Clearly, you are trying to impress me with your superior knowledge. No
wonder most folks refuse to use newsgroups when trolls constantly spout
negative garbage to people who are truly seeking help. Fortunately, several
other respondents where helpful.
BTW, I e-mailed my youngest son in PA with the same identical question I
sent to the newsgroup. He phoned the in-law and corrected the problem in a
few minutes. The solution was simple. The problem is corrected.
"VanguardLH" wrote in message
Most, if not all, new PC's come with the system preinstalled on the
HD.
Definitely not all. Lots of users choose to build their own computing
platform and they're not stuck with someone else's choice based of
largest market for most promising revenue.
You never bothered to identify the actual brand and model (and still
haven't identified it). All you said was "desktop". Well, lots of them
get fabbed by users or shops or companies to their own specs. No one
knew what you, er, your neighbor has and still don't.
Most, if not all, do NOT include a system disk.
To eliminate losing the CD (before or after delivery to the customer),
to permit automatic operation to restore to factory defaults, and only
lastly to save a dime on the cost of a CD, the OEM'ers use a portion of
the hard disk to create a hidden partition in which to save either an
image of the OS partition or secrete a custom reinstallation setup.
During the boot, after the POST but before the OS loads, the customer
will see a screen which includes info on what keystroke combination to
hit to bring up the restoration facility. Since you provided absolutely
nothing about the actual hardware platform, Nil already gave you an
answer but had to be just as vague as you.
Clearly this poses a linguistic problem since the brochures which
accompany the PC talks about the "Install" or "activation" procedure.
Not a linguistic problem.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/linguistics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
Instead a semantics problem (at a higher level than linguistics) where
confusion of meaning was entirely caused by lack of details and context
in your original post.
Therefore, the friend has a computer with the OS installed on the HD, but
is
not activated until some predetermined processes are completed by the new
owner.
"Installing a new desktop with Win7" could mean:
- Installing a 'new desktop with Win7'. This has Win7 already
pre-installed on the desktop and "installing" means something else as
you elucidated in your reply.
- 'Installing a new desktop' with Win7. This has the neighbor
installing an OS on the new desktop.
Without the details in your original post, "install" of an OS connotates
the user is doing the install of the OS, not performing some completion
tasks on an already existing installation of the OS. No one know from
your original post that the neighber got a pre-built desktop computer
with a pre-installed OS.
The friend (actually my brother-in-law) lives many miles from me and
depends
on the telephone and my computer to assist in reconciling the problem.
It did not go unnoticed that your story changed in that the neighbor is
now "many miles away".
WE are still faced with the vexing problem of his inability to undue an
erroneous password entry. He should have waited until the
install/activation/setup/initial operating procedure was completed before
he
began the password procedure. Too late for "I should have".
You still follow Nil's suggestion of flattening and rebuild. With the
additional information you provided in your reply, you use the
still-unidentified manufacturer's procedure to restore their pre-built
platform. The hardcopy guide or manual will describe that procedure, or
just look for indentification after the POST completes on what keystroke
combination to hit to bring up their restoration facility.
You have yet to identify the make and model of the pre-built desktop PC
with the pre-installed Windows 7. Getting focused help is far more
likely with you provide sufficient details to identify what you have.
I have Google this question, and searched the archives of Microsoft. So
far,
I have not found a procedure that will quickly solve the particular
problem.
We are now attempting to contact the supplier.
Since this is a "new" desktop PC, why hasn't your neighbor, er, friend,
er, brother-in-law called the manufacturer of the desktop PC since
support is included up to some maximum number of calls or before some
time limit? They would know how to perform a factory-time restore of
their product. Why is your in-law asking you for help to ask someone
else on how to get their computer working when they can go to the source
that produced the computer?
Have your in-law read the manual on whatever make and model of computer
he purchased to see if it tell him how to perform a restore (usually
mentioned in a screen displayed before the OS loads), or have him call
the manufacturer to get help from their own tech support who should be
intimate with how to perform a factory-time restore.
