Laptop has Windows Education installed


Hazel123

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I recently bought a fairly basic cheap 11" HP Probook X360 11 as a spare laptop. However when going through set up, when it gets to the page to log in, there is no option to sign in with a Microsoft account, and oobe/bypassnro doesn't work. It requires an educational establishment login. So obviously I can't login and get to the destop.

Just wondering, if I just did a clean install, would it still activate? If it came with Windows Education installed?
 

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    Windows 11 Home 25H2Core i5-1035G132gb
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    Windows 11 Home 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3606sa
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    Core i5-1035G1
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    Originally came installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
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    Windows 11 HomeIntel Core i5-1035G116gb
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    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion ce3606sa
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    Intel Core i5-1035G1
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    16gb
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    Hynix Gold P31 2TB
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It's ok, I'm sending it back anyway. I booted a linux usb live to see if I could find the product key and found it had a celeron processor when it was supposed to have an M3 processor. So not as advertised from the site it was purchased from.

However, if they replace it with the correct one, I may still have the same issue, if they're ex education laptops, so it would be useful to know whether it can be clean installed and activated.
 

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    Windows 11 Home 25H2Core i5-1035G132gb
    OS
    Windows 11 Home 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3606sa
    CPU
    Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    32gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 870 evo sata ssd
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    50 mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally came installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 HomeIntel Core i5-1035G116gb
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion ce3606sa
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Hynix Gold P31 2TB
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
As far as what I've seen the Education and Enterprise hardware is much the same as Home and Pro so I'd assume a clean wipe and install should work BUT activation could be an issue as new machines have the information for a digital license built onto/into the motherboard. Unless just wanting to experiment I'd stay away from those. Our church was given 4 Notebooks that were not properly disconnected from a company's Network/Server and we didn't get the password to even boot them. Fortunately I had the OEM Win7 CD for the same brand, the Notebooks still had the COA sticker and was able to wipe and upgrade to Win10.
 

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    Dell Vostro 3400
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    Firefox, Edge
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    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
You don't have very good luck buying all of these fairly cheap/used spare laptops.
 

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    Intel Core i5-8279u
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    AZW SEI
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    Intel Iris Plus 655
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Not recently, no. This was from a particular second hand sales site. Never had issues in the past.
 

My Computers My Computers

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Home 25H2Core i5-1035G132gb
    OS
    Windows 11 Home 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3606sa
    CPU
    Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    32gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 870 evo sata ssd
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    50 mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally came installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 HomeIntel Core i5-1035G116gb
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion ce3606sa
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Hynix Gold P31 2TB
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
Just wondering, if I just did a clean install, would it still activate? If it came with Windows Education installed?
I'm thinking that if it would depend on if the key is in the BIOS and if it is, what Windows version is the key is for. Your doing the right thing by sending it back.
 

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    Windows 11 Pro 25H2Intel Core i7-10700K16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
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    Windows 11 Pro 25H2
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec B746
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    Intel Core i7-10700K
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    ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/ax
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    16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)
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    #1. LG ULTRAWIDE 34" #2. AOC Q32G2WG3 32"
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    #1. 3440 X 1440 #2. 1920 x 1080
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    NVMe WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 1TB
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    750 Watts (62.5A)
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    PowerSpec/Lian Li ATX 205
    Keyboard
    Logitech K270
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    Logitech M185
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge and Firefox
    Antivirus
    Webroot SecureAnywhere CE 26.1
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Canary ChannelIntel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz16 MB DDR 4-2666
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec G156
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    AsusTeK Prime B360M-A
    Memory
    16 MB DDR 4-2666
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Speptre HDMI 75Hz
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    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe
    Keyboard
    Logitek K270
    Mouse
    Logitek M185
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge and Edge Canary
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
The OOBE screens are the same for Enterprise SKUs and Education SKUs. There's no requirement, in a default setup, on Education editions to sign into an .edu account. My guess would be that the device(s) are still tied to the educational institution's Azure/Entra/Intune/cloudy stuff, and that's why it's forcing a logon that way. If you get another one and post a picture, I can tell you for sure.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H212th Gen Core i7-1260P64 GB Micron PC4-25600Intel Iris Xe Graphics
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
Intel NUC12WSHi7
CPU
12th Gen Core i7-1260P
Motherboard
NUC12WSBi7
Memory
64 GB Micron PC4-25600
Graphics Card(s)
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Sound Card
on-board Realtek HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell U3219Q
Screen Resolution
3840 x 2160
Hard Drives
Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB
Crucial MX500 2 TB
Antivirus
Microsoft Defender
Yes it looked like it was still tied to an institution's account. Can't remember the exact wording now but it said you had to sign in with your email with three letters at the front and mentioned the name of an institution. So unusable in that state. Out of interest, if I had done a clean install and used the key from the bios, do you think it would have activated?
 

My Computers My Computers

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Home 25H2Core i5-1035G132gb
    OS
    Windows 11 Home 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3606sa
    CPU
    Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    32gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 870 evo sata ssd
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    50 mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally came installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 HomeIntel Core i5-1035G116gb
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion ce3606sa
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Hynix Gold P31 2TB
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
Probably not. If it's tied to that institution's Intune, they need to release it. Otherwise, Intune knows it's their device, and Windows just keeps trying to re-join their environment.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H212th Gen Core i7-1260P64 GB Micron PC4-25600Intel Iris Xe Graphics
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
Intel NUC12WSHi7
CPU
12th Gen Core i7-1260P
Motherboard
NUC12WSBi7
Memory
64 GB Micron PC4-25600
Graphics Card(s)
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Sound Card
on-board Realtek HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell U3219Q
Screen Resolution
3840 x 2160
Hard Drives
Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB
Crucial MX500 2 TB
Antivirus
Microsoft Defender
Pretty shoddy to have sold it like that then without checking before it was sold.
 

My Computers My Computers

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Home 25H2Core i5-1035G132gb
    OS
    Windows 11 Home 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3606sa
    CPU
    Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    32gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 870 evo sata ssd
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    50 mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally came installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 HomeIntel Core i5-1035G116gb
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion ce3606sa
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Hynix Gold P31 2TB
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
Pretty shoddy to have sold it like that then without checking before it was sold.
Could be, but honestly, I’ve seen several instances where the Intune admins just didn’t know they need to do that. Should they? Maybe, but I make mistakes too.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H212th Gen Core i7-1260P64 GB Micron PC4-25600Intel Iris Xe Graphics
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
Intel NUC12WSHi7
CPU
12th Gen Core i7-1260P
Motherboard
NUC12WSBi7
Memory
64 GB Micron PC4-25600
Graphics Card(s)
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Sound Card
on-board Realtek HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell U3219Q
Screen Resolution
3840 x 2160
Hard Drives
Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB
Crucial MX500 2 TB
Antivirus
Microsoft Defender
Pretty shoddy to have sold it like that then without checking before it was sold.
My guess is that the school probably had an auction and sold them in large numbers. The buyer may not have even known that they were licensed with a education version of Windows.
 

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  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Pro 25H2Intel Core i7-10700K16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
    OS
    Windows 11 Pro 25H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec B746
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-10700K
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/ax
    Memory
    16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    #1. LG ULTRAWIDE 34" #2. AOC Q32G2WG3 32"
    Screen Resolution
    #1. 3440 X 1440 #2. 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    NVMe WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 1TB
    Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB
    PSU
    750 Watts (62.5A)
    Case
    PowerSpec/Lian Li ATX 205
    Keyboard
    Logitech K270
    Mouse
    Logitech M185
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge and Firefox
    Antivirus
    Webroot SecureAnywhere CE 26.1
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Canary ChannelIntel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz16 MB DDR 4-2666
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec G156
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    AsusTeK Prime B360M-A
    Memory
    16 MB DDR 4-2666
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Speptre HDMI 75Hz
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe
    Keyboard
    Logitek K270
    Mouse
    Logitek M185
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge and Edge Canary
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Yes that may be the case. It's a company online that has various tech sellers affiliated to them.
 

My Computers My Computers

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Home 25H2Core i5-1035G132gb
    OS
    Windows 11 Home 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3606sa
    CPU
    Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    32gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 870 evo sata ssd
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    50 mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally came installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 HomeIntel Core i5-1035G116gb
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion ce3606sa
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-1035G1
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Hynix Gold P31 2TB
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
I recently bought a fairly basic cheap 11" HP Probook X360 11 as a spare laptop. However when going through set up, when it gets to the page to log in, there is no option to sign in with a Microsoft account, and oobe/bypassnro doesn't work. It requires an educational establishment login. So obviously I can't login and get to the destop.

Just wondering, if I just did a clean install, would it still activate? If it came with Windows Education installed?

Keep it! Its the Windows Pro Microsoft should've shipped by default. No bloat, no ads, no spyware, you get the Microsoft Store and 36 months of support. Its the best Windows Pro edition hiding in plain sight. If you have Pro, a new licence is required to activate it.
 

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  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Education For 25H2Intel® Core i7 5500u8 GBIntel HD Family Graphics 5500 AMD Firepro 4150M
    OS
    Windows 11 Education For 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP ZBook G2
    CPU
    Intel® Core i7 5500u
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Family Graphics 5500 AMD Firepro 4150M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Audio
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Mouse
    HP USB Mouse
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Pro For Workstations 25H2Xeon 1535m v632 GBAMD Quadro Pro 4100
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro For Workstations 25H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Zbook G4
    CPU
    Xeon 1535m v6
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Quadro Pro 4100
    Sound Card
    Bang and Olufson Audio
    Hard Drives
    1TB SSD
    Mouse
    HP USB Mouse
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender

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