Dell System Recovery Partition Hotkey & Instructions (Dell PC Restore)

To access the recovery partition on your Dell computer for recovery, follow the steps listed below.

1. Power on the computer
2. At the Dell logo, hold the Ctrl key and press the F11 key simultaneously.
2. The Dell PC Restore screen will come up.
3. Select Restore or use the Tab key to highlight it and press Enter.
4. if you wish to continue, click Confirm, or use the Tab key to highlight it and press Enter.
5. When the utility is finished, click Finish, or use the Tab key to highlight it and press Enter.

Alternative Guide for Dimension based Dell products.

Hit F11 to access the boot menu.
Select "Repair my PC" from the menu that follows.
You will boot into an environment with diagnostic and repair tools. Select "Factory Image Restore".

Are there similar steps for a Gateway computer (with Windows XP)? Thanks.

Hello KWEST,

Yes there is. For a Gateway PC, press F11.

Take a look here for more info: http://support.gateway.com/s/SOFTWARE/Medialess/MLXPH2/MLXPH2faq6.shtml

The model that I have doesn't have an F11 key, at the Dell screen there is an option to hit 2 for Setup and 0 for Boot Options. Not sure where to go from there.

Then it would be 0.

When I press cntrl+f11 nothing happens. How do I restore my computer if it doesn't work? Please help!! F8 doesn't work either or hitting f11.

I made this account just to thank you man ;) this guide is super helpful...thanks again ^^

Greetings all,

I happened across a Dell Inspiron laptop that would not respond to hotkeys to access the restore partition, I was however able to trip it into startup repair mode which by stopping that I was able to access the retore GUI and set it back to factory shipped state.. Maybe that will help some who cant access the restore using conventional methods.