HELP. I cant wipe operating system to re-install new and clean laptop of previous security, etc?

Hi there. I could use anyone's help and don't know where I'm going wrong. We have some Dell latitude 5400 work laptops we no longer use since 2019 but are in near perfect condition. They are ours to own but still have the initial ENDPOINT SECURITY CHECK POINT username/password screen that loads first. I just dropped and accidently cracked the current laptop I use daily and my spouse doesn't have a personal laptop. So I pulled these two 5400's out and my plan was to completely wipe both of these, so that I could clear ENDPOINT, start with a blank canvas, and I would load an older copy of windows 7 or windows 8 and then do the free upgrade to 10/11.

I did this same thing a couple times years ago and never remember having any issues. But now I have both laptops in front of me, two dvd drives (HP) connected one to each laptop. One has an old burned copy of windows 7 and the other windows 8. I don't know where my original disks are but i have the product keys written down.

When I start each laptop, and hold down f12 to get to bios, only on one laptop (the drive with windows 7) do I see the dvd/cd drive in bios sequence/setup. But it's in 4th position. So I move it up to the top, apply and save my altered settings, and hit okay or let it reboot itself. But everything it takes me back to the original ENDPOINT CHECKPOINT SCREEN and clearly the system isn't booting from disk. Or in the past I remembered it would boot from disk and for the next 60 to 120 minutes I would follow the prompts and basically let the computer do its thing with the install.

The other laptop doesn't even show the cd/DVD drive as recognized and though it offers a chance to add something, there isn't a drop down nor would I know how to tell it even what it doesn't see.

So maybe one drive is bad. Maybe both drives are bad. Maybe both copies of windows are bad, even though the windows 7 disk and one of the two drives does show that drive as showing up in bios sequence. But clearly not enough to either boot from disk or maybe it doesn't have the data to get there. I just helped someone locally and gave them my windows 7 disk as they were running Vista or something and their desktop would no longer register website and images and allow him to look up parts. He's a mechanic. So it worked for him. Or at least he installed windows 7 on his desktop, but the key I had from when I both it back in 2007 or 2009 is written down wrong. So his system is asking him often to validate windows 7 but for now all the websites he needs work. Now he used the dvd drive in his tower and Im trying to use a portable drive.

So if anyone has any suggestions. Wants to see screenshots of what I am seeing, or can help me get over this hump asap, that would be the biggest help. The laptop I do use, when it was dropped, of course is was right at the crease by the charging port and the hinge...so this is getting worse each day and I have to sort of put it back together just to use it. So its on its last leg and I need to get another laptop up and running. And we have a couple that are like new and ready to be newly installed and hopefully get to work.

Thanks everyone and I'm all ears on what I am doing wrong. Thanks. Jp

Ps. I also get this new screen sometimes where it wants to do an auto recovery over a wired connection. This is not even software the company uses anymore and therefore, just needs to be removed. But here are a couple images I see when I boot or try to go through the process.

Pps. I tried to boot again so I could snap pics of the entire process to share. Now I am getting a warning message "Operating system loader failed signature verification. Warning. The file may have been tampered with. All bookable devices failed secure boot verification."

So is it the disk?

 

Quite a bit of detail in there, but itf you are using an external DVD with USB connection to the Laptops it is worth checking that you are connected to a USB that is seen in BIOS - Some slots are not visible until the relavent drivers are installed so try another USB slot. Unlikely that both DVD Drives are faulty but again if you have access to another PC or laptop, you could create a bootable USB from an ISO file and install from that. Just make sure the ISO file version you download matches the Product keys you want to use. Microsoft do a Media Creation Tool which will produce a bootable USB directly from an ISO file. Again you need to be sure the USB slot is visible in BIOS.
Pete

 

Thanks so much Pete. And I apologize for how much I wrote. I know enough to maybe explain to someone but not enough to really take it anywhere. So I was just trying to paint as much of the picture as I could.

I agree on the drives and didn't know why one recognizes and one doesn't. So either the drive, the USB as you pointed out...so I will test both and see.

On the one drive that does seem to recognize and I can actually put as #1 in the boot setup, do you know why that is doesn't grab what's on the disk and actually start the windows install? I have tried 100x and I can get it to look like it's reading the drive at start up but eventually just takes me to the checkpoint screen. Again, maybe 8 years ago I did this to a couple older work laptops and was able to not have any issues, but this has been different clearly.

As for a bookable version using an ISO Image...is there a layman's way of how I get windows 7,8, 10 or 11 on that iso file, then onto a thumb drive, and then I would gather ultimately installing on the laptop, choosing the bios setup to pull from the thumb drive, and you from there. If my windows 8 or windows 7 disks are bad but I have product keys, where or how do I grab those operating systems to do so with, if you don't mind.

As I mentioned, my goal is to get up to windows 10 or 11 through MSFT free upgrade...so unless you have a way to go directly there, thats why I am doing these extra steps.

Can't thank you enough for even responding because I was starting to worry about where to go next. And my current laptop is now not charging and doing weird things. So I know I need to move fwd on this process as soon as I can.

Hope you are having a great weekend. Thanks - John

 

Hi John, Windows 8.1 is still available on microsoft.com as an ISO file. If you download the version that matches the product key you have - that is the first step. You will have to fish around for Windows 7, as this is no longer available as a direct download but there are sites that give links. The ISO files are free, but you do need a product key corresponding to the version you download.
The next step is to download the Microsoft USB/DVD Download Tool which again is now unavailable for Win7 on Microsoft.com but techspot website have download and instructions available. Then all you need is a Flash Drive big enough for the image and the tool will make a bootable USB Drive for you.
Pete

 

Thanks Pete. Then I will give up on windows 7 as I have windows 8 pro and have a valid product key. Or I did when I last used it.

Do you know what size thumb drive I need for the iso file for windows 8 to fit on a thumb drive?

And if I understand correctly, after the iso


So I downloaded Microsoft USB/DVD Download Tool.

Then I go to Microsoft.com and find the iso file for windows 8 64 pro.

Then I start that download while I tell it to save to my thumb drive.

Then I reboot my computer and have the thumb drive already installed, tell it to start BIOS. Go in and change the set up to make the thumb drive first priority and then reboot...and hope this time it pulls from the thumb drive and understands we want to reinstall windows.

Do I sort of have it right?
Thanks again for everything.

 

Hi John,
Nearly there, save the ISO file needs to be saved elsewhere say your normal downloads folder. Run the USB/DVD utility tool and select the ISO file you have saved and select the USB flash drive as the target for the image. It only needs to be about 4GB I think to take the Image created. All other data on the flash drive will be lost as it formats the drive in the process. Then plug the flash drive into the laptop you want to boot from it - it works in all other respects the same as a DVD installation. Pete

 

Okay Pete. I am going to give it a try from here and can't thank you enough. I may swing back around just to let you know that either I was successful or that I hit a snag somewhere.

And if I am still in the know on all this, after windows 8 is installed, Microsoft is still allowing for free upgrades to windows 10 or 11. As that is my ultimate goal.

Can't thank you enough. And thank you for corrected a couple things from my last message as I wasn't entirely there yet. But in going to follow your steps verbatim and I think I can get there. And I believe we have a bunch of 4gb thumb drives lying around that can easily be used here and it doesn't matter whats on them.

Hope you have a great start to your week.
John

 

Hi Pete:

If its not too much, I ran into a snag with all this and don't know where to turn. So I got covid and have been down and out for a bit, but are now trying to do the re-installations of windows.

I downloaded windows 8.1 directly off their website and is in my download file on my laptop that is still working (the one I dropped)

In my download file there is a gold CD icon which I am nearly positive is an ISO file.

I have a thumb drive that has 16gb free. And I deleted anything on it.

I tried to drag and drop the windows 8.1 ISO onto the theumb drive and got the error message that the 4gb file was too big for the thumb drive.

Which then made me realize that I skipped a step and wasnt using Microsofts DVD/CD Utility Tool.

So I went back to microsoft.com and found the link and clicked on it. Only to then have a message state that the tool is no longer available. And I think it was listing it for windows 7. Which made me think that since you told me that they aren't supporting microsoft 7 anymore, that maybe thats why it was removed.

So now I didn't know if there is the same tool for windows 8. Or, after some searches, I see some articles mention that I need to "mount" the ISO file onto the thumb drive.

But I don't know exactly what that means or how to do it. A couple years ago I think i tried some of this before and for whatever reason I downloaded an application called PowerISO that I am guessing I thought I needed to try and mount the ISO file.

Any thoughts on what I do from here. Again, you layed out the steps so simple for me before that I wanted to see if you knew any workarounds or what you would do.

 

one more

 

this is the response when you try to download the USB/DVD utility tool off MSFT site. Says the download is no longer available.

 

Hi John,
Firstly check the file you have downloaded is in fact the Windows 8.1 ISO file. It should have a name like Win8.1_English_x64.iso.crdownload (I used chrome to download) the size is about 3GB but if you right click the file in your downloads folder and check properties it will confirm the type of file as Disc Image File (.iso).
Then find the utility tool to download - I found it on TechSpot.com with the details of how to use it. Download it, install it on your laptop, then run it as described to create the bootable USB. Just copying and pasting iso files doesn't create the bootable media you need for them to work.
Pete