Can I format Fort Knox???

[Doomed Soul]

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/e...2884-12132884-12132884-12736054-12736162.html

 

[peter]

?http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-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




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"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/e...2884-12132884-12132884-12736054-12736162.html

 

[Doomed Soul]

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

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> Grinder

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.

 

[Paul]

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/2010/08/10/hp-vista-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

 

[Jon Danniken]

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.

They are betting that once you see the cost of a new OS you will instead
just buy a new emachines. I wouldn't give up until I have called up
microsoft and explained the problem in excruciating detail.

Jon

 

[GMAN]

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/sm/WF25a/12132708-12132884-12132884-12132
884-12736054-12736162.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.

1.86 GHz ????? Linux is all i would run on that thing.

 

[GMAN]

It appeared to just be a SLIC table in BIOS.


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.

And you wonder why anyone in their right mind would buy an eMachine?

 

[Doomed Soul]

Thanks All. I am making this Post using The HP.

Fort Knox has left the building. Xubantu has taken its place. I'm
going to request they let me play around with this for a couple weeks
so as to learn the ways of Linux. I guess I'll have to take my post
over to the freeware group now. I now have to figure out how to
install drivers and such to make it all usable now. If I like it I may
just have to convert one of my machines over.

Thanks again,
Doomed Soul