Hi,

I finally joined the 21st century and bought a newer Thinkpad from eBay, but it has Windows 8 on it. The "important info" handout the seller put in the box says that Windows 8 does not have a COA and is embedded in the BIOS.

I don't want Windows 8 embedded in my BIOS.

Can I get rid of it?

TIA

As far as I know it is just the product key and not the operating system. It can not be removed.

1 members found this post helpful.

It sounded too outrageous to be true but yea.

Apologies for the extremely naive post. It's going back or else it's going to eWaste. I'm in over my head with this secure boot (expletive deleted).

The windows bootloader is registered in the bios. Get into the bios disable secure boot and see if you can boot your favorite distro.

2 members found this post helpful.

I don't think you have to return that thinkpad.
Better mosey over to https://thinkwiki.org/ and see what it says about your model.
(I have a thinkpad that came with Win10 originally and there was no problem at all installing Linux on it.)

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you.

I'm shooting the messenger. It's a T440 and people have been trying to warn me about secure boot for years, I just thought they were exaggerating.

After getting my emotions in check, it appears that the seller has already disabled secureboot for me but had also locked the BIOS so I can't get into the security tab. I would have been much happier with a T420, but that's hardly anyone's fault but my own.

My librebooted thinkpads are still here and still work, I just wanted the T440 to virtualize so that I could brush up on basic skills and either finally get certified by the Linux Foundation or try a BSD to escape all the recent drama, lol.

I guess you'll be seeing a lot more of me and liking me a lot less, lol. Pa Ingalls would say, "You can't stop progress, Half Pint." and my late aunt would refer to this as a "consequence of longevity".

Might be able to reflash the bios to bring back missing settings.

Sadly no way to remove their footprint it .. but at least they can't (yet) collect telemetry at that level.

Happily running Linux (only) on both my Ideapad y700 and Thinkpad X1 Carbon!

If the BIOS is protected with a password, unless you can get it from the seller in most cases you are out of luck. There might be a backdoor method to unlock the BIOS but I have not searched to see if it is possible with your laptop.

It's the perfect laptop, don't worry, but you seriously *must* have the password from seller!

Otherwise let the deal go back as a flawed/broken product.


Only a Lenovo dealer can remove the password... by replacing the motherboard (see manual)!


I have the T440s and really like how everything can be taken apart for repairs or upgrades. Download both user manual and hardware guide on website.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you so much. I got things sorted with the seller and my distro installed. A lot of what I thought was jokes or hyperbole about post-Vista Windows was just a simple statement of fact. Yikes.

Off to thinkwiki to get to know my new best friend. It was an impulse purchase, but probably way overdue. On to the next chapter of this thing we call "life".

Glad you got it sorted out.

Wish it were like desktop motherboards where you can reset the BIOS with a jumper OR remove the CMOS battery for a little while to clear it.

You'll probably regret that, if the laptop is stolen. [flashback] Or forgotten in the train! [/flashback off]

The manual warns you in bold about the consequences of the different pw levels. It may end up costing you serious money, so highest care must be taken.

Meh... highly overrated

Before doing too much in bios, I can highly recommend reading the manual! Interesting and important stuff there!

https://www.cocosenor.com/articles/c...ad-laptop.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vNJGD8fzt8