Dell XPS 9550 install, restore and stock ISOS

This is a small post about tricks and tips to factory reset you Dell XPS 9550, and perform backups and restores. It is a complement to other thread with very important information. Read them also to complement information:

• Dell XPS 9550 Clean install guide + custom ISO download. (how to use Rufus and other stuff, includes ISOs custom made by GoNz0)
• Hate how Dell manages the recovery media thing
• Dell OS Recovery (MEGA folder)
• Dell's support website for the XPS9550
• Windows 10 Creators Update not yet ready for Dell XPS 9550

MICROSOFT OFFICIAL WINDOWS 10 ISOS
Official ISOs of Windows 10 can be downloaded directly from the Microsoft website. Select "Download tool now" and you will be prompted to save the file "MediaCreationTool.exe".
Open it and choose to download the ISO. You can after that re-format a pendrive with that iso using Rufus utility. Using Rufus will completely wipe your pendrive as a mandatory step. You can alternatively prepare the pendrive directly instead of saving the iso, but will download the iso each time.
Download Windows 10 (ISO from Microsoft)

The problem with those isos is that they are just stock and generic, and lack specific drivers, specially the RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers. Without them, the hard drive is missing on the list when you try to install Windows . You can workaround that putting the folder "64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL" from the MEGA folder directly on the pendrive once you've used Rufus, and choose to load extra drivers.
Another missing drivers are the Realtek for the sound card, but that is not a big issue because the S.O. will start anyway. Also all Dell software is missing. All of that is available on Dell's support website.

This is the cleanest way to install Windows 10 on the Dell XPS 9550, however, it will require a lot of extra work and knowledge to get all proper drivers and software installed, so it is highly recommended that you use the official Dell ISO instead unless you want a real clean system.

GoNz0 CUSTOM MADE ISOS
On the Clean install guide there are two isos custom made by GoNz0. They will install Windows 10 but once you boot there will still be missing several drivers and software. Personally, I prefer to use either Dell oficial isos or clean versions from Microsoft.


Screenshot of Device Manager just after booting freshly installed GoNz0 version. Note that there are still several drivers missing, most will install from windows update, but I still prefer the Dell version.

In the MEGA folder, there are the two FoNz0 isos mirrored:

• Win10-RS2-GB.iso
• Win10-RS2-US.iso

Choose the iso you desire, specially the one to match your keyboard. In any case you can install additional languages and keyboard layouts on Windows 10 after boot.
To install the iso to the pendrive, either use the application "DellOSRecoveryTool.msi" included in the MEGA folder, or alternatively Rufus. The great thing about the Dell tool is that checks if the iso is valid. Note that any tool will wipe your pendrive as a mandatory step.
First, open Dell OS Recovery Tool, and then plug the pendrive, so it gets recognized.


DELL OFFICIAL WINDOWS 10 ISOS
The isos from Dell are the best way to get everything up and running with the least hassle. The windows version is a little bit outdated, so Windows Update will take some time after you boot up, if you want to get the most recent version. It will also install some drivers that are missing, that Dell doesn't install on purpose, so uses the most recent version from Microsoft. The iso that you will download is very specific for each individual computer (that means, for other computer you need to download the corresponding), because it relies on your Service Tag or Product ID. I presume it's done like that because Windows comes already pre-registered with the Windows Key specific for the computer. Enter the Service Tag on Dell's support website to download the iso, or alternatively you can install and run Dell System Detector so the website detects automatically your computer:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukdhs1/products

Then go to Drivers & downloads > Find it myself > Operating System > Download Operating System Recovery Image.

Download the recovery image and the Dell OS Recovery Tool. The name should look like "2DF4FA00_W10x64ROW_pro(DL)_v3.iso".

You will record the image to a pendrive using the Dell tool, that it will check that the iso validity before allowing you to proceed, so is the recommended method. Another way is to use Rufus.

Once the pendrive is ready, is advisable to restore the BIOS settings to factory. Boot your XPS and hit F2 at logo, will show "Preparing to enter Setup..." at the corner. Then Restore Settings > Factory Settings. This will set mainly

• Boot sequence in UEFI mode
• disable Legacy Option ROMs
• SATA Operation to RAID
• enable USB boot
• enable TPM
• enable Secure Boot
• disable Wake On LAN

After you've done with the BIOS, insert the pendrive and boot the computer. At logo press F12 to enter the boot menu while displays on the corner "Preparing one time boot menu...".
There, under "UEFI BOOT:", choose the pendrive and hit enter.

After some seconds, you will be displayed with a recovery interface. It's not like the regular Windows 10 install, but more like the recovery. Follow these steps:

1. Choose the language. In case you choose english there's only from the United States.
2. Choose your keyboard layout. Click on "See more keyboard layouts" to display next page.
3. Now you get to the recovery menu. Select "Troubleshoot. Reset your PC or see advanced options" > Recover from a drive. Reinstalls Windows from the recovery drive connected to this PC. This will remove all your files and apps.
4. Now displays "Getting things ready..." and two options:
   1. Just remove my files. (Use this if you're keeping your PC).
   2. Fully clean the drive (Use this if you'll recycle the PC. This can take several hours). >This is the option to completely format and restore factory-like so it is the step I'm taking.
5. After selecting "Fully clean the drive", hit Recover. It will display the progress: "Recovering this PC xx%". This process takes about half an hour.
6. Then, it will reboot and show the following message:
   A configuration change was requested to enable, activate, clear, enable, and activate the TPM.
   This action will clear and turn on the computer's TPM (Trusted Platform Module).
   WARNING: This request will remove any keys stored in the TPM.
   Press F12 to enable, activate, clear, enable, and activate the TPM.
   Press Esc to reject this change request and continue.
7. If never used bitlocker, just hit Esc, and wait while messages "Getting devices ready" and "Getting ready" are shown. Takes about 16 minutes.
   More information here:
   • Clear this computer's TPM (Trusted Platform Module)
   • Need help on whether to clear TPM on not
8. After that, it's finished, the whole process took about 46 minutes total. Now it will reboot and display the welcome menu to choose language, ready to use.

In case you want to use third party applications to backup and restore the computer, the recommended software is Macrium Reflect. It supports RAID and AHCI hard drives, provided that you generate the recovery media from the Dell itself, so those drivers are included in the WinPE. Other utilities are Acronis True Image.

About the Windows updates, you rely entirely on Microsoft. In my case, In my case, automatic windows updates does not get Creators Update automatically, so I had to download the "Windows 10 Update Assistant" and do it manually to have a most recent version. After that, further updates show up and there's no problem.

RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT DELL SOFTWARE
The only Dell software that I install after a fresh recovery, is Dell Premier Color, really adjust the color of the screen so the pixels don't look blunt. The rest of it is mainly bloatware, and most things that software did Windows does it natively and better.
Don't even consider installing Dell Data Protection, for example. It will ruin the operating system and you will have to format.
Can't uninstall Dell Data Protection and makes login slower


CHECKSUMS OF FILES
The checksums of the files in the MEGA folder are:
MD5:

Code:

36579c590cb7378ed103a762d1634e10 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaAHCIC.cat
e4499cbe834b71ac4c3c6d86a38e3338 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaAHCIC.inf
dac81d5ee5bac7410f25b6571f08d4f4 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorA.sys
11877b63dc9aececc9864783f408e546 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorAC.cat
de89d5b3391f0769a7c8fa934a1953d4 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorAC.inf
943965acd84f85bc5eb49a4b7c12588b *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorF.sys
c8c4ad3e5b263c7a4d5642d390192d67 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaAHCIC.cat
8e3ddb1edb9df49d0249249cacb921a9 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaAHCIC.inf
153104208ee55b2c5556a7ec629302e7 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorA.sys
119bc63c6e45b62e35ded44e6981af2f *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAC.cat
58c6da2eb0c773d4307614429efc5bc6 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAC.inf
f8f96e4941af6627d81b813181077f61 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAfs.sys
05e5eaca5a7ffa48d617f3ca84c9345c *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAfsNative.exe
427883436df60121a96388923588da2f *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAfsService.exe
b27e318353e8baff1498f586ec0ff74b *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorF.sys
85f80c36d4d260c4630b8a84d669b2c8 *./DellOSRecoveryTool.msi
48e3d6668b60c3b937ded1e454c7034c *./Win10-RS2-GB.iso
6cdb576a8e7b08427a96b1f6cad03ebf *./Win10-RS2-US.iso

SHA1:

Code:

5ff7b359572fcaba7d9ed268884cc89d84c3f10d *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaAHCIC.cat
4803468c019d8e028275d5c0c883029e58d89318 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaAHCIC.inf
85d7ec387fa03bd457a40b5b82b11bc94cf5bcd8 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorA.sys
1961f48eff23ed7aa0c24f4f05f61c594d28980c *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorAC.cat
0d8aa17bfa2c2d553a1c797c3627a4ba21e1e59c *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorAC.inf
9df6502cfa9116089ae227c54c1af25120eb347d *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.2.10.1044 WHQL/iaStorF.sys
e24173c68e2831e8e9f02d1ac4e472e95282063f *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaAHCIC.cat
69682c414d93d29602463611454d4b370c364d9f *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaAHCIC.inf
3bfeb55136c10be43a7060e01f1435421476e86d *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorA.sys
e3ba01a9afcf8a509814fb7045966351bd2825c1 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAC.cat
a397e9f00389ae7b05e14ef356b6929995406c71 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAC.inf
1858764a15c6b350d397d6f68f70f1ab184922d5 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAfs.sys
89ce5d996aadad4b2dcf5141d786ccf0f1ea62a8 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAfsNative.exe
1c7e7b791829cc6e45ca9d5c0dad74a2e4ee758a *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorAfsService.exe
e07a77524fe75c67af4fa6d13f5c6c44c2fe1c23 *./64bit Intel RSTe AHCI & RAID drivers v15.7.1.1015 WHQL/iaStorF.sys
49ac98d5f47565e69e0ca4eadfd14d81dd9767f4 *./DellOSRecoveryTool.msi
9e1919f629d11f704bb7b5b6320a5d2fa67e90f2 *./Win10-RS2-GB.iso
5a1a4d6be4d93d58aa5961306afe2538bf5d898c *./Win10-RS2-US.iso

NOTE: a lot of these tips and tricks may work too with the newer XPS 9560 or even other Dell models.

 

Whilst I have no objection to people creating guides as it helps everyone and mine got so cluttered it gets confusing but it isn't on to just take another persons work and host it yourself without permission and with no author credit, even worst when you call them Dell ISO's as they are something different.

FYI they are 9560 install media that have enough on to work with 9550's.

And Mega.nz, I moved away from them due to the slow speeds?

 

No intention to get anyone work or something like that, your thread link is at the very beginning. For me, using jDownloader makes MEGA downloads fly.
Just realized now that are not Dell isos, they are custom built by you, but it's not explicitly said.
That's why I always make new threads. Some OPs just don't reply, don't update the first post, they abandon the forum or even some of them are dead so it's easier to do than ask.

In any case, I'm tired of the entire Dell problems and things, I'm getting a Macbook Pro Retina. The official Dell recovery iso is the "9663HA00_W10x64ROW_home(DL)_v3.iso", and it just doesn't work. There are no updated versions and the download process is a crap, they force you to use Dell System Detect, no direct link to iso or bittorrent. It uses some kind of integrated web browser downloader.
My old Sony Vaio Z13 is infinitely superior to this Dell crap. Even this guy is totally sick of it:

I'll make a separate post about the issues I've found on my Dell XPS 9550.

 

I said in another thread a while back the Dell ISO's are pants, I am amazed they show up with a search filter of a month. When I did use one to return a laptop it didn't install any drivers, go figure!

FYI it's easier to ask than do.

 

After testing personally your isos and the Dell ones, I prefer the Dell because install all the missing drivers automatically from Windows update. Your isos don't do that, there are some drivers missing that you have to install manually. The Dell version is not in pants, just misses a few drivers that think Dell relies better on Microsoft, and is more outdated, so you will need more time to update. But in any case, imagine in 3 years, it will require tons of updates both version so with time there will be less and less difference.

 

Mine is more about having a newer version of the intel Raid/AHCI drivers for stability and removing Dell bloatware, originally the Dell ISO was unbootable as it had such an outdated version hence this happening in the 1st place, due to lack of demand I only add a new ISO when I make one for myself. As for the drivers, never had an issue allowing windows update to add in the up to date drivers nor have I had the inclination to troubleshoot it, the more important part was to have network drivers pre installed so people can install and get online with minimal fuss. I gave up trying to please everyone as this started with the 9530 then the 9550 and now I only own the 9560.
The easiest workaround was to have the additional drivers folder in case anyone needed it, due to the date it was created the majority of drivers are out of date.

I think it best if you remove my ISO's from this thread as you have been down on facts since the start of this, lets face it you couldn't even read the title to start with!
I would rather keep everything in my thread. Feel free to link if you must.

The lack of drivers is with good reason, windows update will pull everything within an hour of being online (usually 15 minutes) rather than Dell's way of installing outdated drivers (depending on the creation date) then allowing windows update to replace them potentially causing issues.
The Dell ISO is fine for most people since the creators update, how long that lasts is another story with Dell's track record.