Tried to reinstall Windows 10 on a laptop and now it won’t boot.

[Crashnburn]

My desktop computer is packed set in a shipping container until I can buy and move into a hangar home. I have my late wife’s laptop but didn’t know her password and the finger print sensor didn’t recognize my fingerprint. At least I was able to guess her pin.

I thought if I reinstalled Windows 10 from scratch I could start over.

Long story short, now it won’t boot at all. I can get to the BIOS and it will bring up a splash screen for a little while but then I get a blank screen.

The laptop doesn’t have a DVD drive, just USB 3.0 ports. I’ve ordered a USB installation drive.

Actually, two. The cheap one comes tomorrow but doesn’t have a key. The other one comes next week and has a key.

I’m the meantime, does anyone have other ideas? Thanks.

 

[Palmpilot]

The laptop doesn’t have a DVD drive, just USB 3.0 ports. I’ve ordered a USB installation drive.

Actually, two. The cheap one comes tomorrow but doesn’t have a key. The other one comes next week and has a key.

The cheap one might encrypt everything and demand a ransom. The other one might also, unless it comes from Microsoft.

 

[Baked Potato]

What did you use to reinstall Windows? You can download a copy of Windows onto any USB drive, from the Microsoft website. If you have a USB drive with enough capacity you shouldn't have to order anything via mail.

 

[Crashnburn]

What did you use to reinstall Windows? You can download a copy of Windows onto any USB drive, from the Microsoft website. If you have a USB drive with enough capacity you shouldn't have to order anything via mail.

What did you use to reinstall Windows? You can download a copy of Windows onto any USB drive, from the Microsoft website. If you have a USB drive with enough capacity you shouldn't have to order anything via mail.

Very good point. At least there is nothing of value on the laptop.

I had a better idea. I have a Best Buy service agreement. I'll let them fix it tomorrow.

I canceled the orders and dropped the laptop off tonight.

 

[Crashnburn]

It took two tries at Best Buy but I got my password and fingerprint into the laptop.

 

[BillTIZ]

I keep a USB plug in CD Drive handy. Of course if everything is packed... you probably packed your portable CD Drive.

 

[Sac Arrow]

The other one might also, unless it comes from Microsoft.

Um, actually....

 

[DaleB]

I recently needed to wipe and re-install Windows on a Dell laptop. The downloaded image from Microsoft wouldn't install; it needed drivers it didn't have, and there was no place to download them. In the end, I found that the laptop had a BIOS function to re-install its factory image on the SSD.