Do you guys know of a way to fix this windows install,or at least save the window key?

[trainergames]

Ok i bought a used custom built PC form a pawnshop for only $50 because it won't boot into windows.

 

The drive is seen in the bios,but the system says:

"An operating system wasn’t found. Try disconnecting any drives that don’t contain an operating system.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

 

I am working on putting back together one of my spare pc's to connect the drive to see what i find.

 

If i find a window install what can i do to try to fix it,or at least save the windows key so I don't have to buy a key for it?(because it does not have a windows key on the case)

[Mr Technician]

It looks like it may not have windows installed at all, though it's possible that a windows key is associated with the motherboard. If windows were installed I would expect it to boot.

[trainergames]

I am hoping that maybe someone deleted a file or something to mess up windows.

[Mr Technician]

2 minutes ago, trainergames said:

I am hoping that maybe someone deleted a file or something to mess up windows.

Considering it's from a pawnshop it's likely it doesn't have an OS at all. Try connecting the drive to another computer and see what's on it.

[LHJKO]

If there's a windows key it should be locked to hardware s just reinstall windows on it 

[trainergames]

18 minutes ago, ThatFlashCat said:

Considering it's from a pawnshop it's likely it doesn't have an OS at all. Try connecting the drive to another computer and see what's on it.

Really, because at most pawn shops near me you  have to have an OS installed to sell or pawn a computer.

 

I am going to test it soon,but I had to stop to go pick up a family member from work,and will do it when I get back.

13 minutes ago, Vernw3.com said:

If there's a windows key it should be locked to hardware s just reinstall windows on it 

Even if it had windows 7?

[SydneySideSteveSomewheres]

There are programs out there that can put all your software licence numbers into a text file so that you can save them. But they run in the Windows operating system environment. 

It is most likely the previous owners Windows licence was NOT linked to the hardware and they pawned the machine before they moved it across to their new machine.

 

Quote

Starting with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, your product key is no longer only attached to your hardware — you can also link it to your Microsoft account. 

Either that or the pawn shop level1 tech guy is not so level1 and they just swapped out the HDD for some reason...

[trainergames]

2 hours ago, ThatFlashCat said:

Considering it's from a pawnshop it's likely it doesn't have an OS at all. Try connecting the drive to another computer and see what's on it.

I tried it and there does seem to be OS files on it.

2 hours ago, SydneySideSteveSomewheres said:

There are programs out there that can put all your software licence numbers into a text file so that you can save them. But they run in the Windows operating system environment. 

It is most likely the previous owners Windows licence was NOT linked to the hardware and they pawned the machine before they moved it across to their new machine.

 

Either that or the pawn shop level1 tech guy is not so level1 and they just swapped out the HDD for some reason...

there seems to be a windows install on it,but i don't know why it won't boot.

[Ace McPlane]

5 hours ago, trainergames said:

I tried it and there does seem to be OS files on it.

there seems to be a windows install on it,but i don't know why it won't boot.

Just make a USB installer with the media creation tool from microsoft and install windows fresh.

There are a ton of legit places where you can buy windows keys for cheap so don't worry about it. Pretty much no one buys them strait from microsoft anymore.

So, even if there is no windows license, it won't be the end of the world  

[Mr Technician]

6 hours ago, trainergames said:

I tried it and there does seem to be OS files on it.

there seems to be a windows install on it,but i don't know why it won't boot.

Ok, my mistake.

[trainergames]

3 hours ago, stateofpsychosis said:

Just make a USB installer with the media creation tool from microsoft and install windows fresh.

There are a ton of legit places where you can buy windows keys for cheap so don't worry about it. Pretty much no one buys them strait from microsoft anymore.

So, even if there is no windows license, it won't be the end of the world  

I would like to try to avoid that if possible and at least try to fix it first,and do that as a last resort, to try to keep my costs down.

[Ace McPlane]

1 hour ago, trainergames said:

I would like to try to avoid that if possible and at least try to fix it first,and do that as a last resort, to try to keep my costs down.

Okay, make that USB stick but use it to repair windows instead of installing it fresh.

[trainergames]

10 minutes ago, stateofpsychosis said:

Okay, make that USB stick but use it to repair windows instead of installing it fresh.

Ok I tried startup repair,system reset/restore,and none of those would work.

 

I tried the stuff on this page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3103656/an-operating-system-wasn-t-found-error-when-booting-windows

 

And i started getting another that said "windows failed to start a recent hardware or software change might be the cause to fix the problem" and it said something about BCD.

 

I then tried the stuff in this page: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-update/the-boot-configuration-data-for-your-pc-is-missing/7078bdf8-4396-46f1-97a6-7b7f4aaedab8

 

So far it still will not boot, and i did try startup repair after each of those things i tried.

 

I am guessing the OS is Fubar?

[Ace McPlane]

28 minutes ago, trainergames said:

Ok I tried startup repair,system reset/restore,and none of those would work.

 

I tried the stuff on this page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3103656/an-operating-system-wasn-t-found-error-when-booting-windows

 

And i started getting another that said "windows failed to start a recent hardware or software change might be the cause to fix the problem" and it said something about BCD.

 

I then tried the stuff in this page: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-update/the-boot-configuration-data-for-your-pc-is-missing/7078bdf8-4396-46f1-97a6-7b7f4aaedab8

 

So far it still will not boot, and i did try startup repair after each of those things i tried.

 

I am guessing the OS is Fubar?

Yea, I think your only option at this point is a reinstall. Just backup the data off of it first if you can or install windows to another SSD so you don't have to wipe the drive...

One last thing you might want to try is reseating every cable and component. 

That means the ram, the graphics card, etc too not just cables. Just to make sure there are no bad connections.

Ram often looks like it's snapped down all the way when it's not for example and GPU sag and just bumping the case around can cause graphics cards to need to be reseated once in a while so worth a shot.

[trainergames]

2 minutes ago, stateofpsychosis said:

Yea, I think your only option at this point is a reinstall. Just backup the data off of it first if you can or install windows to another SSD so you don't have to wipe the drive...

One last thing you might want to try is reseating every cable and component. 

That means the ram, the graphics card, etc too not just cables. Just to make sure there are no bad connections.

Ram often looks like it's snapped down all the way when it's not for example and GPU sag and just bumping the case around can cause graphics cards to need to be reseated once in a while so worth a shot.

I already tried reseating everything when i took it apart to clean it before trying to fix it.

[Ace McPlane]

10 minutes ago, trainergames said:

I already tried reseating everything when i took it apart to clean it before trying to fix it.

Okay, but push down on the ram and the GPU just a bit again. Those really like to not snap down all of the way sometimes. Can't hurt to try again.

Yea, I think reinstalling windows is where you're at though.

[trainergames]

11 hours ago, stateofpsychosis said:

Okay, but push down on the ram and the GPU just a bit again. Those really like to not snap down all of the way sometimes. Can't hurt to try again.

Yea, I think reinstalling windows is where you're at though.

I think I fixed it lol.

 

Ok the usb install disk I had been using was a windows 8 one I had lying around,well i was going to install windows 7 and i was about to install it when I decided to just try a startup repair with the windows 7 disk.

 

Well i ran it and it rebooted i removed the usb drive to see what happened,and it booted into a windows 10 update....

[SydneySideSteveSomewheres]

So it is fixed congrats...@trainergames it probably was the pawnshop tech person who noticed that there was a drive inside that was worth parting out, for example, an Silverstone expansion card ECM21 and an Adata PCIe M.2 SSD. And did not bother rebooting into Windows after cloning the OS onto the drive you received with the machine...good to hear you have now got a usable machine.