[dangrossman]

Considering Microsoft is not reading this, and you don't have a Twitter account in your profile, would you mind sharing with HN what your message means? Why did you buy Windows 8 if you didn't want it, and why can't you get rid of it?

[wheaties]

I bought an emergency computer at Best Buy pre-installed with Windows 8. No matter what I've tried I can not get the thing to start not in Windows. I can't even drop down to the legacy BIOS to get Linux to boot.

Oh yeah, I also failed the recapcha several times before I could even get into the computer in the first place. A recapcha when you're first starting... brilliant. Btw, I'm not an MS hater but I am a Windows 8 hater.

[Karunamon]

I had to help a friend out of this predicament a while ago.. what I ended up doing was taking my smartphone into the store (an Office Depot) and searching the models of the computers they had for sale to see what has Windows 7 drivers available. Found one (A Lenovo, couldn't tell you what kind), had to muck around because it would only boot from USB but not cdrom (???), but finally got into the 7 installer and cleared all eight partitions and installed windows 7.

Eight Goddamned partitions. What the hell.

[hnriot]

What you describe is a feature of Windows 8, it's to ensure that a trusted source controls what runs on the hardware. Windows 8 is, as you've discovered, far more security conscious.

[rbanffy]

> it's to ensure that a trusted source controls what runs on the hardware.

Trusted by whom?

[ConstantineXVI]

My best guess would be he's referring to an OEM license that came with a PC he bought.