Windows 11 Pro re-installation

[Deleted User]

Have you tried the original build image from Lenovo?

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/products/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre-m-series-desktops/thinkcentre-m700-tiny/10jm/solutions/ht103653-lenovo-digital-download-recovery-service-ddrs-download-the-files-needed-to-create-a-lenovo-usb-recovery-key

How to guide:
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/ht035659

Bonhomie

fwor said:

Bonhomie said:

Erm...how exactly are you 'starting' the install? I suspect that you are trying to run it from within Windows by simply double clicking on a mounted setup.exe file.

Install from Boot. Make sure that your installation media is Bootable. What CPU is in the Lenovo M70q Tiny?
F1 or Fn + F1 on start up to get into the BIOS. Secure Boot is under Security if it needs to be toggled. F12 on start up to choose the USB drive as the one to Boot.

Thanks - here's what I've been doing (definitely not trying to run the setup from inside Windows!):

1. Download the Win11 multi-edition ISO from MS

2. Write it as a bootable image to a USB flash drive

3. Plug in to the Lenovo M70q and reboot, selecting F12 for the boot menu and selecting the bootable image on the flash drive.

The CPU in the M70q is a very ordinary Intel i5 - actually an i5-10400T, which should be pretty easy to run with anything. Linux (Mint) runs on it with no fuss at all, no extra drivers needed anywhere.

Boot into the BIOS, select Devices then ATA Drive Setup and change the setting from RAID to AHCI from the 'Configure SATA as' option. Save the changes and try the installation again.

Bonhomie

Don't neglect to choose Custom and then choose to delete ALL of the partitions until there is only Unallocated Space left. The exception to this is if there is a recovery partition that you wish to keep.

Bonhomie

[Deleted User] said:

Have you tried the original build image from Lenovo?

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/products/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre-m-series-desktops/thinkcentre-m700-tiny/10jm/solutions/ht103653-lenovo-digital-download-recovery-service-ddrs-download-the-files-needed-to-create-a-lenovo-usb-recovery-key

How to guide:
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/ht035659

I don't think that image is free of charge.

fwor

Bonhomie said:

Boot into the BIOS, select Devices then ATA Drive Setup and change the setting from RAID to AHCI from the 'Configure SATA as' option. Save the changes and try the installation again.

Already done - Secure Boot off, RAID not selected - it was actually set to AHCI by default.

fwor

[Deleted User] said:

Have you tried the original build image from Lenovo?

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/products/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre-m-series-desktops/thinkcentre-m700-tiny/10jm/solutions/ht103653-lenovo-digital-download-recovery-service-ddrs-download-the-files-needed-to-create-a-lenovo-usb-recovery-key

How to guide:
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/ht035659

tallmansix - thanks for finding that. It's a very slow process - even when the downloading and transfer onto a flash drive is done, it still takes at least 2 hours.

So - it looks like it's now back to factory config.

Question - is it possible to start up Windows 11 without being forced to create a Microsoft account using an email address? I really don't want to do anything more than create a local username and password, but MS seems to insist that I enter a valid email address before I can go any further with the setup. The only two options it offers me are "set up for personal use" or "set up for work or school" and I really just need the "f**k off and let me set up my computer myself, thanks" option.

400ixl

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account

fwor

400ixl said:

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account

Thanks, that worked a treat, which I think means that it recovered back to Win11 21H2 rather than the current version - which is Ok by me.

Rather surprisingly the recovered factory setup includes a licensed OEM install of Office, which wasn't on the PC when I received it, so I think the previous owner must have rebuilt it themselves, somehow, via a method other than the Lenovo recovery process.

I doubt I'll ever need to use it, as I'm completely used to LibreOffice now, but at least it's there, just in case.

So - partitions now resized and ready for the Mint 21 install - just got to do a complete backup of the MythTV data on the old system and then it will be ready to install on this one.

Thanks all for the help - much appreciated.

Olinda99

Will you be able to locate and copy off the elusive .inf file should you ever need it in the future?

fwor

No, I don't think so! The problem is that the recovery process is so opaque - it just goes away and "does stuff" to the PC for 2+ hours.

No real way to find out what it loaded, nor where, without going through the registry in huge detail, I would have thought. IIRC Device Manager won't tell you enough info to work out with any accuracy where each device driver was loaded from (or if it does, it would be a tedious task).

No matter, the recovery image download from Lenovo was free, and as far as I know I could use that any time I wanted to rebuild, if I don't mind the 2 hours waiting while it does whatever it does, and also if I don't mind it junking my Linux install!