Windows 8: Verify Factory Reset

Windows Security Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Windows 8: Verify Factory Reset

This section provides a tutorial example on how to verify the factory reset partition on the hard disk on Windows 8 system.

On most Windows 8 computers, there is a hidden hard disk partition used by the manufacture to store the "Factory Reset".

The "Factory Reset" is like a backup of the original system that was running on your computer when you purchased it. "Factory Reset" is the last recovery option when your Windows 8 system is corrupted. You should verify the "Factory Reset" partition on the hard disk.

1. Run "diskpart.exe" command from the search input field after clicking the Start button. You will see diskpart starts in a command window.

2. Run following "diskpart" commands to make the USB drive bootable:

DISKPART> list disk
  Disk ###  Status  Size    Free
  --------  ------  ------  ---
  Disk 0    Online  465 GB
  
DISKPART> select disk 1
  Disk 1 is now the selected disk
  
DISKPART> list part
  Partition ###  Type      Size    Offset
  -------------  -------   ------  -------
  Partition 1    System    500 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    OEM        40 MB   501 MB
  Partition 3    Reserved  128 MB   541 MB
  Partition 4    Recovery  500 MB   669 MB
  Partition 5    Primary   922 GB  1169 MB
  Partition 6    Recovery    8 GB   923 GB

DISKPART> list volume
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label         Fs    Type       Size    Info
  ----------  ---  ------------  ----  -------    ------  ----
  Volume 0      D                      DVD-ROM      0  B  
  Volume 1      C                NTFS  Partition  922 GB  Boot
  Volume 2         ESP           FAT32 Partition  500 MB  System
  Volume 3         WINRETOOLS    NTFS  Partition  500 MB  Hidden
  Volume 4         PBR Image     NTFS  Partition    8 GB  Hidden

DISKPART> exit