2018-12-07 18:14:50

Hi guys,
so I know there are a lot of people here who know their way around this type of stuff. I have this laptop from 2013, which is running windows 8.1. Recently it has been freezing up, and running slow, so I thought maybe I would try a clean reinstall of windows before I jump the gun and get something else.
How would I go about doing this? Is there any way I can have speech in the process as well? The computer is an hp.

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2018-12-07 21:37:53 (edited by Chris 2018-12-07 21:49:46)

Before getting started, I'd suggest doing the following:

1. Save any important data such as documents, audio files, and any other data that you can't get back to an external drive or somewhere safe.

2. Download magical Jellybean Keyfinder from https://www.magicaljellybean.com/downlo … taller.exe and use it to retrieve your product key. Copy the 25 character string next to CD key and save it. You may need to activate Windows after the clean install.

3. Download any drivers for your computer by searching on HP's website for your computer model. You may need to install them so that Windows recognizes all your hardware. When I did a clean install of Windows 7 on my Latitude E6540, I had to install practically every driver except the audio one. It was a mess! I'm not sure if Windows 8 changes this, but it's a pain! Windows 10 is supposed to do most of that automatically from what I've been told.

Anything before Windows 10 requires a talking Windows PE. Grab some from http://opopanax.net/download/ and you're good to go. Be sure to get the 32 bit or 64 bit version depending on what you're installing. The Windows 7 PE cannot boot from systems configured with UEFI, while the Windows 10 one will. If you're not sure, I'd suggest the Windows 10 PE because it will boot on either BIOS or UEFI modes.

You will then want to grab a copy of the Windows 8.1 installation media. Visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softwar … d/windows8 and download the ISO file for either 32 or 64 bit. You may not be able to do this directly if you're on Windows. In that case, it should prompt you to download the media creation tool. The tool can download the installation media for you and either burn it to a DVD or a USB drive.

In order to get the talking PE working properly, you'll need to decide whether you want to use it with a DVD or a USB drive. It seems like some computers don't like booting from USB for what ever reason, so your best bet might be a DVD. Run the downloaded executable and follow the prompts to either create a USB drive or a DVD. I also recommend reading the readme file which is also available on that website I linked to above. It provides a lot of good information.

Finally, I'd recommend getting your hands on a USB sound card or headset. Audio may or may not be supported on your built-in sound card, but having a USB device connected when you do this will ensure that you'll have speech regardless.

Once you've prepared everything, you'll need to tell your computer to boot from the talking PE media you created earlier. This is the tricky part and may require sighted assistance. Try pressing F9 while your computer is powering on until the boot menu appears. Then use the arrow keys and enter to select the device to boot from and press enter. Wait until you hear NVDA come up and start speaking. At this point, you can remove the PE disk as everything is loaded into RAM and insert your Windows install media. Run the setup program and go through the standard Windows install process. Be sure to choose custom and erase all the internal drives.

That should get you going. If you have any further questions, let me know. I'm glad I've primarily switched to Windows 10. All I have to do is create a Windows 10 install drive, boot from it, and press Control+Windows+Enter to load Narrator. I don't miss Windows 7 or 8 at all!

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

2018-12-07 22:24:35

Hi all.
If you are formatting to Windows 10, You don't need to download Windows PE, because, If you open the windows formatting screen whitch is Says you to accept the licence agreements or something
you can press Ctrl Left Windows Enter to activate a ScreenReader.
But look, there's a Risc maked that. Sometimes the ScreenReader don't opens on some Computers ,my computer  is a HP too ,but it runs the Screen Reader too, but don't know your pc anyways.
I hope that'll help.

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2018-12-07 23:57:13

Hi,

if you want to reset windows 8.1, you can do that right from within settings. I think you need to head to update and maintenance, then recovery but not sure because it's been 3 years since I've used windows 8.1. Anyhow, when resetting the pc, no input is required until the new windows copy is booted. At that point you can activate narrator with windows + enter on win 8.1. It is possible that the audio drivers don't work, so either have sighted assistance available or get a usb headset so you won't have an inaccessible system. This does not occur often though, I've only had this problem with mac books.

Roel
golfing in the kitchen

2018-12-08 04:58:54

You can try the reset method, but all that does is reinstall the copy of Windows that came with your computer. This will most likely install all the bloatware as well. A clean install will give you stock Windows with no extra software which I assume is what you want.

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

2018-12-08 17:47:50

I'm not sure if later versions of windows 8.1 give you the bloatware back. Windows 10 doesn't in any case. You can also download a windows 8.1 iso with the media creation tool, then run setup.exe in the iso, select upgrade this pc and keep nothing. That'll also do an almost clean install of windows; only the old copy is kept in a temporary folder which you can remove with disk cleanup if I'm not mistaken. Most of this experience comes from using windows 10, so be careful. But if you have sighted assistance you can always clean install windows

Roel
golfing in the kitchen

2018-12-08 22:18:58 (edited by Chris 2018-12-08 22:20:50)

You can clean install Windows independently with the instructions I provided. The only problem you may run into is choosing the boot disk. I'd suggest getting someone with working eyeballs to look at the menu before doing anything and tell you how it's laid out. In most cases, you should be able to access it, press down arrow once and then hit enter and wait for it to load.

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

2018-12-09 01:41:27

It's also possible to use Seeing AI or even Tap Tap see to get a pretty good idea of how the boot menu is laid out if you don't have someone to help you.

The glass is neither half empty nor half full. It's just holding half the amount it can potentially hold.