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I have an old HP laptop running on windows 8.1, the owner forgot his password so he tried resetting it with some commands like (enter+f1+Del) thats what he says, then the laptop reboots, on the process of rebooting the power went off due to low battery. Now if you power on the laptop it will display Boot Device Not Found. Please is there a way I can format the laptop so it can boot up?

If I have a Ubuntu boot USB and I plugged it in will it boot directly from the USB or I will have to input some commands so it can boot from the USB ?

Joseph Afodu
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    This site is for Ubuntu and its (official) flavors. Windows is not Ubuntu, Sorry but your question is off-topic here. – stumblebee Oct 07 '23 at 00:00
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    You don't need to format your PC, as installing an OS (eg. Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 LTS) will offer to erase disk & install (as all OSes do) as it's the simplest install method. A formatted disk will not be bootable anyway; as an OS needs to be installed on it. – guiverc Oct 07 '23 at 00:52
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    This link describes how to boot Ubuntu from a USB drive and how to install Ubuntu. If you 'only' want to repair Windows, please look for advice somewhere else (because it is off-topic here). – sudodus Oct 07 '23 at 08:27
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    If you insert a thumb-drive which contains an OS (eg. Ubuntu Desktop installation media), what happens will be determined by your machine hardware, firmware & settings. Some boxes offer to boot the external media when detected, others will only do so if certain keys are struck (and I have one box that requires me to press the key whilst box is OFF and after a few seconds it turns on & asks if I want to boot external media).... ie. what happens is box specific & your machine firmware controls initial boot. – guiverc Oct 07 '23 at 09:21
  • I have an old HP laptop that shows a temporary boot menu when I press F9. I can select booting from a USB drive with Ubuntu from that temporary menu. - If F9 or enter+f1+Del do not work, please check what HP model it is and browse the internet to look for the hotkey (or hotkey combination) that works in your computer. – sudodus Oct 07 '23 at 10:09
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    Does this answer your question? Will my device work with Ubuntu? – karel Oct 07 '23 at 10:26

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Download and create a Ubuntu boot USB assuming you want to Install Ubuntu. Can you boot from that Ubuntu USB? If so that would allow you to reformat the drive that is there. Assuming you do NOT want to save any of the data for the previous owner.

Sean van Leuven
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