Problem reinstalling Vista from partition disc

[mulhearn22]

Hi,

I'm reformatting a computer for sale. I lost the reinstallation cds a while ago, but it's a dell so it has the recovery partition. I found the Factory.wim and converted it to an ISO. I then made a DVD from the ISO. It boots from the DVD, loads file and then shoves me into a command prompt rooted in system32 running the command wpeinit. It runs that, the log says it's successful, but it goes nowhere. Any ideas?

TIA,

Matt

[Alan2273]

I thought the Dell recovery partition was for doing a fresh factory install without the need for a disk, try pressing Ctl/F11 at start up.

[mulhearn22]

I thought the Dell recovery partition was for doing a fresh factory install without the need for a disk, try pressing Ctl/F11 at start up.

Hey,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I did try that. I tried hitting Ctrl+F11 simultaneously on start up and holding Ctrl and repeatedly hitting F11. Nothing happens. I also tried F8 (saw that one some forum), which didn't work. I can't get into the factory reset, so I resorted to this.

[-pops-]

Before you spend much more effort on this, consider that if you will be trying to sell this machine (difficult in itself, selling a second hand (= obsolete)) without its relevant disks, I think there will be little interest from prospective buyers.

[mulhearn22]

Hi,

I realize this. Fortunately, I will be selling to someone either I know or someone I know knows. Because of this, if I can get the recovery to work and then make sure all necessary drivers and such are installed, I can create and image and send that along with it. That would be just as good.