J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Ed Cryer
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Ed Cryer
writes:
[]
When you set up a brand new OEM PC, it takes you through account
creation before you can do anything (even install Macrium).
Your solution would restore that account.

Ed



What if you don't install Macrium, but use a Macrium boot CD that you
made earlier on another machine: if you image a brand new OEM PC
[]
Your suggestion means that you'd have to switch on your new OEM PC,
change boot sequence, reboot with Macrium disc in.

Ah, you may be right: I was assuming that new machines defaulted to
boot-from-CD-if-there's-one-there; I may be well wrong about that. (And
yes, you would have to turn it on briefly to use the eject button so you
could actually put the CD in, unless you used the paperclip hole.)

I suppose that if that worked, then yes, you could image the pristine
disc. But I don't know if the way the OEM has set it up would allow it.

Me neither.

Anyway, I have another suggestion.
Do full setup; do whatever else you want to do. Load all your stuff.
And then, whenever you want, take an image of just the Recovery
partition.

That's the more normal situation. I was thinking about people who might
want to sell/give away PCs in "as new" condition; I can't see me ever
doing that (in much the same way as I run my cars into the ground,
rather than selling them).

Ed

John

It would work if the thing POSTed; if it went into the normal pre-boot
sequence, gave you the choice of enter BIOS, change boot order, boot
from current setting.
But (and this is where I can't be 100% certain) I don't think they do;
they go straight into boot from C and pick up in the Win setup sequence
where the sysprep has left off.

If they did POST, then you could change to boot from DVD or USB, and do
whatever you wanted. You could treat your new OEM machine as a
bare-bones computer; completely format C, load chosen OS, bypass all the
crapware removal that we hate so much. You'd have the hardware and a
Win10 licence; so you could get the very latest Win10 downloaded
elsewhere and set it up with all updates.

Ed