1

I recently got a computer with a Chinese Windows 7 Home Edition (live in China) version installed on it. Said computer has a "Recovery" 10GB partition. Model : Dell Optiplex 9030 AIO (All-in-One).

Since I do not speak chinese, I got hasty and clean installed Windows 10 in English directly on it. I actually just turned the computer on once before conducting the Windows 10 clean install, so I never created backup points or such.

The person who provided me with a Windows 10 copy told me it was for free anyways and that I could activate it with my Windows 7 key afterwards. As it turns out, this was not at all the correct way to proceed and I find myself with an unactivated version of Windows 10. So now what I need to do is: go back to Windows 7; activate my Chinese version; ask for an upgrade to Windows 10 from there.

I tried to "reset" my computer to factory settings from Settings (in order to get my Windows 7 copy up and running) but it only allows to clean re-install Windows 10. I do not have an "Go back to Windows 7" option since I erased everything when installing Windows 10. I do not have an installation/recovery DVD either.

I know that I have a "Recovery" partition because I can see it under This PC -> Manage -> Disk Management. But I just cannot access it... I tried hitting F12 to load the boot options but the recovery partition does not appear either.

What are my options? What can I do to go back to Windows 7? Or is there a way to still activate my copy of Windows 10 with my unactivated Windows 7 key? How can I still conduct a Factory Restore?

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    If you have Windows 7 key sticker on your All in One then it seems like you are in luck fossbytes.com/…
    – does_it_matter
    Commented Nov 21, 2015 at 16:44
  • Mark the recovery partition as "active" in disk management, then reboot, it should boot into the recovery partition where you can do a factory recovery to W7.
    – Moab
    Commented Nov 21, 2015 at 23:00
  • @Moab Not possible to mark it as "active". The only options I was left with with were "shrink" or "delete".
    – Meclassic
    Commented Nov 22, 2015 at 0:25

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

Unfortunately, you can't access a recovery partition created in a previous version of Windows in a newer one to rollback. So your recovery partition is basically useless.

However, you can try reinstalling Windows 7 Home (the same Windows version which came installed with your laptop). You can obtain the installation DVD from Dell or can visit any Dell Service Center and ask them to install it for you. As in Dell Laptops, product keys are hard coded in the motherboard, the new installation should read the key from your motherboard and automatically validate your copy.

If nothing works, then you might have to purchase a new Windows copy.

Improve this answer
1

I don't know if you can activate Windows 10 as such but if you still have recovery partition then I would suggest to install Dell backup and recovery manager from this link and see if it allows you to factory restore.

Edit:As pointed out by @Moab this software will not work in current scenario then I would recommend downloading the latest .iso of windows 10 from this link and then you can activate normally with your unused windows 7 key as clarified in the question comment.

Improve this answer
3
  • That is backup software, not made to work with a recovery partition, it only allows you to restore a backup you have made on the current system.
    – Moab
    Commented Nov 22, 2015 at 4:43
  • @Moab My bad!!!
    – does_it_matter
    Commented Nov 22, 2015 at 4:50
  • @Rahul-14BCE0064 I did not try what you mention. Too bad because I read your comment and uptdated answer too late... Thanks anyways, I found a way to go back to Windows 7.
    – Meclassic
    Commented Nov 23, 2015 at 7:55
0

What worked for me is rather long and very dependent on my specific configuration.

1. I installed a version of Wndows 7. Any version is OK. Since my PC did not come with any backup nor software DVD, I just took the one from another PC I have.

Now with a version of Windows 7, the "Recovery" partition became accessible again. So I installed the "Dell Backup and Recovery Manager", but for reasons I do not understand, it could not restore my computer. So:

2. my computer being a Dell, I followed the instructions found in this link.

Again, for some strange reason that did not work either and the process repeatedly got stuck at 99%. But this process did copy all of the original software to a "C:\Dell" directory.

3. I launched the Recovery Manager from Dell again and this time it simply worked.

I believe this worked in the end because the manager could find all of the "Factory" settings and software on the "C:\Dell" folder. Now I am back to square one with my original Factory configuration.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .