He didn't have money for a new laptop, but he had an 8GB USB stick and a friend with a fast internet connection.
He found the "Boot Order" menu. The laptop wanted to boot from the network, from the dead drive, anywhere but the USB. install windows 8.1 from usb
Leo slammed the spacebar.
He downloaded a tool called "Rufus." Its interface looked like a cockpit from the 90s, but it was powerful. He didn't have money for a new laptop,
He clicked
Leo looked at the dusty USB stick that used to hold his college essays. "Sorry, old friend," he whispered, and clicked OK. The progress bar crawled from 0% to 100% like a slow tide. When it finished, the USB stick was no longer a storage drive. It was a key. Leo slammed the spacebar
Instead of the error message, the screen flickered. A black screen with white text appeared: "Press any key to boot from USB..."