Testing a PC without an OS.

[CykaBlyatIdiNahuiPidar]

I am going to buy a PC from someone, and before I buy it, I want to test it and see if it works. The problem is, the PC doesn't have Windows on it because it was just built. Is there a way to test if it works (like if the GPU works, etc.) without having Windows on the PC?

 

[sizzling]

You could install a free OS like the Linux based ones

 

[guanyu210379]

boot from Linux live USB/CD/DVD

 

[junii421]

https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop Put it on a usb or CD/DVD and boot it up

 

[CykaBlyatIdiNahuiPidar]

You could install a free OS like the Linux based ones

Could you explain how I am supposed to do that? I have never used Linux either.

 

[ssddx]

honestly besides running from a livecd or liveusb with linux there is little you can do. even running from a liveboot with linux really only lets you know if things are working and is not an ideal test environment (the os will feel slow).

without that, the best you will get is the bios screen which while helpful in some ways is not going to tell you how well the system runs.

why would you buy a pc without windows installed on it though? if the previous owner removed windows from the machine, why? what is wrong with the system. if it is a new system, why did they not install windows? with windows installed it would sell better and would make buying less fishy.

 

[CykaBlyatIdiNahuiPidar]

I should add the PC was just built with the intention of selling it, so Windows was never installed.

 

[ssddx]

people that build computers to sell always install the os to make it ready to use by the end consumer. generally that includes putting on relevant drivers, etc to get the system ready. by not installing the os makes me question why they have not given that their customer base (people who buy prebuilt computers) generally do not know how to do this themselves

what are they hiding? i would be very sure of things before buying off someone like that.

 

[user11464]

download official windows 10 bootable usb/disk iso from microsoft website. follow directions on how to do this as listed on the page. you will be asked for an activation key upon install, but you don't have to put it in then, you can continue to use it in "trial" mode until you get a key