starting windows 8.1 from scratch, no CD?

benji182 · 21 May 2015 at 20:13

Hi,

My brother bought a gaming laptop but has now decided he needs something more portable so wants an ultrabook style laptop.

However he needs to sell his MSI Gaming laptop first but has just found out his GF has thrown out the CDs/manual/Box everything.

It has Windows 8.1 and with no experience of it, is it possible to do a factory restore within windows that will not keep any of his details on the hard drive?

Sorry if there is a really obvious answer but I'm just not sure if its possible without CDs etc.

Thanks

ADT · 21 May 2015 at 20:20

As far as I'm aware you can do a factory restore to get rid Of all the data

ED209 · 21 May 2015 at 20:27

through windows 8.1 you can do a OS restart which factory resets the OS but keeps personal files or do you can do a full OS re install.

steps below

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

if you need the 8.1 ISO you can download it using the Microsoft tool here

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

darael · 21 May 2015 at 20:29

Don't hold me to this, but give this a go:
1) Load into Windows 8.1 and bring up the Start screen with the tiles and power button.
2) While holding down shift, click on the power button at the top right and choose Restart then choose Advanced startup.
3) Choose Troubleshoot > Reset your PC.

You might be prompted for the CD, but most laptops have recovery partitions and it should detect this partition.

gpuerrilla · 21 May 2015 at 21:55

I had a client do what dareal posted above and had to reinstall some of her programs as she is a technophobe. Lesson learned not to "refresh" (I think it was called).

benji182 · 21 May 2015 at 22:01

Just loaded the laptop up and gosh I don't understand this windows 8 at all lol

I found the power button though and Shift+Click worked. Its resetting now.

He only has steam and some pics/mp3s on it so not worried about having to reinstall any software as he'll sell it once its back to factory settings.

Thank you guys for your help. I'll report back if I need any more help

Cheers again.