Restoring a lenovo laptop with windows 7 to factory settings

[bata_51]

My lenovo laptop crashed and I need to restore it how do I do this in plain english please I am new to computing

 

[weaselman]

If you look on the laptop next to the power button should be a smaller key with orange symbol on it. press that instead of the power key.
It should run one key recovery giving you the option to restore the Os.

 

[zdbc13]

Press f11 rapidly after starting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7G93cWDVqo

 

[hedwar2011]

If you look on the laptop next to the power button should be a smaller key with orange symbol on it. press that instead of the power key.
It should run one key recovery giving you the option to restore the Os.

That is indeed the button. Pretty nifty little utility.

@bata_51: Are you sure the recovery partition is still intact? If not, you will not be able to use the one key recovery method.

 

[jaguarskx]

If you look on the laptop next to the power button should be a smaller key with orange symbol on it. press that instead of the power key.
It should run one key recovery giving you the option to restore the Os.

In some models, like my Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 from 2011 the little button is the same color as the chassis. It's called the "Onekey" because the Lenovo has the Onekey Recovery utility used to either install Windows from the hidden partition, or from recovery DVDs that you manually create (if you created them).

I generally recommend making a recovery disk after you install all the updates and any programs you always tend to use. That way if you need to do a recovery again you can save several hours trying to update the default install of Win 7 / 8 to where you want it to be.

For me, I created my recovery disks after spending around 20 - 24 hours updating, patching, modifying settings and installing programs. I don't want to go through that trouble again.

Here's a video on how to use OneKey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKyjsv5B8E8

 

[slyken]

my lenovo crashed. i did not create any back disks. if i use this onekey what happens to my personal files ( photos, word docs etc) ?

thanks in advance

 

[jaguarskx]

If your files are saved on the C: drive, then using OneKey to re-install will completely wipe all data on the C: drive, thus your files will be gone.

If you created a partition on the hard drive so that you now also have a D: drive and you saved your files there then your files will be safe. Onekey will only delete data on the C: Drive.

If your files are on the C: drive, then the only option you have is send in the hard drive to a company that does data recovery. This process is expensive, might be time consuming and is not guaranteed that all your data is recoverable. If even a small bit of a file is corrupted, the entire file is basically corrupted.

 

[Moose man]

If your files are saved on the C: drive, then using OneKey to re-install will completely wipe all data on the C: drive, thus your files will be gone.

If you created a partition on the hard drive so that you now also have a D: drive and you saved your files there then your files will be safe. Onekey will only delete data on the C: Drive.

If your files are on the C: drive, then the only option you have is send in the hard drive to a company that does data recovery. This process is expensive, might be time consuming and is not guaranteed that all your data is recoverable. If even a small bit of a file is corrupted, the entire file is basically corrupted.

 

[Moose man]

Or buy a hard drive dock (about£30) and. Use that to extract any data to another PC via USB. A specialist company will charge you a fortune.

 

[munners]

If you look on the laptop next to the power button should be a smaller key with orange symbol on it. press that instead of the power key.
It should run one key recovery giving you the option to restore the Os.

 

[munners]

My lenovo G580 has crashed and i have tried the onekey button but the laptop just goes back to a screen with two catergories
BOOT MENU and APP MENU
boot menu has 3 sub catergories and app menu has 2 .
if the onekey doesnt work will i need recovery disks or is there another way to restore factory settings?

 

[DeathNote435]

My lenovo laptop crashed and I need to restore it how do I do this in plain english please I am new to computing

go to settings and hit Genral Settings. there will be an option to factory reset device and just click and you will be guided through the process. i had the same problem today and it only took me a brief second to find the option. ill be the first to say welcome to the computer world and good luck cause it only gets more and more expensive. oh and the process is very long and sorry that i posted this soo late but if you still having problems maybe this will help. and its good to learn on a desktop until you get to all the complicated equipment.

 

[minime63]

If you look on the laptop next to the power button should be a smaller key with orange symbol on it. press that instead of the power key.
It should run one key recovery giving you the option to restore the Os.

For three weeks I've searched the Internet for the answer to repairing my friends Lenovo Laptop! I stumbled upon your thread and am now in the process of saving her $59 bucks for the disks I almost ordered from Lenovo and am now doing the restore using that special little button! I tried all the other restore methods I knew (f8, Last Known Good Config), even accessed the hard drive through DOS. Could not fix it. Then you came along! THANK YOU!

 

[SorbileneCom]

My lenovo laptop crashed and I need to restore it how do I do this in plain english please I am new to computing

Lenovo Notebook recovery, Recovery Key read here its helping you click here

 

[audiervt]

My lenovo G580 has crashed and i have tried the onekey button but the laptop just goes back to a screen with two catergories
BOOT MENU and APP MENU
boot menu has 3 sub catergories and app menu has 2 .
if the onekey doesnt work will i need recovery disks or is there another way to restore factory settings?