[plug] [Slightly OT] W2K - Remove me if you can!

[Denis Brown]

 From the "We are in control.  Resistance is futile" department...

Microsoft in conjunction with at least IBM have a nice way of insisting 
that W2K be used.  May apply to other systems' manufacturers as well but I 
haven't seen it.  Potentially relevant to Linux users / would-be users.

New IBM system, model/type 6792/11A, comes with W2K preloaded AND with a 
"recovery" utility which, in the event of some software smoke getting 
loose, offers to reload W2K.  The tricks are to convince it to accept 
anything else and to avoid exposing the recovery feature to a 
not-so-computer-literate end user. For what it's worth...

1) Getting something else on there.  Go into BIOS (F1 at cold boot for an 
IBM chassis) and set startup sequence for CD-ROM and/or diskette, disabling 
the hard drive.  Insert boot media and proceed with OS load.  After the OS 
has loaded there will be an opportunity to reboot.  Make this a cold boot 
and again visit the BIOS setup, this time enabling the hard drive.  Now all 
should be well.  If the HD is not disabled then it appears to have a hair 
trigger and the W2K installation tries to go into an endless loop of 
installations, even if "I do not agree" to the licence is 
ticked.  Resistance is futile, at least for the not-so-comp-lit...

2) Disabling the "recovery" feature.  Okay, I have not yet worked this out 
and I suspect it is manufacturer-dependant to some degree so if anyone has 
suggestions, please tell...  It *is* important to disable the "recovery" 
feature (an on-screen invitation to press the F11 key on IBMs) because in 
the event that smoke gets out, an end-user is likely to be presented with 
this most wondrous of options.  Pressing F11 on a fast CPU system will 
rapidly take your (Linux? Win NT?) box and turn it back into its birthright 
W2K personality.  Complete with the total destruction of user settings, etc 
(my assumption, but reasonable I think.)

The second point, about an offer to "recover" a damaged system is equally 
important for Win users because they, too, could easily suffer loss of 
personal settings, documents, etc.  Oh, did I hear someone mention "back 
ups"?  While the discussion here has been W2K related, IBM (and others) 
also offer XP, Me as preloads so it's a bit more general.  In previous IBM 
chassis (eg 6578) the software options have been on CDs so there was an 
easy choice, including "no CD, I'll repair Linux myself, thanks!). With the 
later ones (6792 for instance) the OS recovery image is on the hard 
drive.  At least nuking that, will disable the "recovery" feature but I 
have not yet played with a partitioning tool to delete it!!

Cheers,
Denis