for the first time.Some viruses needed to get rid of also

Ok I'd just reinstall windows then

[F9]

and thats option f, right?:D

(what am i doing studying comp sci?:laugh:)

[¿Que?]

To get to factory defaults, you need to reformat your hard drive, which you can use any linux live distro to do quite easily, and then maybe reset your cmos. But as far as that menu, I don't recognize it, so I can't be any specific help.

[MarxSchmarx]

I really doubt the factory default is linux. That will bring you back to windows only mode. Exactly what is it you are trying to do? Are you trying to set up a dual boot?

As best I gather you want to restore teh factory default. If you have all your data backed up option (C) will bring you back to the mint condition.

Also what distro are you trying to install? Depending on the distro, actually the process for installing linux exclusively versus a dual boot are comparable. If all you want to do is install linux, as long as you have a bootable medium (e.g., usb drive, cdrom) then just set it to boot from that in bios (I think it's F12 or something like that, google to double check), and if you are using ubuntu or a redhat derived thing like Fedora, it gives you the option during install of how to reconfigure your hard drive.

[F9]

No no, its not linux, i want to format my pc first and after that install linux.I want to dual boot vista(current) with ubuntu.
So i can download the ubuntu image, and run it and it will guide me through to format my pc back to factory station and at the same time dual boot it, or i got what you said wrong Marx?

[¿Que?]

No no, its not linux, i want to format my pc first and after that install linux.I want to dual boot vista(current) with ubuntu.
So i can download the ubuntu image, and run it and it will guide me through to format my pc back to factory station and at the same time dual boot it, or i got what you said wrong Marx?
Do you have your vista cd. That's what you need to get vista back to factory defaults. Do that first. Then install ubuntu, and yes, it'll be pretty straight forward to dual boot, just go through the menus.

There is a way to do it backwards, install ubuntu first, then windows, but then again, I don't think you'll want to do it that way as it looks like the learning curve on that is kind of high. As far as I thought, windows boot loader cannot boot linux, but apparently vista's can.

https://blogs.technet.com/b/port25/archive/2006/10/13/http-port25-technet-com-archive-2006-10-12-windows-and-linux-integration-3a00-a-conversation-with-the-author-aspx.aspx

[F9]

i dont have a cd, its saved one one of my partitions.I only need to choose the correct option from the above 6 and it will do the job.The point is which one of them:)

[¿Que?]

i dont have a cd, its saved one one of my partitions.I only need to choose the correct option from the above 6 and it will do the job.The point is which one of them:)
Oh, I see. But you mentioned you wanted to format your drive, but if you're windows copy is on the drive how do you intend to put in back in after you reformat (reformatting erases everything). I'm mostly a Linux and Mac guy, but what I think you have there is a system restore menu. You cannot go back to factory defaults with that, you can only restore to a previous point. I suppose you could choose the first or earliest point, but that depends on when you started saving system snapshots.

In case I'm wrong, you can disregard a, d and e because it's obviously not those. That leaves b, c and f. My guess is that b will ask you for a previous restore point. C is probably like B except more thorough, so it'll probably ask you for a restore point as well. I think what you want is F, but again that's just my guess.

But keep in mind, you are not going to format your drive this way unless your windows copy is on a different partition. Then what you're doing really can be tricky, and I'd suggest you google some for how to do that. I would think though that you'd want to do a clean install, not a system restore.

[MarxSchmarx]

No no, its not linux, i want to format my pc first and after that install linux.I want to dual boot vista(current) with ubuntu.
So i can download the ubuntu image, and run it and it will guide me through to format my pc back to factory station and at the same time dual boot it, or i got what you said wrong Marx?

Kinda, yeah, that was what I was getting at. I'd recommend using wubi (you can download the image and save it to a pen drive or dvd) which isn't perfect but gets the job done for setting up dual boot.

although I am still a bit confused why if you currently have vista you want to reset it to factory condition. When you set up to dual boot it will give you an option to simply use some fraction of your unused hard-drive space for ubuntu. Usually going this route is the least painful because it won't mess with your existing files in the other OS.

If you're really set on resetting your vista to factory condition (say you have a virus in vista or something you can't get rid of) you want to select option (C) first without doing anything towards setting up ubuntu. After vista is all reset, then you can go about setting up ubuntu dual boot with no trouble. when you set up your ubuntu partitions (wubi will walk you through it), you should see a section of your hard drive that indicates where the factory restore is store (actually you should be able to see this in windows, but I forgot how to get to it... in xp it's control panel -> computer management -> disk management and the section of your drive for restoring the faculty condition should show up there). Just be very careful not to overwrite/format that segment and leave enough GB on the hard drive outside of your linux partition so that you can run vista with it.

[danyboy27]

to put it back to the factory install, C.

[F9]

Kinda, yeah, that was what I was getting at. I'd recommend using wubi (you can download the image and save it to a pen drive or dvd) which isn't perfect but gets the job done for setting up dual boot.

tried wubi for couple of months, didnt like it...was fucking up with my laptop!


although I am still a bit confused why if you currently have vista you want to reset it to factory condition. When you set up to dual boot it will give you an option to simply use some fraction of your unused hard-drive space for ubuntu. Usually going this route is the least painful because it won't mess with your existing files in the other OS.

i need to get rid of few viruses i know and think my pc got.Plus it got slower.


If you're really set on resetting your vista to factory condition (say you have a virus in vista or something you can't get rid of) you want to select option (C) first without doing anything towards setting up ubuntu. After vista is all reset, then you can go about setting up ubuntu dual boot with no trouble. when you set up your ubuntu partitions (wubi will walk you through it), you should see a section of your hard drive that indicates where the factory restore is store (actually you should be able to see this in windows, but I forgot how to get to it... in xp it's control panel -> computer management -> disk management and the section of your drive for restoring the faculty condition should show up there). Just be very careful not to overwrite/format that segment and leave enough GB on the hard drive outside of your linux partition so that you can run vista with it.

k thanks, will try C, seems the popular choice and dont know why i "rejected" it the first time

[F9]

forgot about this thread... after all this time, my pc is yet to be formatted.None of the options seem to work, and tried them all:rolleyes:
C says cant find a disk or files in hdd, f needs a cd, b only goes back 5 days
the fuck...

[xub3rn00dlex]

What I do is use a Windows XP install disk to erase the partition with the OS installed, followed by creating a new one on the free space now there. Then insert OS install disk of choice and you have a fresh reformatted install =]

[F9]

finally.... :D and windows 7:cool:worked like charm, if only stupid toshiba would supply me with a cd to start with...
Ubuntu comes next!!!!

[MarxSchmarx]

finally.... :D and windows 7:cool:worked like charm, if only stupid toshiba would supply me with a cd to start with...
Ubuntu comes next!!!!

Great! If you're setting it up with the latest LTS a lot of the same partitioning should be included in the setup. Good luck!

[Die Rote Fahne]

Quick question, I put in windows 7 CD in, at the restart do I just go to boot from CD? or what?

I am a rookie...

[Bright Banana Beard]

Yes, boot from the CD and do the quick format.

[xub3rn00dlex]

Yes, boot from the CD and do the quick format.

The windows 7 CD doesn't have the reformat option IIRC. Use a windows XP disc to reformat if you can't use W7.

[Die Rote Fahne]

The windows 7 CD doesn't have the reformat option IIRC. Use a windows XP disc to reformat if you can't use W7.

It's bootleg btw.Courtesy of a college instructor.

[F9]

Great! If you're setting it up with the latest LTS a lot of the same partitioning should be included in the setup. Good luck!

So i take it that LTS is better?I have option for ubuntu 11.04 and 10.04 LTS:)

:s i downloaded 11.04 and it says its wubi! :s i dont want damn wubi, i want proper installation!!

[xub3rn00dlex]

So i take it that LTS is better?I have option for ubuntu 11.04 and 10.04 LTS:)

:s i downloaded 11.04 and it says its wubi! :s i dont want damn wubi, i want proper installation!!

Yeah LTS is usually better, since it's going to be supported in the long run ( I forget for how long. ) I used to run LTS until they updated that version to another LTS edition, because anything available in the short term one becomes available in LTS soon after.



It's bootleg btw.Courtesy of a college instructor.

I only run bootleg, fuck Microsoft. Power to the pirates! ( And future college pirates thanks to people like your professor! )

[MarxSchmarx]

Yeah LTS is usually better, since it's going to be supported in the long run ( I forget for how long. ) I used to run LTS until they updated that version to another LTS edition, because anything available in the short term one becomes available in LTS soon after.

Yup. Usually it's about 2 years. The advantage is you can continue installing updates and it wont affect anything else.

I think depending on your Toshiba, the 11.something is actually an LTS for like the netbook/tablet edition or something. I could be wrong, but if it's the one that no longer uses the gnome desktop, I'd advise against it.

[MarxSchmarx]

The advantage is you can continue installing updates and it wont affect anything else.

PS. I lied. If you manually install things like your graphics card driver from a 3rd party like nvidia you have to reinstall their drivers or accept whatever ubuntu's default is. Usually this applies only if you are doing some pretty serious stuff with that particular hardware (like programming your gpu) otherwise, yeah, your updates won't affect anything else reallly.