Factory Reset problems

[RaRa91]

I have been working on this all night and feel like I'm going crazy.

I have a Dell Inspiron 17R that I got back in 2013. I decided to do a factory reset tonight because I wanted to start fresh as I believe it might have helped with he laptops incredibly slow speed.

The laptop did not come with any discs and it came with Windows 8. I believe an automatic update made me get 8.1 64-bit and that was my current version.

I was having problems getting the reset to work, after a couple of hours, I was finally able to find a fix that let me reset (it had to do with enabling a certain something through the command prompt that was previously disabled). However , before this, I tried another fix I saw on a forum that recommended getting a trial version for enterprise 8.1 and using it's install.wim file (I think that's what it's called) to fix my issue. Needless to say it didn't work.

Fast forward to the previous fix I referred to earlier. after that command prompt fix I was able to reset. I believe I chose the first option through the Windows reset option (the exact wording escapes me, but it said something like 'this process is shorter' compared to a full reset), and when it finished, I set up everything as anyone normally would (personalization, WiFi, etc..). After Windows booted up, something felt odd. everything was fine, and in the bottom left it read something like 'enterprise 8.1 trial evaluation expired 9600.' I'm sorry if this information is useless, but I'm just doing it all from memory, because currently I'm going for the full reset option (it's taking a few hours and going much slower) hoping I can return to just regular 8.1 which I previously had.

This whole process has taken up my entire night and gave me a huge headache. How did it even reset to enterprise 8.1 when my laptop originally just came with regular Windows 8? I read online that enterprise is only for businesses that have a license? I just wanted a fresh start with the old OS. Did I have to use the Dell recovery instead of a the one in Windows?

Anyway, I'm letting this reset continue overnight. it's almost 4am and I need sleep. Thank you to anyone that can help me.

 

[broe23]

If you do the Factory reset with the option. It will turn it back to the original version of Windows 8. If you want a set of restore discs for 8.1.1. Contact Dell for them. Personally I would not even worry, with 10 coming out.

The only way to do a System Restore in Windows 8.1.1, is with a USB Thumb drive.

 

[KYHI]

This whole process has taken up my entire night and gave me a huge headache. How did it even reset to enterprise 8.1 when my laptop originally just came with regular Windows 8?

By using the enterprise download and install.wim

from command prompt admin (type one line each)
reagentc /info
diskpart
list disk
list volume
select disk 0
list partition

post a pic of cmd windows

 

[RaRa91]

This whole process has taken up my entire night and gave me a huge headache. How did it even reset to enterprise 8.1 when my laptop originally just came with regular Windows 8?

By using the enterprise download and install.wim

from command prompt admin (type one line each)
reagentc /info
diskpart
list disk
list volume
select disk 0
list partition

post a pic of cmd windows

This is the result:

edit-I should note that the partition 7 is a USB drive I have connected.

 

[RaRa91]

So I was able to get back to Windows 8 after using Dell's backup and recovery application instead. I set up my account like usual, but now the problem is my device can't connect to the internet. Not just that, but under the settings in Windows 8, there is no WiFi option. it only shows 'airplane mode,' which is off, and 'Bluetooth,' which is on. When I try to connect to a network, there are no networks shown and I get an error that says 'the Windows wirless service is not running on this computer' or something like that when I use the troubleshooter. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling my network driver but that did nothing. Someone said to go into services.smc and start the wlan autoconfig, but that doesn't work and it gives me an error after I start it. right now I'm working on one more fix that requires running chkdsk through boot up (maybe a corrupted file), but if that doesn't work I'm at a loss what to do. I have finals next week and need a working computer with working internet. This has been 'one of those' weekends.