restoring a Windows 7 computer to factory settings

Certificate of Authenticity = COA

It may be on the top or side or back of the unit.

http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/04/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&docid=119974

Windows 8 is deprecated. Windows 7 is gone retail so OEM is the only option now. 

Only windows 8.1 is now available in the retail channel.

 http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/cat/Windows/categoryID.62684800

If you get this I highly recommend Classic Shell from Sourceforge which is free.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/

Regarding upgrading for Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 although there are some improvements in Windows 8.1 there are many features missing which are present in Windows 7 such as DVD playback and users often get annoyed at the modern/metro interface.

I would recommend downloading the .iso and make the bootable USB. I would then also save the .iso aswell as the backup of your product activation to an external hard drive. This means you can go back to Windows 7 if you don't like Windows 8.1. 

Next you can evaluate Windows 8.1 using the Enterprize trial:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx

Although its rumoured that Microsoft might revise their awful media distribution and provide a better trial of Windows 8.1 in April aswell as lower price.

Personally I'd say your money would be better spent purchasing a Solid State Drive and using your old hard drive as a data drive:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/upgrading-to-a-solid-state-drive/

Clean installing Windows 7 of a SSD will give your system a significant performance boost.

More information about the COA sticker may be found here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/the-oem-or-retail-license/

However the 25 digit of the COA is not needed. Likely it will be running Windows 7 Home Premium. You can also check in the system properties, go to start > right click computer and select properties.

You can use a Digital River .iso to make a bootable USB and you may use the Activation Backup and Recovery Program to backup and restore your Dell OEM product activation:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/microsoft-product-activation/the-activation-backup-and-recovery-program-windows-7-version/

You may also refer to my Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean Install of Windows 7:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/

For full installation instructions.

Thanks Philip, I skimmed through these links but I'm not all that confident I'll be able to follow these instructions, as I don't even understand them. I'm just a home user and not a programmer or computer expert. I was under the impression that when you bought a Dell computer they provided you with at least the bare minimum software necessary in case of a system crash or other failure, is this no longer true?

Due to the media reduction program this hasn't been true since XP came out.They started shipping just a picture of the disc on a piece of paper in 2006. If you extend your warranty IN THE USA they will ship disks to you. To proceed with requesting these backup discs, continue to the Request Backup Discs form, fill out all the requested information and click Submit. Note that this form is not available outside the United States.  In other countries you have to call dell support.

http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?docid=124442

If my warranty has expired, can I still extend it (would actually be starting a new warranty)? If so, any idea what this would cost? I fished around on the Dell site, but when I clicked on my existing system in my account and then tried to get more information, I got a weird server error, repeatedly.

My guides take you through it step by step however if you are unsure, its probably better to take the computer to a small local PC repair shop opposed to calling Dell Technical Support.

Extending warranty with Dell is going to be mainly for the hardware only. Software warranty is usually much more limited and would pretty much be paying for someone taking you through the install via phone using a guide much like mine, you would still need Dell to send out a Reinstallation DVD to you.

A PC repair shop should have access to installation media and the expertise to clean install Windows 7 on your system. They should be able to get your system back up and running for a nominal fee.

I contacted Dell about warranty extension, they said actually I can't get a hardware warranty; software only. Would cost $239 for the first year, $139/year thereafter.

Your guide might be easier than it looks at first glance, so I might still give it a try.

One question that I still don't think I have a definitive answer to is, are we absolutely certain based on the info in my first post that a full recovery to original factory settings is not possible? The Dell Recovery and Backup said it could not detect a Recovery Partition, is that basically the same as saying there is no way to go back to factory state using the steps outlined in article ID 125843 (I printed a copy of this article, but it seems to have disappeared since yesterday)? When I called Dell tech support yesterday they said that I could do this, but at the time I don't think I was aware of the statement from the Dell Recovery and Backup software. I still want to give that a shot (probably tonight when I get home), but I'm afraid I could wipe out my hard drive and then not be able to get back to Windows.

I think purchasing software warranty without hardware warranty is a waste of money, you would be better going out and getting a full retail license with Microsoft support for that price.

The factory partition is very fragile, it often gets corrupted. Dell DataSafe which is now superseded by Dell Backup and Recovery. Its definitely not a robust solution.

If you want to try it you can but I would strongly advise downloading the .iso and making a bootable USB aswell as backing up the product activation and downloading the drivers you need and saving them all to an external hard drive. This gives you room to manoeuvre should the factory partition fail resulting in a Windows installation which won't boot.

Philip, I found this article and it looks similar to the solution you were suggesting. Can you give it a quick review and let me know if following these steps might solve my problem?

I also remembered that we have another full copy of Windows 7 that my wife received from a friend who used to work at Microsoft. So there's a chance I have a full brand new copy at home that I could install from scratch if need be... assuming my wife doesn't want to use it.

It is similar to my guide but I have added some more information in particular regarding product activation and installing the system drivers. Also my guide is focused more on Dell systems.

I would not use a service like slimdrivers (which the article recommends) to get the system drivers. I don't trust such programs as they are often seeded with malware.

OK thanks. I'm not concerned w/ drivers & other software as I have the disc for that from Dell. Not sure why they included that, but not the OS. My primary concern is having a copy of Windows, so I downloaded that .iso file from Digital River and burned it to a DVD.

Right now I'm having trouble backing up all my data, my computer ran all last night and all day only to tell me the backup failed (using Windows Backup). I'm now trying again, I think some of my file extensions might be too long. If it fails again I've found some software that will seek out the longer filenames so I can shorten them, then I'll try one more time.

If you happen to know of an easy, reliable free backup program, please let me know. I'm sure there are lots out there.