TLDR: Lenovo laptop came pre-installed with Windows 8 bloatware edition. I want to run a fresh install from an ISO I downloaded, but also want to create backup media so I can restore the laptop to its former bloatware glory, six different weird partitions and all.
Full version:
I bought a Lenovo Ideapad Z500 a couple of days back, only to find that the operating system contains a bunch of bloatware and tweaks, courtesy of Lenovo.
I wanted to get a Windows 8 iso off the internet and perform a fresh install, but it seems to be somewhat more complicated:
Lenovo uses this 'OneKey Recovery' system for its backups/restores/etc. and has a weird partitioning as a result:
Normally I would just delete existing partitions and install a new copy of Windows just like that, but some of these partitions seem to be hidden, and I want to make a backup of the 'factory settings', including all of these partitions, before I try to run a fresh install, so that if anything goes wrong I can have it back to its original state including the OneKey functionality.
I tried creating a recovery USB drive in Windows 8, but when I booted from it and hit reset, it said "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing."
I'm also pretty confused about the differences between GPT/MBR/UEFI/BIOS/Legacy when booting up and installing different versions of Windows.
Full version:
I bought a Lenovo Ideapad Z500 a couple of days back, only to find that the operating system contains a bunch of bloatware and tweaks, courtesy of Lenovo.
I wanted to get a Windows 8 iso off the internet and perform a fresh install, but it seems to be somewhat more complicated:
Lenovo uses this 'OneKey Recovery' system for its backups/restores/etc. and has a weird partitioning as a result:
Normally I would just delete existing partitions and install a new copy of Windows just like that, but some of these partitions seem to be hidden, and I want to make a backup of the 'factory settings', including all of these partitions, before I try to run a fresh install, so that if anything goes wrong I can have it back to its original state including the OneKey functionality.
I tried creating a recovery USB drive in Windows 8, but when I booted from it and hit reset, it said "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing."
I'm also pretty confused about the differences between GPT/MBR/UEFI/BIOS/Legacy when booting up and installing different versions of Windows.