this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025
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Trying to unlock and put Linux on a locked, proprietary pc and I need some help (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) by Gullible@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.world
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I purchased a Lenovo mini pc online to turn into my second ever Linux machine (whoo), and when I tried booting it up for the first time, I found it asking for a network to sync data from an Amazon employee. I will be frank, fuck Amazon. If someone stole it, I hope the lost money was enough to cause Bezos to shit himself and die, only for a clone to rise in his place to do the same in a never-ending Sisyphean hellscape of skin peeling feculent horror. The fantasy that my holding on to this, and it is likely a fantasy, will affect Amazon is a bonus, not a detriment.

Now, that said, it was probably resold from Amazon’s stock at a decent discount, but not wiped. How can I install Linux on a machine that I don’t actually have full access to? I’m passably tech savvy, and more than willing to learn more to get back on Linux after 10 years of Microsoft pissing me off.

TLDR: How can I install Linux on an Amazon OS machine that I don’t actually have full access to?

Edit: my flash drive is ready, just struggling to get to the boot menu at this point. I can only mash so hard for so long!

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[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thank you for the confirmation! I’m excited to post the “I did it!” at some point this week.

[–] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Good luck! If you have trouble getting it to boot from usb, try not to get too discouraged. It sometimes takes a couple tries with some of these little PCs.

Also, 2 things:

  • don't trash the old USB drive yet. Try using gparted or some other utility to departition and repartition it. Sometimes, those things can get corrupted but not actually ruined.

  • you probably already figured this out, but don't use the same USB port for the next try. If the drive WAS killed, it's possible that the port is physically damaged.

[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

I appreciate that. This is definitely going to be a long learning process for me, but the boundless optimism here, and my malignant hatred for windows, will hopefully keep me going