thank you very much for the valuable info and the link.
Seems I need to know about that after all.
On your PC running Windows 11 in S mode, open Settings > System > Activation.
In the Switch to Windows 11 Pro section, select Go to the Store. (If you also see an “Upgrade your edition of Windows” section, be careful not to click the “Go to the Store” link that appears there.)
On the Switch out of S mode (or similar) page that appears in the Microsoft Store, select the Get button. After you see a confirmation message on the page, you’ll be able to install apps from outside of the Microsoft Store.
Oh dear. So WIN11 must be running then in order to follow this procedure.
I was hoping not to have to start WIN at all and begin by nuking it.
That´s some time wasted then but it seems it can´t be helped.
Sorry, I don’t know. I just did a search on the computer you listed and it gave a list of keys to press for the boot menu. The ones listed are ones I would try anyway.
Another thought so you could fail back to the original setup is to have a second hard drive available. I checked the website and it looks like an M.2 drive. Laptops can be difficult to take apart and upgrade, but that might be worth a shot. Those drives can be very inexpensive. I saw a 256 GB M.2 SSD on Amazon for $16.99 (US).
no problem.
Thanks for your help regarding the boot menu.
That´s an interesting approach.
Yet, I have to bear in mind that it´s not my laptop we´re dealing with but my ex-neighbour´s.
I don´t think she would agree to it… .
I think I´ll do it this way:
make a clonezilla disk backup (hopefully) before starting the laptop for the first time
In the meantime I downloaded the manual for Medion Akoya E3223from Medion´s website…
… so I could take a look at it and found this regarding UEFI:
You can only run the configuration program shortly after system startup.
If the notebook is already started, turn it off and restart it.
Press the F2 function key to start the UEFI settings.
The F2 is probably for the UEFI boot menu, bios key is more than likely either the DEL key or F12. You have to be quick and almost have the key pressed when the device powers up.
In the UEFI setting (basic hardware configuration of your system) you have a wide range of setting options for operating your notebook.
For example, you can change the way interfaces operate, security features, or power management. The notebook is already set at the factory to ensure optimal operation.
It seems these are the UEFI settings after all
Performing UEFI setting
… F2 key.
Perhaps they do things differently with that particular laptop…
Things may vary from device to device.
If I want to get to the boot order menu, usuall try F10, F12: I press both of them in series quickly.
Like 2 times a second.
If I want to get to the setup, I press repeatedly quickly F1, then F2, then Del. I press these like 4 times a second right after switching on - If I didn’t succeed (laptop boots normally), take a chance on the next button.
Some Lenovo notebooks have a dedicated (small) button on their side, which is possible to press with a pencil when switched off. Then the notebook switches on, and starts with the basic setup (UEFI settings).
Then the adventure gets more exciting, if Fn-lock is enabled, some devices need then to press Fn+F2 to achieve F2 pressed…
@Rosika
One more thing you might consider, before nuking W11, from your friends laptop, is this. W11 is slated to be replaced by W12, next fall, right now your friend would, more than likely, have a free upgrade too W12. Just passing this along.
If I did the laptop setup setup for anyone else that would be valuable information indeed.
But for my ex-neighbour this wouldn´t matter much.
Mind you, I´d be glad if I could get her to check her e-mails on her own.
Until now I´m sorry to say she doesn´t know how to switch her laptop on, let alone power it down (her old laptop, that is).
I have tried to introduce her to at least the bare minimum but she´s reluctant to learn…
Oh well…
Does she need that laptop at all?
I see, she has obligations to be online, check emails and such, but - if you can’t teach her how to do that, you’ll have to do it for her every time anyway - assuming you still want to help her. If that’s the case, ask for permissions, passwords, etc, and do her online stuff, check email, etcetera, and tell her whenever there’s something that requires her personal activity. Such as paying a bill.
I can imagine I would do this for a friend, however I would hesitate actually paying the bills
Quite.
I do it the same way on my desktop PC. It´s F12 for accessing the boot menu.
Well, it seems that way as she has already switched over to digital/online for so many items…
Or rather she had her daughter do it for her.
I haven´t given up totally on that… yet.
Well, I´ll check her e-mails (I do it from home). That´s all I do on a regular basis.
Of course when things do pop up out of the ordinary the work involved becomes more extensive.
It´s kind of a bizarre situation with her:
On the one side she hates everything IT-related and is unwilling to participate in any work related to it…
… on the other hand she wants to enjoy its benefits. E.g. she needs to have her old photo slides digitized so that she can throw away the old ones.
Also: a lot of digital personal documents have accumulated by now. I don´t want to keep hers on my computer.
So she should need a laptop of her own after all.
That is not the issue, it is a brand new laptop, any tampering with the device, and it could become unusable. The device may be a piece of crap, for all I know, but I doubt if Linux will be any better.
Brand new != heavily powerfully super-fast performant! Like we discussed about it an other thread.
Performance cannot be predicted simply on age of a device…
A 4 years old i7 is way much more powerful, than a brand new Celeron.
That device is quite similar to my sons laptop, which is a weak configuration -weak means not really powerful, on the other hand it lasts 6…8 hours on battery), Windows (any version) would not run it, just snail-crawling…
Well, Debian runs on it, and it’s acceptable.
It’s not that “because of Linux”, but “because of a light DE”, thus not a resource hogging system…
Can we settle this question.
We have a brand new laptop with W11. @Rosika is about to wipe its disk, and install linux.
Is there any chance that she will not be able to either install linux, or reinstall W11, so that the computer becomes unusable?
I don’t see any reason it could become unusable.
Generally speaking, I expect problems installing Linux on very exotic hardware. This laptop does not seem like that.
I’ve read before about (cheap low-end) devices which have 32 bit UEFI, installing 64 bit Linux on them is tricky, but doable. I don’t have the trick now below the residues of my hair, but I could look it up. The worst case I can imagine is that situation: 64 bit Linux won’t start because of x86_64.efi cannot be loaded by the devices 32bit UEFI.
If for any reason the Linux install completely fails, at last Win11 can be reinstalled.
.
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