On 9/9/2015 6:03 PM, Anthony D. Baye wrote:
> So I told my sister that I'd fix her laptop for her before she moves to take up
> a new job.  It's a fairly simple problem: Her hard drive is corrupted and
> Windows hasn't been able to finish an update for about a year, maybe a bit more.
>
> That doesn't stop it from trying every time you turn the machine on.  And then
> it needs to revert the changes on the next startup, because it can't finish the
> update...
>
> Well, obviously, the solution is to replace the hard drive, but then the laptop
> is a brick until I install an OS.  She's not savvy enough to use linux, more's
> the pity, and a new copy of windows costs an arm and a leg.  But hey, I should
> be able to call Fujitsu and have them send me a recovery disk (Why this isn't
> included with the laptop in the first place is absolutely incomprehensible).
>
> Fujitsu wants $15 per disk (there are two, apparently) and $13 S&H which brings
> the total to $44 for two recovery disks...
>
> Naturally, I can only order them over the phone, which means divulging credit
> card numbers over the phone.  Not a good idea.  Never has been.  Never will be.
>
> So I figure I'll do the Smart Thing, and I get a burn card (pre-paid VISA gift
> card).  I use these all the time for shopping online, they work everywhere.  Or
> so I thought.  Fujitsu won't take my perfectly valid VISA gift card because it
> doesn't have a name on it.  They think that makes it "not a valid credit
> card"...?
>
> TL/DR
>
> Unless I can find a way to get Fujitsu to send me a system restore disk, I'm up
> Sh(# Creek without a paddle.  I suppose I could try making the laptop a
> Hackintosh, but my last attempt at that was stellarly unsuccessful.
>
> Regards,
> A.D.B.
>


There should be a sticker on the laptop case with your product key. You 
should be able to use any Windows installation disk (for your version of 
Windows), and then just plug in your product key when you're done 
installing.

There's also a good chance the laptop has a recovery partition on the 
hard drive. You should be able to boot into it and start the recovery 
process.

I've only done this once or twice, so things may be different between 
versions of Windows, so watch out.


Michael

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