Users Guide

System reset and repair overview
SupportAssist OS Recovery enables you to reset or repair your PC. You can invoke SupportAssist OS Recovery from the
SupportAssist for Home PCs user interface.
After you manually install or upgrade to SupportAssist for Home PCs version 3.9, it verifies if SupportAssist OS Recovery
version 5.3.1 or later is applicable for your PC. If applicable, SupportAssist automatically initiates the installation of SupportAssist
OS Recovery on your PC. If the automatic installation fails, you can manually initiate the process from the Troubleshooting
page. For more information, see Troubleshooting overview.
System reset
The system reset feature enables you to reset the operating system of your PC. You can either reset the operating system to
factory state or install the latest version of the operating system. Depending upon the state of your PC, the following options
may be available:
● Reset to factory settings—install the factory image on your PC to reset the operating system to the state it was in when
your PC was shipped from the Dell factory.
● Reset and update—download and install the most recent operating system on your PC along with the critical drivers and
applications.
CAUTION:
The reset process permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and uninstalls any programs or
drivers that you installed on your PC. It is recommended that you back up the data before performing a system
reset.
NOTE: If SupportAssist is unable to detect the factory image that was installed on your PC, only the Reset and update
option is displayed.
NOTE: The feature to reset your PC using the Reset and update option is supported only on certain systems. For the
list of systems where this feature is supported, see the Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Support Matrix available on the
SupportAssist for Home PCs support page.
System repair
The system repair feature enables you to instantly rollback to a previous point in time on your PC to resolve boot issues or any
other performance issues. This feature is automatically enabled on PCs with at least 50 GB of free hard drive space and where
SupportAssist OS Recovery is available. But, if your PC has less than 50 GB of free hard drive space, you can manually enable
the feature in SupportAssist or the operating system control panel settings.
NOTE:
If a critical hardware issue is detected on your PC, the system repair feature is disabled until you create a support
request.
This feature helps you to instantly restore your PC to a previous point in time. Restoring your PC may help in resolving issues
caused by virus or malware infections, registry corruption, system file corruption, issues with operating system patches, or
drivers.
NOTE:
This feature does not completely protect the program files. The non-Dell applications that are installed on your PC
may be removed when the PC is restored to a previous restore point.
Reset your PC to factory settings
Prerequisites
● You must have administrator rights on the PC.
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20 System reset and repair overview