Yesterday afternoon: order a used business PC from somebody on eBay.
This afternoon: receive same via UPS.
Seems to be as advertised, including "no OS". It seems that the rescue memory stick I made from the other, related machine is just for rescue, not for re-installation. I may have to put the original HDD back in that machine, create a rescue/restore/whatever memory stick, and use that to install Windows on this one. Or I could run Linux on it, but this is a relatively high-spec box and I kinda had it earmarked for a dedicated Windows box for the office.
Hm. Maybe the least-trouble approach is to download the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft. I'm assuming that this machine has the Win10 install key in the BIOS, like the other one does. Otherwise, I may end up using this'n for a Linux box and looking for one of comparable specs (Core i5, 8 GB RAM) that comes pre-Windowsed.
(I don't really care what kind of HDD it comes with, as I figure on replacing all second-hand HDDs with shiny new SSDs; at $26 for a 480 GB SSD, plus $5 for a mounting bracket, replacing old hard drives before putting precious data on them is kind of a no-brainer.)
Update: Apparently copying the downloaded Windows 10 ISO onto a USB stick with dd doesn't result in a stick recognized by this machine as bootable. No problem; I'll just burn the ISO to a DVD.
Wait. It's a 5.7 GB image. DVD+R or DVD-R discs have 4.7 GB capacity. Foo.
Well, I know the machine can in fact boot from a USB stick, 'cause it booted from the rescue stick. Let's try a recent Kubuntu image, written using dd.
Hm. The Kubuntu ISO actually has some partition structure to it, recognized by gparted, unlike the fresh Win10 ISO. But... when I try to boot it, it looks for /dev/sr0, so apparently it's not configured for booting off a USB stick. Either that, or there's something wonky with this machine or maybe its BIOS configuration.
Meanwhile, though, I note that I have a couple of previously-downloaded Win10 ISOs, one of which is small enough to fit on an actual DVD. Not exactly sure why I have those... probably one of them was for setting up a VM, using an activation code from some box that came with a Win10 sticker but that I'm actually using for Linux. Guess I can try one of those.
Which... doesn't work. Looks unformatted on gparted; BIOS says no boot device.
Guess I'll try the smaller (older) Win10 ISO on DVD, but not until tomorrow. It's getting late now.
Update 2: Win10 ISO of 2015 vintage fits on a DVD, which boots... but it doesn't find the activation key in the BIOS (assuming this machine came with one). Linux Mint of 2020 vintage, which I happen to have on DVD, boots, installs, and seems to work fine.
So, the machine is satisfactory. I can use it as yet another Linux box. If I want to use it for Windows, I need to conjure up a bootable USB stick with an installation image. This is not a priority right now, but I should probably get it sorted out on a week-ish timescale to get a better handle on what to look for in an eBay listing when shopping for the next unit.
Hm. Apparently one is supposed to use the Windows Media Creation Tool. Which... if one asks it to create a bootable USB stick (8 GB capacity required), insists on downloading its own copy of the 22H2 release. Grinding away now, on my laptop (which is currently running Windows in support of some external hardware).
Update 2a: Boots, offers the "install" option... but can't actually install because it thinks it's missing a driver. Doesn't tell what sort of driver it might be missing. Looks like it's back to putting the original HDD back in the other Dell and generating a boot stick.
Or maybe this machine was sold cheap, sans OS, because it's somehow Windowsproof? Did Dell make a bunch of non-Windows small-form-factor machines?
Whatever. It's a nice day, if kinda breezy. The screened porch & partial back deck are done (on the to-have-done list for nearly four years). I shouldn't be sitting at my desk.
Update 3: Back indoors. It's windy out there! Looks like the rescue stick I had lying around was in fact a rescue stick, and what I need is a recovery stick (not accessible via the obvious menu). Currently got the other recent-ish Dell machine generating a recovery drive.
Update 4: That, somehow, didn't work either... with strange errors. It's almost like the thumb drive works for booting, but when the loaded OS then tries to find it, it isn't there anymore...?
Awright, try plugging it into one of the rear ports. Hm. Drive has a blue insulator. Try one of the USB 3.0 ports?
It works. (Maybe that was the problem with the Linux stick, and with the generic Win10 installer thinking it was missing a driver?)
Installs, finds the built-in license, seems OK. Reports hardware being exactly as advertised. Could be some incompatibility between these particular USB 3.0 drives and the USB 2.0 hub? "U"SB "compatibility" is very strange and iffy indeed.
Mind you, this is still using the supplied HDD. The SSD (and its bracket) should be arriving Wednesday; I didn't ask for the earlier option because I wasn't expecting to have the PC in hand until Monday or Tuesday or some such.
Anyway, I'm happy. Probably ought to go leave a good review on eBay.
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