Recover Windows 8 Serial from formatted machine?

[essential]

I'm thinking about placing a bid on a Sony laptop on eBay soon. The machine originally came with Windows 8 but it was wiped and Windows 7 was put on.

If I won I'd want to put Windows 8 back on. From my experience with Windows 8, there are no serial stickers on the machines like Windows 7 and prior.

Is the serial lost or is it stored in BIOS somewhere since I assume it's an OEM? Is there software that can recover that?

If it is gone, could I install Windows 8 with a generic Sony OEM Windows 8 serial or are they all unique?

I messaged the seller and he said he had someone else put Windows 7 on so he has no idea if the serial was backed up prior to the format.

It is a touch-screen laptop that's why I want to go back to Windows 8.

Thanks.

 

[Elixer]

In theory, yeah, you can use the same OEM install DVD to recreate what was there before, and it should be already activated as well.

You just have to make sure it is the same one for your machine, or could end up with needed drivers that aren't on that DVD.

I am pretty sure that there should be a 'genuine win 8 sticker' on the laptop, since, last I looked, that is still required. If it don't have that, then, there is a good chance that it never had win 8 on it, or they stupidly removed it and tried to sell it or something like that.

P.S, I stay far, far away from fleabay sellers and laptops (or pretty much anything else, unless they have an actual store someplace). Buyer beware.

 

[essential]

Thanks for the reply. I'm positive it came with Windows 8 because it's a newer model and a version of that laptop with Windows 7 was never put out. If I win I will check for a sticker first, it would be ideal if there was a sticker with a serial number.

 

[alexruiz]

Run RW-everything once you get it, even on win 7, it will retrieve the serial from the BIOS.

 

[RampantAndroid]

I don't think I've ever seen a Win8+ laptop with a sticker on it. My work laptop has no sticker...

Buyer beware.

 

[G73S]

you can easily extract the key with RWEverything by going to ACPI Tables then DCIM

 

[Mushkins]

I don't think I've ever seen a Win8+ laptop with a sticker on it. My work laptop has no sticker...

Buyer beware.

They stopped doing stickers with Win8. It's all in the bios, or I guess bundled with the retail documentation if you purchased retail.

Which is good, because frankly putting the product key on a sticker was dumb. I lost count of how many people I saw write down the key from a sticker from a public pc (library, school, etc) and reuse it at home.