The installer loaded. He chose his language, clicked , and entered the product key he’d kept on a sticker under the battery.
When the Start Screen appeared—with its live tiles for Weather, News, and Mail—Leo leaned back. The machine was snappy. Fresh. Clean. install windows 8.1 from usb
He found the "Boot Order" menu. The laptop wanted to boot from the network, from the dead drive, anywhere but the USB. The installer loaded
He didn't have money for a new laptop, but he had an 8GB USB stick and a friend with a fast internet connection. The machine was snappy
To create a universally compatible UEFI USB for Windows 8.1, the following low-level commands are executed:
He saw the new, empty SSD listed as "Drive 0 Unallocated Space." He selected it and clicked .