Clean Windows 8.1 install on a laptop using Win8 key?

[fleshconsumed]

I need some help here. What I want to do is kind of difficult, but I'm hoping there is a way to do it.

I will be getting a new Acer S3 laptop soon with Win8 license on it. This particular laptop has mechanical hard drive and 20GB SSD drive for performance boost. From what I understand the laptop will come with unactivated Windows 8 and I will have to activate it after first booting the laptop by accepting terms and conditions and yada yada yada.

In short what I want to do is to swap mechanical hard drive for an SSD and install fresh installation of 8.1 skipping all the bloat that Acer might have put on the laptop using the same Windows 8 key that came with the laptop. Additionally it would be nice to avoid any kind of activation problems in the future when I would like to put the mechanical drive back in and sell the laptop.

So what I want to do is:
1. Change mechanical drive for Samsung 830 SSD.
2. Install 8.1 on Samsung 830 SSD drive using 8 key supplied with the laptop.
2a. A side question, would I have to unplug the 20GB SSD while installing windows to prevent any potential problems?
3. Activate windows installation obviously
4. When the time comes to sell the laptop I would like to take out SSD, put in original mechanical drive and sell it with working windows installation.

Is there a good way to do this?

 

[postmark]

Should work as is assuming the secure boot and efi are left enabled. Key should get pulled from the config on the system

 

[Berryracer]

u need to first activate it normally, then download Belarc Advisor to be able to grab the key built into your BIOS from it then write it down somewhere before you format and install Windows 8.1

Also, you need to right click on computer, then go to properties, and note down what version is it, windows 8, or windows 8 single language, or windows 8 pro

then when u install windows 8.1, u need the correct ISO according to ur version

mind u, when installing windows 8.1, it will not accept ur key during installation, instead, u must google the default installation keys for windows 8.1, those are just used for setup purposes, then when u are in windows u enter ur REAL key which u grabbed using Belarc ADvisor and it will activate automatically over the internet

 

[fleshconsumed]

Ok, so basically I have to do the following:

1. I have not seen Win8 key printed anywhere on the laptop, so I presume it is stored in the system BIOS. So I'll have to activate/agree to terms and conditions with the mechanical drive still inside. After I get into windows I'll have to extract the OEM key using ProduKey or Belarc Advisor.
2. Take out the original mechanical drive, put it somewhere in storage and put Samsung 830 SSD instead into the laptop.
3. Install 8.1 using one of the default keys.
4. Once inside the windows change the default key to OEM key that came with the laptop and activate.

Seems easy enough. Couple of questions though.
1. I have always had problems when installing windows on systems with more than one hard drive attached. I did more research on this and general recommendations is the same with windows 8 - unplug all hard drives other than the system one, otherwise the boot files get written to all hard drives? Is there any truth about boot files being written to both drives? It's a lot more difficult to have the 20GB SSD unplugged from a laptop, but should I try it, or will I be OK leaving it connected?
2. Would I have problems activating OEM key with a different hard drive inside the laptop?
3. If everything works correctly I will end up with 2 hard drives with activated Win8/Win8.1 copies. When the time comes to sell the laptop would I have any problems with windows activation when I take out SSD and replace it with original mechanical drive?
4. And I guess unrelated question. Should I want to upgrade the BIOS on my laptop, would it mess up with the built in OEM key? I've read people cautioning updating S3 laptop with uefi bios, but nobody ever explained why.

 

[Dahak]

1) I would be best if you can, or see if there is a way to disable the port in the bios. some to some don't. If all else fails, you would have to remove the drive

2) not usually. If there is a issue, just call them up and let them know you changed the hdd and should be fine

3)Nope

4)It should not affect it as long as it an official bios from Acer.

 

[postmark]

u need to first activate it normally, then download Belarc Advisor to be able to grab the key built into your BIOS from it then write it down somewhere before you format and install Windows 8.1

Also, you need to right click on computer, then go to properties, and note down what version is it, windows 8, or windows 8 single language, or windows 8 pro

then when u install windows 8.1, u need the correct ISO according to ur version

mind u, when installing windows 8.1, it will not accept ur key during installation, instead, u must google the default installation keys for windows 8.1, those are just used for setup purposes, then when u are in windows u enter ur REAL key which u grabbed using Belarc ADvisor and it will activate automatically over the internet

Only issue with this is his laptop probably has secure boot and efi enabled which means it won't even bother asking for a key as it will just pull the one from the BIOS/FW storage. Now whether or not those keys are working on the MSDN released ISO yet, I'm not sure. But they should work once it's officially released.

To do your method he would have to turn off all the secure features of the BIOS.

 

[Berryracer]

Only issue with this is his laptop probably has secure boot and efi enabled which means it won't even bother asking for a key as it will just pull the one from the BIOS/FW storage. Now whether or not those keys are working on the MSDN released ISO yet, I'm not sure. But they should work once it's officially released.

To do your method he would have to turn off all the secure features of the BIOS.

negative, with windows 8.1 things changed a bit, now there are 3 diff. installation product keys which u need to enter one of theem depending on which flavor of Windows 8 u r installing. I have windows 8.1 and secure boot and UEFI mode and I installed windows 8.1

it didn't pickup the key from the bios as Windows 8 did, it simply asked me to enter a key, when I entered my real key it said it was invalid, I then entered the Windows 8.1 single language default installation key (google default installation keys for windows 8.1) and i was able to install it

after u are in the windows environment, u activate with ur REAL windows 8 key and it activates straight away over the internet

 

[fleshconsumed]

Good stuff. Thanks a lot everyone. My new laptop arrives tomorrow, so I'll be busy setting it up.

In the meantime tonight I'll be backing up data from my current laptop and downloading necessary drivers/bios updates from acer website so that I can hit the ground running tomorrow.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Now lets not confuse things.....

If Fleshconsumed wanted to activate windows 8 and not do a clean install of win 8.1 all he would have to do is download the windows 8.1 update and no key or code would be required..............

 

[fleshconsumed]

Now lets not confuse things.....

If Fleshconsumed wanted to activate windows 8 and not do a clean install of win 8.1 all he would have to do is download the windows 8.1 update and no key or code would be required..............

True, but that's not what I want I want to do a clean install on SSD for my own personal use and I also want to be able to plop the original hard drive back into the laptop and have a fully functioning machine/operating system for when I'll want to sell it.