Hello!
Not sure if this is the right place, so if there’s a better, please let me know, but I have a Lenovo think center that I acquired that I want to use as a simple home server, got an i5 6700 in it, may need some tweaks, but should be good. My problem is it came from a now defunct company and it wants my corporate email to download the profile. This is after I tried to factory reset it and delete all of the items. When I turn it on it asks for my corporate email, when I try to type iny Hotmail it says it’s wrong and gives me the option for a security key USB. I’ve downloaded the win 11 installer onto a flash drive, but it jus goes straight to the corporate login request. I can get to bios, but admittedly I’m not sure what to do from there, as I’m not seein the proper options.
Any suggestions on how to flash this so I can use it for Plex, Valheim, Minecraft, and personal storage would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I have a pair of hdds imma use for the storage, am I other thinking this and just need to toss the original hdd?
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I was able to make changes without a password, switched boot order to usb and got windows 11 installed, but was still asked for corporate email to download profile, now in windows 11™
Linux is your easiest bet. I forget how windows does its MDM, or if it’s easy to bypass. But it knows it’s a corporate computer so it’s going to ask for the corporate login and auto provision itself for it. If a reinstall didn’t work then you’d have to do Somme other trickery to bypass it.
Or just install Linux and have it not care. Ubuntu and Linux mint are pretty noob friendly.
Where you able to boot to the windows installer when you plugged in the usb drive? If not, plug in the windows installer USB, go into BIOS and change the boot order so that the USB drive is first. This same advice applies if you’re trying to install Linux from a USB.
I was able to change the boot order and install windows 11, however it just asked me for my corporate email for login to windows 11 -__-
Linux is probably your best bet. Alternatively, if you really want Windows, you could try installing a windows home edition, which can’t join domains so might not work with whatever software is trying to provision it.
There’s also this reddit solution which potentially is the fix you need. https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/1cmi3xe/comment/l33c7ln/
That worked! Thank you very much!
You’re welcome! I’m glad I could point you in the right direction!
Try it. Remove the original drive and see if the login prompt still appears.
Use a live Linux CD/USB but do not install it and wipe the drive with command “shred -uzv /dev/sda” or whichever the drive is. Use partition manager to check the label for the drive to securely wipe it.
You can download a system restore image from Lenovo for that specific pc. It reloads the OS from a thumb drive, including the proper drivers and licensing.
For licensing you can also run the scripts from Microsoft.