Can we get a guide to Reinstalling windows OS / clean install?

Hiya guys

This is just a thought but after reading lots of threads on NBR about people having to re install their OS for whatever reason be it due to problems or just the desire to have a completely clean installation.

I have had my own experience recently of trying to do the re installation and can say that i didnt find it was easy but then i am a relative novice.

It would be a great idea if someone more experienced could post a full step by step guide to doing this on the M17x - im sure loads of people would find it extremely beneficial!

Just a thought!

 

1. insert dvd into Optical drive located on the right side of the laptop/ or use bootable USB drive with Windows Installation on it.
2. follow the onscreen instructions.
3. visit the m17x Wiki page and download all of the drivers.
4. install them in the correct listed order.
5.??????
6.profit.


seriously though follow those steps, and youll be golden. if you need help pm me and ill walk you through it in a little more detail. but there isn't much more to it.

 

Thats great. Have you got a link to the wiki info on this? - i was kinda hoping for a full breakdown - i know that sounds kinda lame but it may be handy for anyone who has not got the confidence to just slap the disc in and follow the on screen menus!

I know that it can be a daunting thought having to reinstall everything and maybe many users would find a detailed "recipe" useful.

Heard alot of users who perform a clean install right away...is this a good idea?
Also heard that alot of folks do this every 6mths or so to ensure optimal performance?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...l-m17x-r2-edition-owners-lounge-part-2-a.html

i do it every time i get a new laptop that's mine. there isnt really another way to break it down, its a simple process, other than taking screen shots or making a video, i might do it if provoked, but i feel like the majority of the forum can do clean installs already so it wouldn't really serve a purpose to make an entire thread/video/take pics IMO. but if enough people think its worth it, i have the time i can do it. but there inst much more to it than that.
edit i would advise downloading the drivers listed and storing them on a usb drive or external Hdd, THEN start your fresh install. that way you have them all there and ready to go.

 

Dell - Windows driver install order for desktops and laptops

Could easily save Dell millions per year by suggesting their driver categories on the driver page coincide with the Driver install order for desktops and laptops. If owners could reinstall their OS easily there simply wouldn't be the volume of complaints. On the driver page the drivers are listed by category in alphabetical order which just confuses the average user. Why not list the drivers in the order of the recommended install order for desktop and laptops. Wow what a novel idea!

For example an average user will not be able to figure out which driver is the (NSS) and this is just one example of why reinstallations are so messed up most of the time. No where on the driver page do they use the terminology Notebook System Software driver. I suppose we are just suppose to read minds. Why not make it simpler? The categories of drivers should coincide with the categories suggested for install order. That is not rocket science Dell. It is extremely time consuming to open up every driver in alphabetical order, and decide what category to install and than remember where they driver is located when actually required to install. Too many obscure drives with obscure names makes it very hard for average user to install in proper order. Also drivers for SSD/HDD and CD/DVD are not included on the driver install order page. Lots of examples of idiosyncratic instructions that are not clear for the average user.

Any time I have done a resintall it takes me 3 or 4 times to get it right. I think that is pretty average.

The problem EVERYONE has in doing a reinstallation is that while updating Windows will continue to try to fill in the gaps with what it thinks are the correct drivers. This is a major problem if you than dump a similar driver overtop. This is why the respawn was a great idea. It gave users a basic foundation to start from. No wonder they brought it back.

 

agreed. the list is correct, follow that. i wold retort however that the average user isnt doing clean installs themselves, and the average user isnt a m17x owner. i dont disagree that they should do this, but its unrealistic, beacuse most of the people doing these acts are somewhat informed and dont require it.

 

hey guys I am probably someone that would benefit from a detailed reinstall walk threw (noob) actually my question about this is I have windows 7 home pre. on my m17x and I have a copy of windows 7 ulti. I want to try to install.......ok lets say ulti works and then all of a sudden my cd key dosent work anymore.......how do I get home premium back that came with the m17x....I only have a recovery cd that came with it not a win 7 cd??????

 

Most of us have two disks, one is driver and the other is the operting system. You should be able to reinstall the HOME OS if you desire using the OS disk that came with the computer. If your system came with RESPAWN you could use that instead.

 

After reading thousands of posts one has to wonder whether the M17x is complete junk or the average owner is simply not all together there technically. The only thing that separates Alienware owners from other laptop owners is the size of the wallet, their expectations, and their opinions. Just because someone owns an M17x does not make them technically more savy than those who do not. I suspect many M17x new owners are first time laptop owners and many may have come straight from an xbox environment based on their expectations and comments about mobile gaming. There are simply too many questions on this forum to discount, either the system has massive technical faults or the owners are simply messing up their systems because they don't know what they are doing. As per Stevies original question why are there so many people on this forum having problems after doing a clean install?

 

While anyone can reinstall a modern computer operating system, getting all of the drivers and configuration settings in optimal condition is not a simple matter. It takes some experience and technical know-how in order to spot some of the issues, or to evaluate whether a certain driver revision is likely to be superior or inferior to another. Add hardware upgrade decisions and performance tuning/optimization and you are quickly beyond the capacity of the casual techie.

Some of us have been building our own computers since the 80286 years (or beyond), and are totally comfortable with it. For those people, an OS re-paving is just not a big deal... about as harrowing as getting a haircut (just takes a lot longer). But most people are not so comfortable with it, including the majority of AW owners.

And there is nothing more dangerous than someone who *thinks* they know what they are doing when they really don't.

 

Easirok, well written post +1

 

I second this.

 

Exactly why i thought it would be a good thread to have a guide to do this....i mean an earlier post made it sound as simple as abc but in reality, its not so.

 

i apologize for thinking its a simple task. In my honest opinion its a very simple task. but in my haste i neglected to realize that some people are intimidated by their machines, and the unfamiliarity of them. in all honesty however the short list i made & the link to the Wiki, & the Link to the driver install order is all you need. short of listing every single keystroke, i cant think of anything else to add to it. but if others are so inclined they should feel free to add to the list.


heres a guide to installing the operating system. disregard the part about the Lic key beacuse you have SLIC installed on your AW and it auto-activates.
http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/OSguides.htm#Windows_7

 

Simple or not too many threads start the same way, such and such is not working and I know it is not the software as I just did a clean install, it must be the hardware. People need specific information on exact files in the exact order, not a generic list that leaves plenty of second guessing and question marks. The average user obviously doesn't understand how to follow the list hence there would not be so many posts complaining of problems.

 

what generic list? i just posted to a guide. if you don't thinks its sufficient , by all means make a guide yourself and post it. i, personally would trust your knowledge on the subject, and would welcome a guide from you on the matter.

 

Maybe someday I will provide a guide when I do a reinstall but currently everything is working really smooth so there is no point in breaking my computer simply to fix it. I would not feel comfortable posting a guide in which I hadn't tested myself. Dell is the one that should correlate their install guide with their drivers. I think what people are looking for is the exact file names in the exact order. What dell is giving them is just a hypothetical list which doesn't correspond to their own nomenclature. If I did a fresh install I would probably be like everyone else and miss a few drivers. This has been my experience with Dell in the past. As some have said they completed a clean install only to have certain drivers missing, which drivers I am not exactly sure at this point. Everyone assumes that Dell is perfect and every Call Tag has all the drivers listed but I wonder.

P.S. How do you like blackvipers list, have you found it speeds up your machine?

 

First thing i do when i get a new computer is to re-install o.s.

I dont use the alienware restore just a generic windows install dvd.

Then install oem cert then the slp key.

Then follow driver intsall order

I can write a tutorial on how to do this if it is o.k with admin to publish.

I just know by doing this way i dont get the rubbish that is on the install dvd.

 

I have not done so yet with Win 7, but prior OS installs I created a slipstreamed CD with all the drivers / updates included.

Going to have to check if nTune or what ever has come to Win 7 yet.

 

I think I gave this a try a few weeks back. I know it can be done with xp, but for some reason I never got it done. I think I ran into a hurdle, maybe it didn't read the disc, but It would be nice, because with nTune, you can remove the usless stuff that Windows installs and slim down your install. I tried it when I was going to slim down my already bare OS Benching SDD, to a very minimal one

 

As a computer ages the orginal operating system on DISK is static. On the other hand the Dell driver page is dynamic and up to date. Often new drivers don't mesh with an outdated OS that was written a year prior.

On the other hand if you update an old operating system before installing the updated drivers you will also have a problem as windows will automatically downloaded what it thinks are the correct drivers rather than wait for the specific Dell drivers. It takes a lot of intuition to make informed decisions on what to include and what to avoid.

 

By doing a fresh install what software are you hoping to remove from the M17x? If you had a Sony or HP or Compaq I would understand. I thought this beast was already slim? I can understand if you are trying to eliminate the partition. Some of us do get a McAfee trial which is bloatware, other than that I am not sure what is.

 

its not static, you receive updates all the time, hence the OS is changing.(dynamic). drivers are written to copulate between specific operation systems,i.e windows xp ,Vista x86 & x64 & windows 7 x86 & x64. idk where you get the notion that the operating system is static, that specifically is wrong. i agree, however that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do a re-install for no reason. my machine didn't have any bloatware on it when i got it, but as a ritual i formatted, then kill disk, then re-install. i will probably do a re-install tonight and make an outline of how to do it properly, as i do then all the time since i use a number of different hard drives to do certain things.
edit: Fwiw, im not trying to pick a fight or flame or anything, so please don't take it as such. i just disagree with some of the things you posted.

 

i'm wondering as we have legal window 7 download

is it legal to make a stramlined version of windows 7 with the lastes drivers availible for download provided with no cd key it would be technicaly useless to any one that does not own a cd key or a oem bios

 

Yes it is legal as you don't provide keys apart from valid oem slp keys which are paired with your bios slic2.1.

 

Hi Clever,

A software disk is (static) as it quickly becomes out of date as new updates come out. When doing a resinstall it is always better to have fresh up to date copy of windows but that is not always possible. Windows patches are (dynamic) as they are updated daily. Dell drivers are also (dynamic) as they are also updated regularily. It is always a conundrum whether to start updating windows or updating drivers first. An old operating system may not recognize a new driver on the other hand if you update the operating system first it may inadvertantly install hardware drivers you don't want.

To me the Delldatasafe is a good tool and will probably use that before I would do a clean install. If that fails than I would fall back on a clean install. Everyone has different hardware and hence different drivers but if you can diseminate the list that would be a great help to others.

 

se we could theoricaly mount an maintain a stream lined window 7 iso that has only the driver's needed to alienware's computers and even some software how ever unless we can do model's detection we can't pre install the osd but that is a minor issue

 

you could always download a custom os, there are always a few of them that are decent, and you can change the product key in the registry to match that of your machine to make it legal.

@Falcon, i misunderstood your use of the word "disk" i thought you meant the installed version of windows was static, when you actually meant the "dvd" (disc). my mistake.

 

i'm not talking about dowloading one

i can get my hand on the tools to create one so we could create a custom os for alienware's computer with the damned icons and wallpapers integrated as well as the custom drivers for alienware while cuting the useless ones

and if we use the oem disk as a base alienware's owner would not need to reenter thier key

 

I want a copy!

 

have at it man! it would be a nice to see

 

You can make a custom install DVD and use it for yourself, but you cannot say put it up on a site and allow others to download it even without providing a key. Microsoft's legal department will most likely be contacting you if you do so. I happen to work for an OEM System Builder and even we're not allowed to provide any kind of Windows installation media unless it's the original OEM DVD that we get in our builder packs (Windows Storage Server being the only exception).

Only Royal OEMs, such as Dell are allowed in their agreements with Microsoft to make customized versions and distribute them to valid customers.

 

thanks for information but how can we have legal window 7 download links then

so in clear

it's legal to download window 7 stock
it's legal to modify windows 7
but it's not legal ton distribute the custom version

 

All legal downloads of Windows 7 are either directly from Microsoft or someone they have given permission to provide them. Just because you're not providing a key doesn't mean they allow it, all the key does is give you the right to use the software providing you abide by the End User License Agreement.

They only entities I am aware of that can modify their master install discs are the Royal OEMs. They are Dell, HP, Gateway, Sony, etc. since they have such high volumes in sales. Their agreements with Microsoft give them the freedom to not only bypass activation on their hardware but they can also modify much more the of install and provide them on their own media. They even generate their own unique Product Keys.

I'm only saying all of this because I had to read up a lot into what I was allowed and not allowed to do when I began creating my companies master install sets years ago. People like us can customize all we want manually or by using programs like vLite. We just can't give those ISOs out to other people, only keep them for ourselves. We can freely talk about how to make a custom install, but once we actually give it out to a third party we're open to legal action taken against us since we don't have permission to do so.

 

Here you go

http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/428068-legal-windows-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

 

so if i happen to create a such custom window install i would be limited to myself and a couple of friends .... that sorta break my bubble

the other way i'd have to do obscene things to obtain the right from microsoft to freely distribute my version

or i'll see if it's possible to create a too that would auto modify a window instal

 

i seriously doubt that Microsoft will take action against one person. if you want to do it then do it and pm people with a link to download it via mega upload or something. i say this beacuse there are 100's of modified windows builds hosted on varying websites. i might do it now just to see.

 

that's probably what i'll end up doing but that will be all but usefull as the goal of this thing would be to help newbie that are having a hard time getting thier windows install up and runing

and on a therm i plan on making it work on all Alienware system and for such i will need severall user to test and give feed back and sugestion on what works and what don't

EDIT any one knows the brand of alienware's tv tuner?

 

In all honesty there's nothing stopping anyone from hosting their own custom build so anyone can download it. Just understand that MS doesn't view it as legal and if they can track the people down they usually will at least send out a C&D letter.

 

we will see if that ask me to take it down i'll gladly take it down

 

make sure you PM me a link +rep

 

Is there a simple utility for determining the configuration of my system. Specifically the information from MSInfo is limited... I would like a detailed hardware inventory of my system.

 

Everest works great for that.

 

can these info be saved in a practical maner if so i think i'm gonna request a couple of these to see wich default driver i can get rid of and wich i need to add

 

im working on a custom build for R2's & R1's, will post via rapidshare when im done, im new to vlite so its taking longer than expected as i want to ensure its a unattended build that AW owners can just put in and run. i have to confirm workable drivers for both machines, since they have different MB's

 

just finished a x86 windows 7 build if anyone wants to try it out, it has all of the r2 drivers, you will still have to install the command center & the OSD, but everything else works fine, im working on a 64 bit version but i cant get it to install properly....

 

if only i had a R2

i've got a 64 bit version under work but i don't know wich driver to use for the r2 it's almost ready for the m17 and also i comes with all os customisation integrated