If you are running an install on factory settings or from Dell Backup and Recovery media it is likely a bad image. I have not seen good factory settings for any Dell Windows 8 systems and hence recommend clean install with a Windows 8.1 .iso forgetting Dell Backup and Recovery entirely. If you can get the .iso follow Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean Install of Windows 8.1: [URL] And use these workarounds: [URL] If you cannot get a Windows 8.1 .iso and you or a friend have a retail license for Windows 8.0/8.1 of the same version then follow the workaround here: [URL] Otherwise you need to look for it from unofficial sources.  If you would rather not look for it in unofficial sources then you may request a Windows 8 Reinstallation DVD from Dell by filling out this form here if you are in the US or CA: [URL] If you are in other regions call Dell Technical Support as they haven't expanded the courtesy of the media request form to other regions. Note Dell will only send you Windows 8 media and not Windows 8.1 media because of the roadblocks Microsoft have enforced to make the Windows 8.1 Upgrade difficult. The Windows Reinstallation Guide hence also explains how to clean install Windows 8.0 and upgrade to Windows 8.1 as cleanly as possible but direct clean install is preferable.
I'm being asked to reinstall Windows 8, Windows 8,1, and all my applications for the third time on an XPS 8700 I got in November. The reason I am told my image is bad is because the system will not install the version of Dell Backup and Recovery Dell created to work with Windows 8.1. The evidence is that the patch worked on another system. I'm sure it did, but that's not the same as knowing exactly what's wrong with my system. Is there a way to see if an image is good without having to throw hours and hours and hours of time at it (only to possibly find out that wasn't the problem after all). I use Windows 8.1, so there's no refreshing of the OS. I have a bootable backup I can use, but doing that is still going to cost me a lot of time to get the system up to date, and supposededly it won't work because it was made from a bad image.
How can you find out if you have a bad Windows 8 image?