Steve Mutchler
asked on
Reinstall Win 10
Client bought brand new Dell with Win 10 preinstalled...
He partially set it up...I finished setup...put icons on desktop, connected to inet...installed a couple programs etc...
He used his sbcglobal acct on the initial setup...set pw for account...
For one week everything worked perfectly...
Then his login pw stopped working...
I tried a few pw crackers...no joy...
At my workbench... first I tried to create an image using Macrium...it told me I needed to run chkdsk /r...
I mounted HD on another pc and ran chkdsk...I printed out the log file and got 10 PAGES of issues on the HD...After running chkdsk I was able to make the image...
First...using a win 7 install DVD in CMD...ren utilman.exe utilman1.exe and ren cmd.exe utilman.exe
Rebooted and on login screen went to ease of access icon and into CMD window...in system32 I changed the pw for the account...it was successful...
Rebooted into Win 10...at login screen put in new pw...told me the PC was offline...plugged in CAT5...and would not take my pw...wants me to go to accounts.live.com and chg pw...cannot do that as it appears that client used an invalid email account...
When I try to access his email on a different pc...cannot log in...have call into him now for correct email acct and pw...
I downloaded a Win 10 ISO from Microsoft...and booted the PC from this disk...I wanted to use F8 and see if I can restore the win 10 installation...
I booted from that DVD and I tried bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy and get "boot configuration data store could not be found.
The requested system device could not be found...
My "gun is out of bullets"...:>)...
BASE ISSUE....I need to come up with some way to get around the non working pw on the login screen...
A new rebuild is an option...
Can I use this and re-inbstall win 10 all over from scratch...???
Since there is no EULA on the Dell pc...what about the Win 10 license...???
I need help...!!!!...please...
Sorry this is so long...hope I made sense out of this...
He partially set it up...I finished setup...put icons on desktop, connected to inet...installed a couple programs etc...
He used his sbcglobal acct on the initial setup...set pw for account...
For one week everything worked perfectly...
Then his login pw stopped working...
I tried a few pw crackers...no joy...
At my workbench... first I tried to create an image using Macrium...it told me I needed to run chkdsk /r...
I mounted HD on another pc and ran chkdsk...I printed out the log file and got 10 PAGES of issues on the HD...After running chkdsk I was able to make the image...
First...using a win 7 install DVD in CMD...ren utilman.exe utilman1.exe and ren cmd.exe utilman.exe
Rebooted and on login screen went to ease of access icon and into CMD window...in system32 I changed the pw for the account...it was successful...
Rebooted into Win 10...at login screen put in new pw...told me the PC was offline...plugged in CAT5...and would not take my pw...wants me to go to accounts.live.com and chg pw...cannot do that as it appears that client used an invalid email account...
When I try to access his email on a different pc...cannot log in...have call into him now for correct email acct and pw...
I downloaded a Win 10 ISO from Microsoft...and booted the PC from this disk...I wanted to use F8 and see if I can restore the win 10 installation...
I booted from that DVD and I tried bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy and get "boot configuration data store could not be found.
The requested system device could not be found...
My "gun is out of bullets"...:>)...
BASE ISSUE....I need to come up with some way to get around the non working pw on the login screen...
A new rebuild is an option...
Can I use this and re-inbstall win 10 all over from scratch...???
Since there is no EULA on the Dell pc...what about the Win 10 license...???
I need help...!!!!...please...
Sorry this is so long...hope I made sense out of this...
You said the machine came with Windows 10 pre-installed. So then use the Dell recovery partition to reimage the machine. That is the correct way to go.
There may be a recovery button on the Dell or press F1 at startup and interrupt to get to the recovery.
There may be a recovery button on the Dell or press F1 at startup and interrupt to get to the recovery.
John is 100% correct. Use the recovery partition if one is there. If one is not there, then the DVD you made will work fine.
ASKER
Well...On a Dell there is no F1....F2 takes you into setup, or BIOS or UEFI whatever you want to call it...
Normally you go into F8 to get into the Dell recovery mode...but the F8 option was removed in Win 10...
Which is why I tried the bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy ....this is supposed to put the F8 functionality
back into usage...
So...On the older Dells if you used a Dell CD you could reinstall however many times you wanted as the windows license was
coded into the BIOS...I don;t know if that is still done in Dell win 10 computers....
So If I use my "generic" win 10 install DVD....what happens to that windows license...???
I assume I will need at for the fresh install...
Normally you go into F8 to get into the Dell recovery mode...but the F8 option was removed in Win 10...
Which is why I tried the bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy ....this is supposed to put the F8 functionality
back into usage...
So...On the older Dells if you used a Dell CD you could reinstall however many times you wanted as the windows license was
coded into the BIOS...I don;t know if that is still done in Dell win 10 computers....
So If I use my "generic" win 10 install DVD....what happens to that windows license...???
I assume I will need at for the fresh install...
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ASKER
Scottcha...
I'm going to run with this...
I'm going to run with this...
You would only need a key for a system that didn't already have a valid Windows 7/8 install on it.