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#1
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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 |
#2
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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. |
#3
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Can I format Fort Knox???
?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 |
#4
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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 |
#5
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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. |
#6
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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. |
#7
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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. |
#8
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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. |
#9
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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 |
#10
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Can I format Fort Knox???
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. |
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