Last hope
- Thread starter Aedus
- Start date
Have you tried manually starting explorer.exe from task manager? (Shift+Ctrl+Esc or Ctrl+Alt+Del)
And as Azza said, once you get the explorer up, just backup and reinstall.
Yeah I found a way to get explorer up, but it's her and her bf's so I'll tell them what to do with it and let them get on with it, they can back it up themselves since they have a restore partition that Dell has provided for them, and then they can re-install.
But if they re-install with the CD-key they have now, won't it just be deactivated?
I'm going to tell her to do that with the stuff she wants to keep, and then get her to do a fresh install
If it's the key on the COA (sticker on bottom of laptop), then it's completely legit.
This time, just make sure they get it activated online or over the phone well before the trial period expires.
Will slap her and make sure she does so
Cheers for the help everyone, I thought there would be a way around it, turns out there isn't. At least she won't need to pay any money to fix it.
I've never heard of the task bar disappearing before.
Just activate it online as soon as you have re-installed windows, saves having to show her how to do it.
Aye, the whole thing was blank, with 3 options:
Either go to the microsoft website and buy a new copy, input a new CD-key OR ask dell for help.
There was no activation option, but when I went on the website it did ask if I wanted to activate it, I pressed yes and then it came up with the thing which says "Right click computer > Properties > Activate windows" But it was so locked-down, you couldn't get into the properties, so it was basically useless.
I'll tell her anyway, it's not something hard to fix, it's just bemusing that she said she didn't use the laptop for like just over a month, and in that time that's when the activation thing came and went, and the next time she put it on it came up with the same screen I see now.
just reinstall on top it will not delete any files.. - assuming you dont tell it to format the drive..
if its xp, slightly nicer if you boot from a linus or some other boot cd and rename program files, windows and documents and settings.. if its w7 or vista it does it for you
Silly question, but did you try putting the key from the COA in the New CD Key box and activating?
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What about a Windows repair using the Vista Disk?
If I remember correctly this will ask you to reactivate it.
If I remember correctly this will ask you to reactivate it.
1) Boot Linux live CD to backup her documents
2) Format her PC and install using the serial key located on her COA
3) Activate via phone/online as soon as you're on the desktop
4) Put her documents back in place
5) Ask for payment
2) Format her PC and install using the serial key located on her COA
3) Activate via phone/online as soon as you're on the desktop
4) Put her documents back in place
5) Ask for payment
Use a Linux live cd like Mint or Ubuntu to get access to the drive and recover the files, it's ridiculously easy to do
This..
Live cd = doesn't have to be installed
Just download the 32bit linux mint iso, burn with imgburn, then boot the laptop using that cd.
Sysprep would have worked, have had to do it myself before.
Tried sysprep, did nothing
Of course, first thing I tried
I don't need to boot into linux, I can get around the lock-down so she can move her files and stuff herself.
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Must have forgotten the rearm option then, or the system had already been rearmed too many times I guess.