Operating System Install Methods when You Do Not Use a CD or DVD Drive

An external Caddy is a Hard Drive enclosure that attaches to a computer with a USB or Firewire cable. Some are enclosures used for external storage and some are desk docks for temporary use. Most internal IT departments use them to access faulty Hard Drives and sometimes to install a Hard Drive using a different computer.

Some external docks come with integral Optical Drives and a multitude of different ports. They can connect to your computer either through a docking port connector on most laptops or through a USB connection. These Docks can work as attached Optical Drives or as USB hubs during an install process.

Some Dell Laptops have a media slice available for sale. The Slice was a minimal dock. It fitted to the base of the d-series laptop and had a slim line Optical drive and minimal ports. Sometimes it had a secondary battery as well. It was designed to fit a particular laptops chassis base.

You can obtain a low-cost USB powered CD and DVD drive. It is the simplest option, but you have to cover the cost of getting the drive.

Some Dell Laptops support external Media Bays. These are modules that attach to the computer with a double-headed cable that has both a USB connector and a propriety power connector. You must have the correct connections on your device to use this bay. The bay is a standard module that takes all Dell's media bay options, from Optical drives, through to batteries and secondary Hard Drives.

Every computer comes with multiple USB ports now. (From USB Type-A which is shown in the picture, to USB Type-C which is the latest connector format.) You can now purchase install media on Bootable USB drives. You can download an international organization for standardization (ISO) file image that you can load on to a bootable USB. There are also several methods possible to make an ordinary USB drive bootable and then to load install media to it. You would use it in place of a CD or DVD. There are several different methods for this, but the most common is called slipstreaming.

This last option is to use another computer that has an optical drive as a donor. This means installing your Hard Drive into the donor computer and performing the install on that device. Once that is complete, transfer your Hard Drive back into your own device to complete installing the drivers and software.

I hope this has given you some idea's on how to work around any computers limitations. If not, contact your Technical Support for further help.

The following article describes How to Create Backup discs of your Microsoft Windows Operating System installation, and where to find Media Recovery information:

• Dell's Media Recovery Options

Download the Windows recovery image file. Follow the instructions in the following guide to create a bootable USB drive or DVD. Copy the recovery image onto your bootable media. Use the media to reinstall Windows on your Dell device:

• How to create and use the Dell Windows Recovery Image

This software was free to use. Dell no longer supplies or distributes this application. Windows 10 made it unnecessary. It lets you create both a restore image and recovery media. You could backup your data if there are any issues with your computer. We recommended running this under the following circumstances:

• You have confirmed that the computer is fully set up and working as you like it
• You have not added all your data and software yet

Most companies have their own approved version of each operating system and the software that they tested for your model type. This is sometimes done as a DVD such as a Ghost Disc from Norton. It is most often installed from an image server or central storage. It is used on your computer when it is connected to your company network through a Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) Network Adapter boot. It boots before the operating system loads. I would advise having a word with your Internal IT department to see if this is an option you can take advantage of.

The following article provides links to basic solutions.

Most computers shipped without an optical drive now have a factory image built into them or it is available online to download from our support site. If there is an image available, I'd recommend using this image. It returns the computer to the state that it shipped from Dell with the least amount of work required:

• How to restore the Dell factory image with Dell Backup and Recovery

System Restore is an integrated Windows tool that is designed to protect and repair the operating system. When something goes wrong with your computer, System Restore should be used before restoring to factory condition:

• How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft Windows on a Dell Computer

This article provides a step-by-step guide for refreshing or resetting Windows 10 on a Dell computer. It includes how to refresh the operating system to the Dell factory image. Which is located on the recovery partition:

• Reset or reinstall Windows 10 on your Dell computer