Question Dell Inspiron 15 Do I have a paperweight? (Windows reinstall)

Oct 19, 2025
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Ok, events as they happened,

1. Windows 10 got corrupted.
2. Tried the reload on the recovery petition.
3. Started the recovery process and surprise! It wants a recovery code.

This is supposedly asked for at initial install. Of course, it came installed from Dell, I don't remember ever entering a code. Thinking this was a Microsoft software thing (which it is/isn't?), I wiped the disk and tried again with an install disk, and it still asked for the code. So I got fed up with it and installed Linux, which installed successfully. Well, not as useful as I thought (or just not as familiar with it as I thought.)

I head a rumor that the code is actually installed on a chip on the system board. Is there a way to reset this? Or is the laptop not even recoverable to give to someone in the family with Windows? 🙄

Thanks!