Thinkpads Forum

T510/T410
Any ideas how to recover to factory state but WITHOUT INSTALLING this junkware:

* 2007 Microsoft Office system
* Corel Burn.Now Lenovo Edition
* Corel DVD MovieFactory Lenovo Edition
* InterVideo WinDVD 8
* Message Center Plus
* Microsoft Office 2003 Web Components
* Microsoft Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies
* Microsoft Office Small Business Connectivity Components
* Microsoft Office Suite Activation Assistant
* Microsoft Research AutoCollage Touch 2009
* Microsoft SQL Server 2005
* Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition [ENU]
* Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
* Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files
* Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
* Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime Native v1.0 (x86)
* Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64) [6]
* Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64
* Windows Live Essentials
* Windows Live Sign-in Assistant
* Windows Live Sync
* Windows Live Upload Tool
and so on....

Yes I know that i can always UNINSTALL this junk manualy one by one but still registry will be f**ked up by that software.
So any ideas how to install JUST DESIRED software before restoring to factory defaults ?
I did that on T61 without ant problems, but what about T410/T510 ?

Thanx

Lenovo dumped the custom restore option after the T61. I don't know why. I thought it was a great idea. To do a clean install of Windows 7 you'll need a Windows 7 disc.

Hi there!

I did a clean install, junkware free, on my T410, using the Win7 Pro x64 that I ordered from lenovo (I think it's the same thing using the restore DVD created from the restore partition).

I've reinstalled only from the first DVD (operating system). When I was asked for the second DVD (drivers and applications), I just hit cancel. After reeboot, I got only Windows 7 Pro x64 with no drivers. Then I downloaded drivers from lenovo website and installed them manually.

Now I have a custom recovery DVD made from this clean install using CloneZilla! And I'm loving it!

Hope that helps!

There's always the digital river download.

I'm curious if the digital river download method will work. In my case, windows installer accepted my OEM key, but I had problems during activation. I didn't try the save/restore activation data though. As I really wanted a x64 operating system (my T410 came with Win7 Pro 32bit), I just called lenovo and bought the x64 DVD set.

If anyone tries the save/restore activation data stuff, please, let us know wether if work or not!

Thanks!

Put the key in after after it's installed and then activate it, not during the installation.

bootsector wrote:I've reinstalled only from the first DVD (operating system). When I was asked for the second DVD (drivers and applications), I just hit cancel.

Not true. Just tried that and lost about 1 hour of reinstalling everything again. Result missing NTLDR... press ctrl alt del to reboot after this.

Not true. Just tried that and lost about 1 hour of reinstalling everything again. Result missing NTLDR... press ctrl alt del to reboot after this.

Did you use the recover media created for your laptop's revovery partition? Is so, then thanks for the heads up!

As I have mentioned, I used a recovery media bought from lenovo. Which seems to behave differently.

Thanks.

bootsector wrote:Did you use the recover media created for your laptop's revovery partition? Is so, then thanks for the heads up!
As I have mentioned, I used a recovery media bought from lenovo. Which seems to behave differently.Thanks.

Yup, I used recovery disks created from Q drive not recovery media bought from lenovo.
Maybe you want to share that media with us ? Just first boot and first disk.

jurgised1 wrote:Yup, I used recovery disks created from Q drive not recovery media bought from lenovo.
Maybe you want to share that media with us ? Just first boot and first disk.

No problem. Is there any sort of FTP area where I can upload it? The media set is composed of two DVDs (One for the operating system and other for the applications and drivers), and it's Win 7 Pro x64.

Thanks.

Edit: Did you try the install from the digital river ISO as suggested by FredGarvin?

bootsector wrote:No problem. Is there any sort of FTP area where I can upload it? The media set is composed of two DVDs (One for the operating system and other for the applications and drivers), and it's Win 7 Pro x64. Edit: Did you try the install from the digital river ISO as suggested by FredGarvin?

Nope not tried digital river. I prefer Lenovo OEM version if u don't mind.
Please gimme your email address or write me to ed1@freemail.lt and
I'll send you FTP account data for uploading DVD1 image.
Thank you so much
J.

I did a T61p Windows 7 Pro install from a Windows Retail CD (because there was no Lenovo Windows 7 recovery for it). I did a PreLoad on my M90p desktop and uninstalled Office, Office Small Business, Contact Manager and SQL. There was no left over junk, I installed my own version of Office 2007 Pro and the two systems are pretty much the same.

I got a copy of Glary Utilities Pro and looked on both systems. There is no left over junk of any kind and no corruption of any kind. All is smooth.

It took longer (MUCH longer) to do the so-called clean install and update on the T61p than it did to uninstall the things I did not want on the M90p. ... JDH