X120 real system restore - with factory settings

I own the NP-X120 model which I've decided to sell. Before that I'd like to make a clean system reinstall so all my data and private information is deleted.

The problem is that using Samsung Recovery Solution I can only restore so-called " initial state". Apparently the "initial state" is created when first powering up the notebook and entering user's personal information. It means that this configuration on my notebook contains my name and account password and many other private data (e.g. my WiFi name and possibly login credentials) which I entered when first starting the device.

It simply means that every time when I restore my system I get my device (almost) ready to work but customized for myself and containing my private data. If the person the notebook is sold to performs another system restore, (s)he will get the logon screen with my name and so on... That's completely ridiculous!

Is there any way to make a REAL system restore, so I could at least customize the necessary installation elements to more general ones instead of my private ones? I have no installation media (Win7 Home Premium) as I was explained that it was provided only to machines without crappy Samsung Recovery Solution.

Can you please give me any tips on how to achieve that? Is that even possible?

 

Are you running SRS within Windows or by pressing F4 at the BIOS screen?

There should be an option to restore the factory image. Alternatively, see here for how you can get a Windows 7 ISO file.

John

 

I tried both options but they are exactly the same. I have two images to choose from - the "initial state" image and the image I made myself after applying all necessary patches and customizations I needed. There's no factory image or anything like that.

I guess I could try installing it from ISO image (transferred into an USB drive since X120 doesn't have CD drive) but will it change the initial image? I mean if anyone else restores initial state again - will it bring a clean image or "my" image as a restored one?

 

Restoring to initial state from F4 Recovery really should get you back to exactly the same as BEFORE you booted it the first time, with only the Purchase Date stamp displayed in BIOS remaining. That's what it does on mine and what many others have used too.

However, if you later performed a backup in Recovery, maybe that updated the initial image (that's SRS5, in SRS6 they call it factory state and factory image). I must confess I never used that backup feature in Recovery.

If that is the case, you have to start over with a clean install as John suggested. You can use the Win7 install guide in this post as guidance on which drivers to install and how. Make sure you download SW Update and WiFI drivers before you start.

They maybe once you have a clean install, Recovery will let you perform a new update of the initial image, so that the new owner won't get access to your information if he uses the restore function. Of course you can also wipe the Recovery partition -- but if I were the buyer, I would complain about that and probably demand a price reduction.

 

Thank you for the advice!

I made another backup indeed but it's presented as a separate image in SRS so I don't think the initial image was affected in any way.

I've browsed through Samsung UK support site (I purchased the device in UK) and found out that in fact SRS 4 (implemented in X120) does the following job within the first power-up: it allows for entering all necessary data and information, finishes installation and only then creates the first / initial image of the system. Thus, each and every restore will bring the image with those private data previously entered, which - let me say again - is something really weird...

I believe the problem is that the Windows 7 installation on X120 I received was paused at the stage when one has to enter all information like user name and so on. I have no idea how the installation might have been paused at that stage but apparently it was possible. The other side is that restore function does not initiate Windows installation but instead it just overwrites the partition with an image as I was using Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image.

I have HP machine with Windows 7 also installed at the recovery partition but this device initiates full Windows setup when selecting "restore" function and that is the way I'd enjoy to have it on my X120.

 

I didn't realize SRS4 did it this way and updated the initial image. Thank you for sharing that information.

I agree that is an odd approach -- which I am sure is why Samsung changed it in later versions. My NP700Z3A has SRS5, and restoring the initial image does indeed get me back to factory state. I can choose a full "re-partition and wipe everything" option or one that merely overwrites the Windows partition and leaves the rest intact.

Have you tried if SRS Management Mode works in SRS4? You hit CTRL-ALT-F10 and enter password secclx. For SRS5 owners, I have generally recommended using Management Mode to create a so-called USB Admin Tool on a small USB stick, which can be used to re-create Recovery partitions on a disk with working F4 (restoring Acronis or Ghost images of Recovery partitions will lose F4). But you can also use Management Mode to manage images, including the initial image. Maybe the personal info is stored separately, and Management Mode allows you to clear it or extract the "real" initial image.

Booting the USB Admin Tool gives you some more options, including one to reset the Purchase Date. I wonder if (in SRS4) it also provides an option to reset the personal info. That would make sense.

Please keep us posted. I am very interested in what you find out.

Edit: This post contains info about how to backup and re-create working Recovery partitions (again for SRS5). If you happen to have Acronis or Ghost image backups of your Recovery partition from BEFORE the first boot -- AND if you are able to create a USB Admin Tool on your SRS4 -- you can almost certainly use that to get you back to factory state.

 

Well, apparently the only thing I can do is to manually change everything on the device and then re-image it and delete other system images so the latest one is the only available.

The problem is that this is the Home Premium edition of Win 7 and users management is very limited in this version...

 

OK, what I did is perform the "rebranding" manually by creating new admin account and removing all traces of my name from the system.

Now I have another issue - can anyone tell me how to delete a backup image from Samsung Recovery Solution?

There's no such option available. There's a one factory image (the one with "bad" data...) and one user-made which I made after making all necessary privacy correction. However, I see no option to remove any of them. All I can do is to overwrite the user-made image. Some help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Did you try Management Mode that I described in my last response? At least in SRS5 it has an Image Management tab.

 

Unfortunately there's no such option in SRS4 but I guess I can try to upgrade it from Samsung wepage.

I see that my image is stored on 2nd partition while the original image is stored at some hidden partition. The best way would be to replace the original with my custom made

 

You mean SRS4 doesn't have a Management Mode or it doesn't have an Image Management tab?

Remember, Management Mode is not a visible feature in SRS. You have to F4 boot it, then press CTRL-ALT-F10, and enter the password secclx.

It works in SRS5 as well as SRS6. I Would like to know whether it is available in SRS4.

Thank you in advance.

 

My mistake - there's no such tab but this feature obviously is available by selecting the shortcut you mention.

However the right password for version 4 is " secos"

And there's an option to import a backup image to recovery area which looks exactly what I need! Many thanks for your help!

 

Dang, sounds like they may have changed to a different password in SRS5 and SRS6. After all, what good is a password if it's out there on the internet?

You can try UPPERCASE and lowercase, but other than that I have no idea. Sorry...

Edit: A Google search gave this which mentions password secos. Worth a try.

 

I've just fund the right password over the network and edited the previous post. The password for SRS4 Management Mode is " secos".

However I'm facing another problem - the option to import a backup image to the recovery area doesn't work for me.
I select my image from HDD (the user1.wcl file) and press "start". And then I get the error message saying " Selected image file name incorrect". Can you advise me what to do with it?

 

LOL -- Your post just crossed my update about the password

I thought you were looking to delete images in there, so that only the initial (factory) image was left. That's what I would do.

Otherwise, if you really want to wipe this thing before passing it on, I would make a backup of the initial image, create a USB Admin Tool, boot that Admin Tool and re-image the entire drive.

Follow the guidance in thread linked below if you want to do that, including the links I post in in there.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...red-recovery-partition-samsung-notebooks.html

 

OK, here's what I did:
- exported the original image from the recovery partition to HDD and make a backup of it (it got saved with name "init"),
- changed the name of my own backup image files to init.* (all three files),
- selected "import" in the Management Mode, selected renamed image and confirmed that original recovery partition contents should be overwritten,
- spend a couple of minutes biting my fingers

And... it looks it works!