Restoring ASUS laptop to factory settings

Question

I have a ASUS X552M laptop with Windows 8 running on it, I wanted to install Ubuntu in dual-boot. However, the installation froze so I had to restart my computer, then I couldn't boot Windows I got PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED error, I tried to work around this by deleting the bootcat.cache file or disabling the secure boot option, none of this worked.

So I backed up my files from a Ubuntu liveUSB and wanted to restore the laptop to factory settings. So I tried hitting the F9 key and choosing restore system. Now, I got a message to insert a Windows installation disk but I got none, I have a 20GB partition called RESTORE for this situation but I can't access it, it asks for an installation disk. I was trying to look for a solution but I only got to something called ASUS Backtrack, now I don't know how to use it in my situation, it's a windows application but I have no way of starting it.

I'd appreciate any advice I don't know how to proceed now.

Answer 1

Sites like Ars Technica and people like me recommend to download install media directly from Microsoft and only install missing drivers if necessary.

I posted the following links already in another answer, they may be helpful. the instructions should be self explanatory, read the article on Ars Technica for details.

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

I was unable to find a related entry in Asus' knowledge base and support sites so far with instructions how to continue in cases where the recovery partition got corrupted. I expected that they have some equivalent to how Lenovo (USB key) or Apple (PXE image) handle such questions about their products. I'm also wondering why you haven't been suggested an existing question that already had a matching answer for this topic. :(

Answer 2

You could remove the hard drive and access your recovery partition from another machine. Use it like an external drive.