Help! Laptop Repairer Could Remove My Windows 10

[unigirl]

Hi all

I have an MSI laptop purchased in April 2014 from Save On Laptops (aka Box)that has a still valid extended warranty. I'm making a claim under the warranty and the laptop will have to go back to to the company for examination/repair. The fault symptoms seem to point to a duff solid state drive (one of three 128GB devices in the laptop). The website of the seller states that in the event a HDD needs replacement, they are under no obligation to return it with an operating system, claiming it has to do with a Microsoft licencing agreement . I find this extraordinary. I bought the laptop with Windows 8 installed, since upgraded to Windows 10, but it seems they can send it back without me able to use it. Can Save On Laptops legally do this? Where can I obtain a legitimate copy of Windows 10 from? If I have to resort to contacting Microsoft, I'd have thought a new OS would cost me money. Why should I have to pay for a new operating system?

I thought the idea of a repair included putting the laptop back in the condition it was before the fault arose? If anything , I'll be worse off and I really don't know what to do. The terms of the warranty are void it if I take it to a local repairer rather than Save On Laptops. No one else can tamper with it as the screws are covered with tamper proof tape on the underside of the laptop even if someone told me they could do it and I was prepared to pay.

I'm vainly hoping that the OS is only one one of the three solid state drives and I wouldn't lose my data, but I can't find out how three SDD drives work together in this situation. My thinking is that the data is possibly on the other two drives as 128GB would be ample for the OS.

Thank you for your help. I just don't know what to do for the best.

[hc4361]

That's a nonsense. There should be a tamper proof sticker on the laptop with the Microsoft licence key which can be used to reinstall Windows.

[unigirl]

Thanks hc4361, but I'm afraid it's not the case. My previous laptops and desktops all had such a sticker, but this one did not and I've had it from new. It arrived in the manufacturers sealed packaging.

[Old_Geezer]

Do you know your licence number ?
You can download a Windows 10 .iso file from there https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

[Old_Geezer]

If not there must be applications you can download to see what your present licence number is. Someone with Windows 10 knowledge may even know how to get it anyway. Try right clicking on your PC icon on the desktop and selecting properties. It may be there.

[unigirl]

Thank you Old_Geezer. You've given me good advice but the problem is that I can't get the laptop to boot most of the time. Apologies as I should have made that clear. I've got something called Belarc Adviser installed on which I think gives me the licence key but the laptop gets stuck on the splash screen and the login box doesn't appear for me to enter my password, which means I can't get to the desktop.

The laptop has some recovery options available by pressing F3, but start-up recovery doesn't work and system restore fails to get it back up and running for some unknown reason.

[Bertrum]

Help here
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10/reinstalling-windows-10-after-upgrade/578d0b7f-57e4-4893-b9d1-6cfac0d6290a

[Old_Geezer]

Can you not boot from a CD, DVD, or pen drive ? Might allow you to explore your hard drive.

(I'd have thought that if sold with the OS and it's then part of the warranty, then they were obliged to fix it and return it in the same working condition.)

[unigirl]

Sorry Old-Geezer but I don't understand. I don't know how to go about booting from a CD, DVD or Pen Drive. What would need to be loaded on the CD, DVD or Pen Drive before I use it? I'm not certain what I'd gain by exploring the hard drive this way.

I really think they are trying to pull a fast one over this repair. There's nothing much easier than whipping out an old SDD, connecting up the new one and sending the laptop back to me. I know staff cost money but I find thewhole thing ridiculous. I don't think they care about the data on the SDD and want to take the easy option. I can't understand why they are allowed to do this because The laptop will not come back to me "Working" as no OS is installed.

[Old_Geezer]

You'd need it formatted with boot information. Like a rescue disk. I was hoping you might get access to licence details from the hard disk somehow. But I guess one needs to know where to find it.

[unigirl]

fender62, I can't get it to boot into safe mode unfortunately. Pressing the F8 key does absolutely nothing and the splash screen still appears and goes no further.

[hc4361]

Try F4

[Buenchico]

If you can manage to get the laptop booted up at all, you can get into Safe Mode by keeping the Shift key held down when you go to Start > Restart.

[unigirl]

F4 takes me straight to the repair options in which only system restore works. However, I get the message that the restore has failed, the laptop reboots and I'm back at the splash screen with no login box.

Chris, I can't get to the desktop at all to ask the laptop to reboot in any mode.

[Buenchico]

Try the 'F8' method again but don't just press the key once (or simply hold it down). Instead, keep repeatedly tapping away at it as your laptop boots up.

[unigirl]

No, I'm afraid F8 doesn't work on the laptop any longer. I certainly could get into safe mode when the laptop was up and running by pressing F8, but since the problem first arose, it no longer works.

Thanks all the same Chris.