OS on an external drive?!

[Compaker]

Hello! I have a problem, at school we got these computers which are essentially useless for anything but word because of all the security they have loaded up. No Cmd prompt, no control panel, no run, no task manager. So my idea is to get an external hard drive with a copied version of windows on it and plug in in via usb to the laptop to run a clean, unsecured setup while at home. Any ideas on how to do something like this? Is it even possible? cant uninstall the Os on the lappy because they check

 

[Darician]

Technically you could but you'd have to setup Windows on another PC with very similar or identical hardware to ensure compatibility. Even then, it's not guaranteed that it would work because many places like these will block USB ports and booting from anything but the internal HDD.

 

[Compaker]

The bios is password locked, but otherwise how could I check if the usb booting is blocked? to attempt it?

 

[DocBrown]

You can not run the Windows 7 OS from an external HD or USB flash Drive, only from an internal HD.

 

[Petey7]

Also, Windows (any version) would not work without major tweaking. It normally flashes the USB ports on and off while booting. If you don't change the way the boot process works, it will start to load, then suddenly freeze, possibly followed by BSOD. Yes, I do know this from experience and have found a guide on how to make it work. I have since lost track of it, and would not recommend it anyone short of a professional in computer programming.

Linux, like Ubuntu, on the other hand, will work, even when moving between computers, assuming the computer can boot from USB. Then you will have the problem of not being able to use the internet, as you will not have the proper software for the secure login to the schools network.

 

[Compaker]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. Is there any other possible way to just get around some of the security measures? I mean, its so annoying that they disabled right click in explorer and theres no file options -.-

 

[Darician]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: You could try talking to them to see if they ease up restrictions or if you get lucky and find administrative access, otherwise, no.

 

[Petey7]

It says on your profile that you are 14. Sounds like you are in middle/junior high/high school. The restrictions are there for a reason. Because their are people your age that are smarter than you (no offense intended) when it comes to computers, but dumber in general, that will do an assortment of undesirable and/or illegal stuff on those computers if even one of those settings are not it place. They could easily make changes to the computer that would leave it unusable for a period of time, while the schools IT department had change everything back.

When I was in middle school, I was a teachers pet that loved to help the computer teacher when able. This was at a time before they had all those security measures in place. It was annoying having to change wallpapers back to the default, or worse, close a window to find a mans bare privates set as the wallpaper. When smarter people were on there, there were even more settings that had to be changed back.

If you go to public school, especially middle school, you may not have a dedicated IT department. Allowing you even the usage rights of a standard user, could mean spending hundreds, if not thousands, trying to fix all the changes made by the minority of people that lack common sense.

 

[Barman58]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. Is there any other possible way to just get around some of the security measures? I mean, its so annoying that they disabled right click in explorer and theres no file options -.-

The computer's owner, (the School), has every right to place these restrictions to protect the system from damage and themselves from possible illegal action casued by user action.

It is forum policy that we cannot help users to circumvent legitimate security installed by a system's owner.

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