Wiping windows 8

I got an Acer Aspire one AO756-2626 for a few bucks with a broken screen. It also has a login password. The external monitor kicks in only when I'm in the login screen, so I am not able to enter bios and boot from USB. If I enter the boot menu, would I able to wipe windows clean? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

You will probably be best extracting the contents of windows install media onto a partition, then booting that up to format and install. If that is what you are trying to do ?

Not clear if you are using efi or bios ?

If you can get to a login screen try this... on the login screen there should be a "power button" symbol bottom right.

Keep the Shift key held down and right-click on the power button and select Restart.

This should get you to the Advanced Start Up menu. You might be able to do something from there?

I'm trying to wipe windows clean and remove the password in the process. The problem is that I would have to do it blind.

Depending on the answer to this question:

SIW2 said:

Not clear if you are using efi or bios ?

Click to expand...

the Shift-Restart trick I mentioned above may get you into the BIOS settings (if it's efi).

What happens if you try that and then follow this tutorial?
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/20256-uefi-firmware-settings-boot-inside-windows-8-a.html

Edit: on my old (BIOS) laptop, I ran it with a monitor connected, and when I booted into Safe mode (again from a Shift Restart), it briefly showed me the BIOS screen on the monitor as well when I came out of Safe mode and rebooted, so it may be helpful for BIOS PCs as well. I suspect this depends heavily on the laptop motherboard though.

If you are trying to do a factory restore there is a specific key you press during bootup to access that function. If you download the owners manual for your model it will tell you how to do it. I don't know what key it is off of the top of my head.

Wish it was that easy. I may get lucky booting from USB. All PC's I previously came across always show picture as soon as they boot. This one only shows it once in Windows Logon. Is it possibly to create a recovery disk on one PC to use on this one? Both are running windows 8.

XxHaimBondxX said:

Wish it was that easy. I may get lucky booting from USB. All PC's I previously came across always show picture as soon as they boot. This one only shows it once in Windows Logon. Is it possibly to create a recovery disk on one PC to use on this one? Both are running windows 8.

Click to expand...

YES, If the PC is running Windows 8 x64 in UEFI mode.

But you will need to boot the CD/DVD/USB from the One Time Boot Menu, which is DISABLED on ACER PC's

which is DISABLED on ACER PC's

Click to expand...

That is convenient.

Just try tapping a variety of keys - try DEL to start with , tap it every second after you see the oem picture.

Maybe you need to hold DEL key down.

Enabling the boot device menu

Acer said:

On most Acer systems, you can use the F12 key on boot to select the drive or network from which loading the operating system. In case the F12 option does not work, you may need to enable this function.

SOLUTION

Enabling the F12 function:

1.Power on the system. As soon as the first logo screen appears, immediately press the F2 key, or the DEL key if you have a desktop, to enter the BIOS.
2.Press the right arrow key to select Main.
3.Use the arrow keys to navigate to F12 Boot Menu, and press ENTER.
4.Select Enabled, and press ENTER.
5.Press the F10 key to save changes and restart the system.

Click to expand...

You can use Hiren's Boot CD to totally obliterate the password:

Download Hiren's from the Link below my pic, burn it and boot ti it on the machine with the passworded account.

(Or, ise ISO2Disc to mount it to a Flash Drive - you'll need 700 MB).

At the Boot Screen, you'll see "Offline XP/Vista/7" password Removal Tool" - Chose THAT.


Read it CAREFULLY and follow the prompts, do what it says to do, It is a few Y on N presses, but the instructions are right in front of you. Use it to BLANK the passwords, you'll have to UNLOCK them first.

That sounds like a great tool, but I can't see anything since the screen is cracked. External is now showing until I'm in Windows.

My desktop PC doesn't show the BIOS splash screen. All I get is a blank black screen until the Windows startup screen shows. I can still access my BIOS though and its menus. This only happened after a video card upgrade. I just listen for the beep and then press the Del key to enter BIOS. If I have show full screen logo enabled I don't see anything, if I disable it I'll see the post screen.

If I am able to access the HDD from another computer, is there anything I could delete/modify to bypass the password? I have tried to delete the User files, however, that didn't help.

Forum rules prevent discussing bypassing passwords etc.

Well, I've installed windows 8 on HDD using another laptop, however, when I try to boot the Acer, I don't see anything on the external display. I guess I'm stuck without the new LCD.

XxHaimBondxX said:

Well, I've installed windows 8 on HDD using another laptop, however, when I try to boot the Acer, I don't see anything on the external display. I guess I'm stuck without the new LCD.

Click to expand...

What mode did you install in UEFI or Legacy?

How do I tell? I booted from my spare laptop's DVD-ROM, deleted all Acer's partitions and installed the new system. Is there something else I should have done?

http://global-download.acer.com/GDF... ONE&Step3=AO756&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

That should be the manual from Acer | Download and selecting your model.

About page 25 is the way to start by recovery from a USB - you will need a bootable installation USB - Windows 8.1 preview would do, or any other Windows 8 install iso. Then you could go back and download your drivers and recovery for the netbook AspireOne A0756. If you had left the recovery partition intact it could have restored the machine to factory settings, including drivers.

"2. Plug in the USB drive and turn on your computer.3. If it is not already enabled, you must enable the F12 Boot Menu:
a. Press <F2> when starting your computer.
b. Use the left or right arrow keys to select the Main menu.
c. Press the down key until F12 Boot Menu is selected, press <F5> to
change this setting to Enabled.
d. Use the left or right arrow keys to select the Exitmenu.
e. Depending on the type of BIOS your computer uses, select Save
Changes and Exit or Exit Saving Changesand press Enter. Select
OK or Yes to confirm.
f. Your computer will restart.
4. During startup, press <F12> to open the boot menu. The boot menu
allows you to select which device to start from, select the USB drive.
a. Use your arrow keys to select USB Device, then press Enter. "

Hoping that it is just a straight BIOS, and not securebooted UEFI. There are no indications of the full bios options available in the manual as far as I can see. Once in the bios you may be able to see an option to get you to a legacy BIOS.

Everyone keeps forgetting that the LCD is shattered. I have read the manual, but didn't think I could navigate through the prompts blindfolded.