Reset Windows on HP Slate/ElitePad?

[ferrumcampitor]

There isn't an HP ElitePad or Slate forum so I'm posting this here and hoping someone can help me. My mom works for HP and they gave her an HP ElitePad 900 about a year or so ago for some testing. When the testing period was over, they told her to keep it. She did....on a shelf in her closet! Over the holidays we were discussing Win8 tablets and she pulled it out and gave it to me.

So now I have this tablet but it was set up to interface with HP's network and on their domain. I have full admin access but don't know enough about networking or domain control to get rid of all the HP stuff on there. I tried simply resetting the tablet to basic windows but it will not allow this. I can only imagine that HP is preventing this somehow.

Can someone help me get this thing reset to plain old out-of-the-box Windows8? Or better yet, 8.1? Or at least, is there a way to remove the domain login restrictions? HP has a rediculously secure password restriction that is a real pain to type in from the touch keyboard.

If it matters, it is also equipped with the port cover that has two USB ports and an SD card slot.

I just want to start playing with this thing and I'm even considering using it to test Win10 when the technical preview is released for tablets.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ferrumcampitor]

Really? No help here? Help me Obi Wan WinCentral. You're my only hope!

 

[slyronit]

Patience Padawan!

1. Right click on the Start button, go to System
2. In the "Computer Name, domain and workgroup settings" section, click on "Change settings"
3. Click on "Change"
4. Where it asks you to choose between Domain and workgroup, click on "Workgroup"

 

[ferrumcampitor]

Hey thanks for the reply sly. Actually I had figured out how to do exactly what you stated. The next issue I ran into was that once I left the domain, the Windows was "unactivated". UGH!

But all is well in the universe now. I had already registered as a Windows Insider and now I've successfully installed Windows 10 Technical Preview! That solved all the other issues I was previously having. I was a little worried that installing it on a tablet might not work as I thought it was only released for PC's. But this "tablet" is really just a touch PC and so far it seems to be working great!

Issue resolved. Thanks!

 

[slyronit]

Hey thanks for the reply sly. Actually I had figured out how to do exactly what you stated. The next issue I ran into was that once I left the domain, the Windows was "unactivated". UGH!

But all is well in the universe now. I had already registered as a Windows Insider and now I've successfully installed Windows 10 Technical Preview! That solved all the other issues I was previously having. I was a little worried that installing it on a tablet might not work as I thought it was only released for PC's. But this "tablet" is really just a touch PC and so far it seems to be working great!

Issue resolved. Thanks!

That is good news. The 10 Tech Preview should technically work everywhere, but is mostly optimized for the desktop. On the tablet, I don't think it has much improvements over Windows 8.1, as of now, but it is free so Meh!

The "unactivation" makes sense, seems your windows was earlier activated using an Enterprise volume license, which would stop working when removed from the domain.

How is the overall tablet experience on Windows 10? Bugs?

 

[ferrumcampitor]

Yes that is exactly what happened. What surprised me though was that even after the enterprise license was removed, the group policy settings still existed. to some degree. I even did the /gpupdate /force /boot (which is what ultimately removed the license) to get rid of the group policy but there was still remnants of it hanging around. Thankfully the Win10 install didn't inherit any of those group policy bad habits!

So far Win10 has been great! It really does feel like the best of Windows 7 and 8 together. Thankfully it has the option to use the Metro Start Screen or the new Start Menu because on the tablet, the start menu is awkward to use. There are some other UI pieces that I hope will be optimized for tablets because they are a bit clunky right now.

As for bugs, the only one I've seen was an issue connecting to WiFi. And I'm not even sure if it was a bug or really just a poor design. I could not seem to find a place where it listed discovered WiFi networks. Eventually I discovered a place to get to it, and once I was connected, the network showed up in other places I had searched before. I suspect that might be a stupid design rather than a bug though.