Shame on Microsoft - Windows Installation Failed - Blue Screen of Death

[randint]

So, I have this brand new computer (Dell Vostro 3560) with the following specifications:

1TB HDD, 8GB RAM, Intel i7-3632QM CPU, 2.20GHz, 15.6 inch screen (anti-glare, preloaded System, Windows 7 x64)

I am a student, and therefore eligible for DreamSpark. I downloaded the ISO for Windows Server 2012 x64 Datacenter, then put it on a 4 GB USB Flash drive, started the computer from it...

Windows Setup Cannot Detect any Hard Drives? WTF?

Booted into Windows 7, set up a partition and formatted as NTFS, re-started setup by running setup.exe, copied files, restarted machine. I booted into "Windows Setup", BSOD occured.

Windows 7 has absolutely no problems...wow, Microsoft, shame on you!

[randint]

Anyways, I gave up, Windows 7 can be dealt with I guess. If I have to, I will use some other way to install Server 2012, or Windows 8, if I can get a clean way of "activating" it.

Anyways, I can now play with Ubuntu on a seperate partition (I hope, if installation is successful).

[rdrake]

Even with tweaking, when I ran Windows Server on my desktop, it ran like a dog. Ended up putting Windows Pro on it and it ran great.

[randint]

The problem is: does the WS2012 Setup ISO lack the drivers? So, I guess I will need to do something...maybe wait for some Windows 8 thing to come [from the University of Waterloo] and put that onto the computer instead?

Now, the Waterloo thing that I talked about is DreamSpark Premium, I think it is available to "MATHFACULTY" students (??) I am not a student yet (accepted offer, but no fees paid).

[andrew.]

I think all students get access to the MSDN-AA applications at UW. So that means different MS operating systems, Visual Studios, Visio, etc. In addition to the MSDN-AA, UW also offers discounted software (Adobe CS, Maple, etc.). Here's where you can see that stuff: http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/admin/softwareforstudents.html

[randint]

Update: I used KMS Servers (those no-ip ones) to activate Windows 8 (I did an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 Ultimate OEM:SLP to Windows 8 Pro VOLUME:KMSCLIENT) and it is good for now... until Microsoft catches me pirating, and I hope that by then I will have a PID from UW, or I have Ubuntu 13.04 as a 2nd system.

MS will end very soon...

[Nathan4102]

Since when has Microsoft been chasing piraters? I know a lot of people that have been running pirated versions of windows 7 since release, no problems at all.

[randint]

You obviously do not understand...things have changed. Windows 7 Pirating is way easier than Windows 8. Windows 7 OEM:SLP pirating cannot be detected by Microsoft no matter what. Because all the activation information is embedded into the BIOS and activation is offline.

Windows 8 activation crack is done by means of a KMS server (for the corporations). Microsoft can check the ePID for the KMS server and blacklist the host key, and you are labelled. When UW gives me a free key, I get to use W8, indefinitely.

I am not in CS, but I want to learn how to program on my own while going into a CO program. I hope that this will be a good set up...

[Dan]

Why bother pirating Windows when you can install a free open source operating system, that would be as good or better as a development environment? You will likely learn a lot more installing, tweaking and working with a Unix-like OS than Windows.

I personally use Gentoo Linux for both my desktop development environment and my server environments (the CompSci.ca server uses a Gentoo distribution). Gentoo might be a bit much for some one just starting with Linux (Gentoo requires a manual install and kernel compilation) but you will learn a lot. Alternatively there are many very easy to install distributions out there (e.g. Ubuntu Desktop).

I should also point out that posting information about pirating software is a violation of our rules, so I will have to ask you to stop posting anything that could help some one pirate Windows or any other software.

[randint]

The key question to everyone: why is Windows Setup unable to detect a hard drive? Is there any reason for that? Is it Windows that is stupid, or is it Dell? Haha, guess I will have to use Linux to fix this, but if not, I will have to return the laptop to Dell for a complete refund.

[randint]

So, now, I have a better sense of the problem that I originally have:

My laptop, while new, and functioning (as long as you do not reformat, because you are not able to), is stupid in every way when it comes to booting from anything other than the hard drive, because:

1. Insert USB key with Windows Server 2012 installation files, boot from USB, Windows Setup cannot detect hard drive
2. Insert DVD with Windows 8 installation files, boot from DVD, Windows Setup cannot detect hard drive
3. Insert Ubuntu 13.04 x64 USB, boot from USB, Ubuntu Setup cannot detect hard drive

I suspected that the problem was UEFI or Intel Smart Response Technology and I will reiterate, I have a Dell Vostro 3560 laptop, 1TB HDD (maybe a SSD/HDD hybrid), 8GB RAM, Intel i7-3630 CPU, 2.2GHz, 15.6 inch anti-glare screen, with Fingerprinting device, SD card slot, DVD drive, several USB 2.0/3.0 slots, and a camera. How can I "inject" a driver into a Windows or Linux installation? Or is there some hack in the BIOS that I can do, so that the hard drive becomes visible? I do not want to have my computer catch a virus or crash more than 1 year from now, and have nowhere to turn to because my warranty has expired - therefore, the purchase of another computer becomes necessary. I also cannot dual-boot, but I am unwilling to run VMs, because doing so will prevent me from taking advantage of the large amount of RAM on the computer.

[Dan]

I recommended asking your question to the Ubuntu community support http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community if you wish to install Linux.

As for Windows we can't help much here since you seem to be using a pirated copy of Windows. Tho you could always try the Dell support forums http://en.community.dell.com/

[randint]

With the help of people in the Ubuntu community, I was finally able to jailbreak my Dell Vostro 3560 laptop, here is the link http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121. For anyone running into this problem in the future, read post #9, then #5 of that thread.

[Dan]

I am not sure if installing Linux on a PC counts as jailbreaking.

[randint]

When the computer is at its out-of-box state, hard drives are undetectable by Windows or Linux installation media (yes, I have a legitimate copy of Windows Server 2012, I only pirated Windows 8 because Server 2012 refuses to install, not because I do not have legal Windows DVDs [remember, DreamSpark is available for all students]).

Now, maybe it is not "jailbreaking", per-se, but, the way that the OEM sets up this laptop effectively prevents one from modifying the OS without the use of a Linux Live CD to "dmraid" and reveal the true hard drives...I hate fake RAID disks, you know?

People, when you buy a computer that has a small mSATA SSD and a much larger HDD, you must go to a Linux site and start downloading a Live CD, then "sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda".