Skip to main content
Sign Out

Welcome to Dell

My Account
  • Place orders quickly and easily
  • View orders and track your shipping status
  • Enjoy members-only rewards and discounts
  • Create and access a list of your products
Sign In Create an Account Premier Sign In Partner Program Sign In
Contact Us

Your Dell.com Baskets

Create Windows Recovery Media for Your Dell Computer

Summary: Learn how to use the integrated Windows feature to create a recovery drive for Windows.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
Check out other resources

Symptoms

Windows recovery drive helps reinstall Windows if your computer experiences a major issue such as a hardware failure. Windows updates to improve security and PC performance periodically, so we recommend you recreate the recovery drive annually. The recovery drive is not a system image and creating a recovery drive does not backup your personal files, settings, or applications.

Table of contents:

  1. What you need
  2. Create recovery media for your Dell computer
  3. Use recovery media to factory reset your Dell computer

Cause

No cause information is available.

Resolution

What you need

To create your recovery media, you need:

  • Your Dell computer
  • A USB drive that is 32 GB or larger.

Create recovery media for your Dell computer

To create the recovery media, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start SLN297924_en_US__1WinKey, then type "create recovery drive." Windows will provide relevant results as you type.

  2. Select Create a recovery drive.

  3. At the User Access Control prompt, Select Yes to open the Recovery Drive wizard. Keep the check box next to Back up system files to the recovery drive checked, click Next.

  4. Connect the USB flash drive to an available USB port, ensure that the drive selected is correct, then click Next.

    WARNING: This process deletes all data on the USB drive and may take two hours or more to complete. This process does not backup your personal files, settings, or programs.

Use recovery media to factory reset your Dell computer

To use recovery media to reset your Dell computer to its factory state, see Dell KB article, How to Reinstall Windows 10 on your Dell computer.

  • When files have finished copying to the drive, click Finish.
  • Remove the drive and store in a safe location.

Additional Information

Recommended Articles

Here are some recommended articles related to this topic that might be of interest to you.

Out of Warranty support Out of warranty? No problem. Browse to the Dell.com/support website and enter your Dell Service Tag and view our offers.

NOTE: Offers are only available for US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, China, and Japan personal computer customers. Server and Storage are not applicable.

Affected Products

Inspiron 3452, Inspiron 15 7572, Inspiron 7580, Inspiron 3052, Inspiron 20 3064, Inspiron 3264 AIO, Inspiron 3265, Inspiron 3452 AIO, Inspiron 3455, Inspiron 24 3464, Inspiron 24 5488, Inspiron 27 7775, Inspiron 3252, Inspiron 3268, Inspiron 3655 , Inspiron 3656, Inspiron 3668, Latitude 5290 2-in-1, Latitude 7290, Latitude 3390 2-in-1, Latitude 7390 2-in-1, Latitude 7390, Latitude 3490, Latitude 5491, Latitude 7490, Latitude 3590, Latitude 5590, Latitude 5591, OptiPlex 3050 All-In-One, OptiPlex 3050 Tower, OptiPlex 3050 Micro, OptiPlex 3050 Small Form Factor, OptiPlex 3060 Tower, OptiPlex 3060 Micro, OptiPlex 3060 Small Form Factor, OptiPlex 5050 Tower, OptiPlex 5050 Micro, OptiPlex 5050 Small Form Factor, OptiPlex 5060 Tower, OptiPlex 5060 Micro, OptiPlex 5060 Small Form Factor, OptiPlex 5250 All-In-One, OptiPlex 7050 Tower, OptiPlex 7050 Small Form Factor, OptiPlex 7060 Tower, OptiPlex 7060 Micro, OptiPlex 7060 Small Form Factor, OptiPlex 7450 All-In-One, OptiPlex 7760 All-In-One, Vostro 5370, Vostro 14 3468, Vostro 5471, Vostro 15 3568, Vostro 3578, Vostro 15 5568, Vostro 3470, Vostro 3670, XPS 27 7760, XPS 8920 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000177164
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 29 Aug 2024
Version:  17
Find answers to your questions from other Dell users
Support Services
Check if your device is covered by Support Services.