Can I format Fort Knox???

My buddy gave me a pc he was given by a friend who worked for Procter
and Gamble. He ask me to see if I could get past the login screen so
he could use it as a home desktop. It's a nice heavy duty machine and
acording to his friend there was no problem with it, they were just
upgrading the network and were going to trash it. Well needlees to say
this thing is like fort knox.lol
The OS is vista pro. (NOVEL Client for Windows). It's set up with
several network passwords and I know I can't use the usual tricks or
software on this.
Well I'm in no way interested in committing corporate espionage, I
have no interest In preserving the contents. I told him it may be
worth his while to buy a copy of vista or 7, but first I would like to
try linux to see if it can even be done.

Is there a way to format the hardrive and put a Linux distro on it
with all this security on it. I accessed the bios already and I set it
to boot from flash drive. I've never done anything like this before so
if anybody has any suggestions on how or "if" I can make this a usable
pc again.

The below link is the PC.

TIA,
Doomed Soul

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en...-12736162.html

On 1/30/2011 7:31 PM, Doomed Soul wrote:
My buddy gave me a pc he was given by a friend who worked for Procter
and Gamble. He ask me to see if I could get past the login screen so
he could use it as a home desktop. It's a nice heavy duty machine and
acording to his friend there was no problem with it, they were just
upgrading the network and were going to trash it. Well needlees to say
this thing is like fort knox.lol
The OS is vista pro. (NOVEL Client for Windows). It's set up with
several network passwords and I know I can't use the usual tricks or
software on this.
Well I'm in no way interested in committing corporate espionage, I
have no interest In preserving the contents. I told him it may be
worth his while to buy a copy of vista or 7, but first I would like to
try linux to see if it can even be done.

Is there a way to format the hardrive and put a Linux distro on it
with all this security on it. I accessed the bios already and I set it
to boot from flash drive. I've never done anything like this before so
if anybody has any suggestions on how or "if" I can make this a usable
pc again.

The below link is the PC.

TIA,
Doomed Soul

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en...-12736162.html

There are basically three passwords you might encounter:

1) BIOS password

2) Hard Drive password

3) Operating System/Network password

It sounds as if neither the BIOS nor the Hard Drive have a password on
them, so that's good.

As far as the OS/Network password, that would be made irrelevant by
dropping the existing partitions, and installing whatever OS you have
license to. About any Linux installer should be able to handle that.

?http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/boo...generation.htm

BootIt will run from a CD and allow you to delete/ format the partitions on
the HD
the download should have a 15 day free trial...so after download
expand it to a CD .Then boot from the CD and do not install but run it from
the CD.

If you run into Password problem why not just pull the HD and install a new
one

peter




If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate
or disruptive,please ignore it.
If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain
to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate :-)
"Doomed Soul" wrote in message
...

My buddy gave me a pc he was given by a friend who worked for Procter
and Gamble. He ask me to see if I could get past the login screen so
he could use it as a home desktop. It's a nice heavy duty machine and
acording to his friend there was no problem with it, they were just
upgrading the network and were going to trash it. Well needlees to say
this thing is like fort knox.lol
The OS is vista pro. (NOVEL Client for Windows). It's set up with
several network passwords and I know I can't use the usual tricks or
software on this.
Well I'm in no way interested in committing corporate espionage, I
have no interest In preserving the contents. I told him it may be
worth his while to buy a copy of vista or 7, but first I would like to
try linux to see if it can even be done.

Is there a way to format the hardrive and put a Linux distro on it
with all this security on it. I accessed the bios already and I set it
to boot from flash drive. I've never done anything like this before so
if anybody has any suggestions on how or "if" I can make this a usable
pc again.

The below link is the PC.

TIA,
Doomed Soul

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en...-12736162.html

Hey thanks. So once I install a distro on (lets say) D: then I can
format and wipe windows off clean (using posted tool). Thats my
ultimate goal is to wipe current version of windows off and replace
with linux (for now).
#1 install linux on partition first.
#2 format C

If you run into Password problem why not just pull the HD and install a new
one

I don't think he wants to spend the money for that right now.
Hopefully I can wipe it off.

Thanks,
Doomed Soul

Doomed Soul wrote:
Hey thanks. So once I install a distro on (lets say) D: then I can
format and wipe windows off clean (using posted tool). Thats my
ultimate goal is to wipe current version of windows off and replace
with linux (for now).
#1 install linux on partition first.
#2 format C

I don't see that you even need to go this far. Boot up with a Linux
installer (or a Linux Live CD and pick the install option) and tell it
to use the entire hard drive. That should dump pre-existing partitions
and lay down it's own deal.

It's possible, I guess, that there might be some sort of funky MBR that
would not get replaced by the aforementioned plan, and screw up your
install. If that is the case, just use a bootable disk utility from the
manufacturer of your hard drive, or a dedicated tool like this:

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

- - - - -

Something else comes to mind:

Vista is not really a great operating system, but it's value is non-zero
at least. If you retrieve the product key from the hard drive before
you wipe it, it might conceivably be of some use.

Of course, it might be one of those pre-activated installs so the
readable key is actually irrelevant, or at least already known to the
internet, and you would need manufacturer's recovery discs to
legitimately re-install Vista anyhow.

At any rate, if you pull the hard drive and plug it into another PC
that's running Magic Jellybean Keyfinder, you can direct that program to
open the registry on "Fort Knox's" transplanted hard drive, and get any
product keys it sees.

That's what I would do, anyhow.

Just a quick addenda to my key retrieval suggestion:

There might even be a copy of Microsoft Office on there, and that would
definitely be worth snagging the product key.

In message Grinder
was claimed to have wrote:

Just a quick addenda to my key retrieval suggestion:

There might even be a copy of Microsoft Office on there, and that would
definitely be worth snagging the product key.

It's unlikely that any software licenses were transferred with the
hardware. It's more likely that the previous corporate owner had a
volume license and that any key recovered would not be usable by the
current owner.

On 1/30/2011 11:45 PM, DevilsPGD wrote:
In Grinder
was claimed to have wrote:

Just a quick addenda to my key retrieval suggestion:

There might even be a copy of Microsoft Office on there, and that would
definitely be worth snagging the product key.

It's unlikely that any software licenses were transferred with the
hardware. It's more likely that the previous corporate owner had a
volume license and that any key recovered would not be usable by the
current owner.

It's an interesting question.

Recently I had a conversation with a Microsoft rep in the licensing
department about the transfer of a volume license when the machine is
sold. Although I did not rigorously pursue the matter, the rep
indicated that in some circumstances, the license would transfer--it was
all dependent on the terms of the original license, which apparently
varies from client to client.

That said, though, you're probably right that he has no legitimate
license now that the machine has "left the building."

- - - - - - -

In a related vein: I was shocked to discover that a client's Vista
license had expired because their motherboard went bad. It was an
eMachines pc, and the manufacturer consistently told me that I would
have to buy a new copy of Windows if I wanted to run it on the
machine--even if they sold me a replacement motherboard.

Grinder wrote:


In a related vein: I was shocked to discover that a client's Vista
license had expired because their motherboard went bad. It was an
eMachines pc, and the manufacturer consistently told me that I would
have to buy a new copy of Windows if I wanted to run it on the
machine--even if they sold me a replacement motherboard.

Is that one of those "tattoo" things ?

http://www.billoblog.com/?p=152

http://www.smartergeek.com/2010/08/1...a-code-purple/

One of the things they seem to be checking, is something
written in the DMI (part of the BIOS). I wonder if
moving the BIOS chip, from old motherboard to new, would
be enough ?

Paul

On 1/31/2011 4:50 AM, Paul wrote:
Grinder wrote:


In a related vein: I was shocked to discover that a client's Vista
license had expired because their motherboard went bad. It was an
eMachines pc, and the manufacturer consistently told me that I would
have to buy a new copy of Windows if I wanted to run it on the
machine--even if they sold me a replacement motherboard.

Is that one of those "tattoo" things ?

http://www.billoblog.com/?p=152

http://www.smartergeek.com/2010/08/1...a-code-purple/

It appeared to just be a SLIC table in BIOS.

One of the things they seem to be checking, is something
written in the DMI (part of the BIOS). I wonder if
moving the BIOS chip, from old motherboard to new, would
be enough ?

As far as I could tell, using their System Restore CDs with one of their
replacement motherboards would have permitted a pre-activated install of
Vista, but it was their claim that it would not have been legitimate.

They didn't seem particularly interested in selling me a board, and I
wasn't exactly looking to buy another ECS Crapmaster-31g.

Ultimately we resolved the issue by buying a different motherboard that
was processor and memory compatible, and a Windows 7 upgrade that was
clean installed. That seemed practical and righteous to me, in spite of
eMachines policy.

Even before that episode, but reinforced by the experience, I had come
to the conclusion that eMachines is the only name brand that should be
avoided wholesale. The other manufacturers have done things I don't
like, and have dumb designs on some of their models, by eMachines never
fails to disappoint.