Reinstalling Windows 8.1 with built-in product key...

[Ichinisan]

A coworker needed me to replace a bad hard drive in an HP 15-d074nr "notebook." - that's in quotes because the weak internal hardware seems more like a tablet than a notebook. It has a tiny little battery, but it's not exactly a netbook because it has an optical disk drive. Though I don't see any stickers, I'm pretty sure it has an AMD APU.

The product key is built into the BIOS, I know that it's not a straightforward process to reinstall Windows 8.1 - I do have a Windows 8.1 install disc that I made many months ago, and I'm told the product key will determine which version (Pro, Home, etc) installs. I could not enter any kind of BIOS Setup menu to find the product key. The closest thing I could do was wait for boot to fail and press F2 to access a menu with 3 diagnostic options for testing memory, hard drive, etc.

I tried to find out if there was a trick to it. HP's site asks for the "product number," which is a bit worn and hard to make out. I guessed "F5Y37UA#ABA" -- but the site said Windows 8.1 was "not supported" on that device --??

I had to Google a generic key so I could install and run a utility to obtain the original product key. I want to delete partitions and reinstall using that key, but there's no way to boot to the install disc anymore (damn UEFI!). On boot, it instantly goes to the UEFI loading screen and doesn't respond to any of the F-keys I've tried. The generic key I used installed the Pro edition, so I'm pretty sure I can't just re-enter the key in the Activation Wizard.

From within Windows, I did the autorun from the install media. It won't let me type the last character of the key (it says "1 character remaining"). It lets me type some characters, but not the final character that I need to type. I checked the rest of the product key over and over, compared to the picture I snapped when the utility was running. It will not allow me to enter that key.


Halp?

 

[It's Not Lupus]

if you can still use the old hard drive to login into windows, you can try using speccy to read the key.

https://www.piriform.com/speccy

 

[Ichinisan]

if you can still use the old hard drive to login into windows, you can try using speccy to read the key.

https://www.piriform.com/speccy

The old hard drive won't initialize and can't be seen by the system.

 

[artemicion]

AFAIK, if the computer originally came from HP with the OEM version of Windows 8, you don't need the product key to reinstall. The Win 8 installer will automatically detect the Win 8 key from the bios and never prompt for one. That's my experience with two Win 8 machines where I did clean OS installs on.

The rest of your story is puzzling to me. Not sure why UEFI wouldn't boot from the DVD. Maybe try creating a bootable USB flash drive with Win 8 on it see if UEFI lets you boot from the flash drive? I've never had problems with telling UEFI to boot from an optical drive or from USB.

Also not sure what you mean in the last paragraph. How are you "within Windows" if you weren't able to install?

 

[VirtualLarry]

The rest of your story is puzzling to me. Not sure why UEFI wouldn't boot from the DVD. Maybe try creating a bootable USB flash drive with Win 8 on it see if UEFI lets you boot from the flash drive? I've never had problems with telling UEFI to boot from an optical drive or from USB.

If "fast boot" in the UEFI is enabled, then the user does NOT get prompted or even have a chance to hit a key to go into the BIOS setup, if the HDD is bootable and set as the first boot device.

You have to remove the HDD, to get it to boot to the UEFI, then you might be able to disable Fast Boot (unless the OEM has removed the disable option).

If you want to boot off of the DVD, then you might have to remove the HDD, and do a wipe ("clean all") using a secondary PC, and then install the HDD back in, and without anything on it, then it will proceed to attempt to boot off of the DVD drive.

 

[code65536]

Microsoft really made a mess of the product keys in the 8.0->8.1 transition. If there is a 8.0 key in the UEFI, it will be automatically recognized and used by 8.0 install media, but not 8.1 install media. Likewise, if it has a 8.1 key in the UEFI, the 8.0 disc won't recognize it, but the 8.1 disc will.

This is because, encoded in each key, is information of what version for which that key is canonical. The problem is that the install media, for reasons beyond me, only accept keys for its own version, whereas Windows proper accepts keys for all compatible versions. So the 8.1 installer will only accept an 8.1 key, even though the actual 8.1 OS accepts both 8.0 and 8.1 keys. Yes, it's stupid.

So first, you need to read the key from the UEFI. You can do this by downloading the trial version of AIDA64, and going to Motherboard > ACPI and looking for the MSDM entry. Copy that key down.

Next, install 8.1 using a generic install key (or modify the media so that there's an ei.cfg, in which case, the installer will automatically use a generic key without asking). And then once installed, you can punch in the 8.0 key that you had harvested earlier. (Alternatively, you can install 8.1 with the generic key and then fire up AIDA64 to find the 8.0 key--you do not need to have an activated copy of Windows in order to read the MSDM entry.)

 

[Ichinisan]

AFAIK, if the computer originally came from HP with the OEM version of Windows 8, you don't need the product key to reinstall. The Win 8 installer will automatically detect the Win 8 key from the bios and never prompt for one. That's my experience with two Win 8 machines where I did clean OS installs on.

The rest of your story is puzzling to me. Not sure why UEFI wouldn't boot from the DVD. Maybe try creating a bootable USB flash drive with Win 8 on it see if UEFI lets you boot from the flash drive? I've never had problems with telling UEFI to boot from an optical drive or from USB.

Also not sure what you mean in the last paragraph. How are you "within Windows" if you weren't able to install?

I was able to install with some kind of preview / temporary product key that selected Windows 8.1 Professional instead of Home. That's how I ran the utility to reveal the BIOS key.

Now that there's a bootable (not activated) copy of Windows 8.1 install, it boots straight to that with no opportunity whatsoever to override boot order.

In the installed copy of Windows 8.1 Pro, I found a setting to start from the optical disc drive on the next boot. I did that and tried the key. It told me the version for that key was not found on the install media. Ugh.

 

[artemicion]

I was able to install with some kind of preview / temporary product key that selected Windows 8.1 Professional instead of Home. That's how I ran the utility to reveal the BIOS key.

Now that there's a bootable (not activated) copy of Windows 8.1 install, it boots straight to that with no opportunity whatsoever to override boot order.

In the installed copy of Windows 8.1 Pro, I found a setting to start from the optical disc drive on the next boot. I did that and tried the key. It told me the version for that key was not found on the install media. Ugh.

Try installing Win 8.0 instead then. You can download it direct from Microsoft and create a bootable USB to install from. If code65536 is correct, if the HP came with a Win 8.0 key then it should work with Win 8.0 install media, but not with Win 8.1 install media, which I agree sounds pretty stupid. The upgrade to 8.1 is free after you install and activate 8.0 anyway.

 

[Ichinisan]

Try installing Win 8.0 instead then. You can download it direct from Microsoft and create a bootable USB to install from. If code65536 is correct, if the HP came with a Win 8.0 key then it should work with Win 8.0 install media, but not with Win 8.1 install media, which I agree sounds pretty stupid. The upgrade to 8.1 is free after you install and activate 8.0 anyway.

Both Microsoft downloaders (8.0 and 8.1) reject the key when I enter it. :/

 

[Ichinisan]

Found my 8.0 install DVD and my 8.1 install DVD (both are 64-bit). Neither of them will accept the MSDM key (the one that was revealed by the "Windows 8 Product Key Viewer" utility).

 

[Underclocked]

Can you install Win8 using the generic install key? Then activate with the key from bios? 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT would be the generic key needed, I believe.

 

[Ichinisan]

Can you install Win8 using the generic install key? Then activate with the key from bios? 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT would be the generic key needed, I believe.

Tried that. Won't work with my install media (which is for Pro).

It's a scam that Microsoft doesn't put everything into 2 freely-downloadable ISO files (32-bit and 64-bit).

The installer should detect if you have a compatible key in your BIOS and ask if you want to "install [x] edition using the built-in product key" or "enter a product key to install another edition." That's how it should be, but not how it is.

Microsoft is in bed with these OEMs so they can sell recovery media for $30 that should be free to download or $5 to ship. Actually, they should be included with the system and the user should not be asked to provide their own blank media. It's dirt cheap for them to manufacture. %#}#*!!! It just makes Windows a more problematic platform than it has to be. Microsoft has been losing market share, so they'll need to fix stuff like this very soon if they hope to stop the bleeding. Grumble, grumble...

 

[Continuity28]

You are using an OEM version of Professional right?

In that case, edit your Windows 8.1 install media to bypass entering the key until you're in Windows itself. Windows will accept your key, the installer will not.

Go to the "Sources" directory and edit/add a file named ei.cfg

This is what you'll want in it:

[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
OEM
[VL]
0

EDIT: If it's not Professional, try this instead:

[EditionID]
Core
[Channel]
OEM
[VL]
0

 

[Ichinisan]

I found an MSDN version that pulled the key from the BIOS automatically as it should.

If I was in charge at Microsoft, this would change. There would be 2 versions of Windows install media (32-bit and 64-bit). It would automatically detect the embedded product key, but it would tell you what edition the key unlocks and also ask if you want to enter a different product key to install another edition.

As it is, Microsoft's partners (HP, Asus, Dell, etc) deliberately choose not to provide an operating system install disc or recovery media specifically so they can charge $30+ for replacements. The cost for the manufacturer to give you the media is practically $0.00 - but it costs significantly more for to the end user to provide blank media and spend their own time creating / labeling the set of recovery discs. To top it off, many systems don't even have optical drives anymore.

 

[code65536]

The (non-Enterprise, non-Volume License) Windows 8/8.1 discs released and produced by Microsoft are multi-edition. They contain both Core and Pro disk images.

The ISOs downloaded by an installer is keyed to the key that was supplied to the downloader and is single-edition.

Most ISOs used by OEMs are customized by the OEM and are, as a result, single-edition as well.

In these cases, it's not about keys--the ISOs simply don't have the disk image for the other edition.

 

[Ichinisan]

The (non-Enterprise, non-Volume License) Windows 8/8.1 discs released and produced by Microsoft are multi-edition. They contain both Core and Pro disk images.

The ISOs downloaded by an installer is keyed to the key that was supplied to the downloader and is single-edition.

Most ISOs used by OEMs are customized by the OEM and are, as a result, single-edition as well.

In these cases, it's not about keys--the ISOs simply don't have the disk image for the other edition.

There's simply no reason for Microsoft to design it with those limitations. The core files are the same. They should have built it so the image always includes the same core files and you could unlock any edition with the right key. Supplemental images should apply the other OEM customizations. Heck, you can purchase / change editions after the install using the built-in options in Windows, so there's no reason this process can't apply to the install images (copy core image, then copy supplemental/optional OEM customizations, then automatically unlock/modify the specific edition features determined by product key).

It would be dumb to come up with an imaging system that doesn't support supplemental images. Maybe that's how the multi-edition installs work already. Otherwise, that's an inefficient use of the storage space on the install media to have core files duplicated in each image.

With OSX, you didn't have to consider if the disc was the right combination of upgrade/full/home/pro/retail/OEM/64-bit/32-bit. Eventually, Windows should work like that (except that it would require a product key).

 

[code65536]

There's simply no reason for Microsoft to design it with those limitations. The core files are the same. They should have built it so the image always includes the same core files and you could unlock any edition with the right key. Supplemental images should apply the other OEM customizations. Heck, you can purchase / change editions after the install using the built-in options in Windows, so there's no reason this process can't apply to the install images (copy core image, then copy supplemental/optional OEM customizations, then automatically unlock/modify the specific edition features determined by product key).

It would be dumb to come up with an imaging system that doesn't support supplemental images. Maybe that's how the multi-edition installs work already. Otherwise, that's an inefficient use of the storage space on the install media to have core files duplicated in each image.

With OSX, you didn't have to consider if the disc was the right combination of upgrade/full/home/pro/retail/OEM/64-bit/32-bit. Eventually, Windows should work like that (except that it would require a product key).

The official images that contain multiple editions have de-deduplication. So data that is common in the images is stored only once, and the marginal space cost of each additional image is minimal. Vista and Windows 7 had far more editions than 8, and they all fit neatly within about the same amount of space.

But when you build your own ISO for your custom deployment, as OEMs do, it's simply easier to deal with just a single image and discard the others (and I'm speaking from experience, because all of my machines are deployed using images that I personally customized).

 

[JackMDS]

While a lot of the above is QFT, it is Not the end of the world that a user would pay for his mistakes/ignorance and spend the little money that get you Media as a backup. If a manufacturer do not offer such a solution do not their hardware, it should be of the considaration at least as importnat of the color of the device.

It is specially pathetic because many spend more money every weekend on Brews than the not so frequent need to have media to reinstall the OS.

 

[Dahak]

While I agree too that the should only have one media that would work with all, I am going to state that not all manufacture's don't include the recovery media.

Pretty much every HP business system that we sell has come with the recovery media. Mainly a HP branded OS cd and a drivers cd. And on machines that come with 8 Pro that are downgraded to 7 also come with both 7 and 8 os cds.

Now for the consumer lines, i think its a race to the bottom for price and if they can save 50 cents the will do it


Now having said all that. I think I should play around with this too to make sure I know which media / know how it works so when the time comes around when we need 8.

 

[code65536]

It's a bit of a legal gray area, but in my view, if you already have a valid license, just torrent it.

 

[Bateluer]

A coworker needed me to replace a bad hard drive in an HP 15-d074nr "notebook." - that's in quotes because the weak internal hardware seems more like a tablet than a notebook. It has a tiny little battery, but it's not exactly a netbook because it has an optical disk drive. Though I don't see any stickers, I'm pretty sure it has an AMD APU.

The product key is built into the BIOS, I know that it's not a straightforward process to reinstall Windows 8.1 - I do have a Windows 8.1 install disc that I made many months ago, and I'm told the product key will determine which version (Pro, Home, etc) installs. I could not enter any kind of BIOS Setup menu to find the product key. The closest thing I could do was wait for boot to fail and press F2 to access a menu with 3 diagnostic options for testing memory, hard drive, etc.

I tried to find out if there was a trick to it. HP's site asks for the "product number," which is a bit worn and hard to make out. I guessed "F5Y37UA#ABA" -- but the site said Windows 8.1 was "not supported" on that device --??

I had to Google a generic key so I could install and run a utility to obtain the original product key. I want to delete partitions and reinstall using that key, but there's no way to boot to the install disc anymore (damn UEFI!). On boot, it instantly goes to the UEFI loading screen and doesn't respond to any of the F-keys I've tried. The generic key I used installed the Pro edition, so I'm pretty sure I can't just re-enter the key in the Activation Wizard.

From within Windows, I did the autorun from the install media. It won't let me type the last character of the key (it says "1 character remaining"). It lets me type some characters, but not the final character that I need to type. I checked the rest of the product key over and over, compared to the picture I snapped when the utility was running. It will not allow me to enter that key.


Halp?

Having fought with the bullsh!t process to do a clean install on W8 OEM notebooks twice now, the OP has my sympathies.

What he needs is an OEM ISO image, and unfortunately, most of the images you can torrent are retail versions. It also matters whether the notebook originally shipped with 8 or 8.1. If the embedded key is for 8, you'll need a the W8 OEM image; W8.1 media won't work.

I think I still have the OEM W8 and 8.1 images from fighting this battle on my Acer V5 and my Lenovo Yoga 11S; they each installed and activated flawlessly on the respective notebooks. If you want them, let me know.

 

[code65536]

What he needs is an OEM ISO image, and unfortunately, most of the images you can torrent are retail versions.

No you don't. Microsoft makes no distinction between retail and OEM when it comes to disc images for Windows 8. The OP did reinstall successfully (with automatic key detection) using a retail MSDN image.

Unless you mean OEM as being "customized by the OEM assembler", in which case, those images are actually more restrictive than retail ones, as they are often single-edition. Their only benefit is that they might have some drivers slipstreamed in (but other crap could be included, too), and I prefer to avoid them and install the drivers manually so that I can be sure that I'm getting a pristine install free of any meddling.

 

[liviococcia]

You are using an OEM version of Professional right?

In that case, edit your Windows 8.1 install media to bypass entering the key until you're in Windows itself. Windows will accept your key, the installer will not.

Go to the "Sources" directory and edit/add a file named ei.cfg

This is what you'll want in it:

[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
OEM
[VL]
0

EDIT: If it's not Professional, try this instead:

[EditionID]
Core
[Channel]
OEM
[VL]
0

Hello continuity28

I have a real issue, so I hope you can help me please.

I work for a charity in the UK and we won a grant for 7 lenovo desktop PC's, these PC's have Windows 8.1and when I look at the product I'd, the ID states it's an OEM version.

As we have an existing Domain network, we know we needed the Windows 8.1 'professional ' version on these new PC's , to be able to hook up to the network and give us the full network access and with all the functions associated with that.

So, what we then did is purchase 7 Windows 8.1 professional licenses through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Centre under the Charity Donated licenses scheme.

I find that if i go to 'Windows Add-ons' and try to enter the license key to unlock the Pro features, the Volume License key is not accepted, I have been told that only an install from the VLC Windows 8.1 Pro download version will accept this licence key, the trouble is these new computers have the embedded OEM Licence key for Windows 8.1.

So after reading what you had posted I thought could doing what you suggest work to get over my problem that I'm having, but I'm unsure as to how my ei.cfg file should be written for my situation.

If possible I would be greatful for you help, and whether you think this would work, and if not, do you have any other possible solution, or work around to get Windows 8.1 pro into these PC's licensed and activated fully.

Kind regards
Livio

 

[Ichinisan]

Hello continuity28

I have a real issue, so I hope you can help me please.

I work for a charity in the UK and we won a grant for 7 lenovo desktop PC's, these PC's have Windows 8.1and when I look at the product I'd, the ID states it's an OEM version.

As we have an existing Domain network, we know we needed the Windows 8.1 'professional ' version on these new PC's , to be able to hook up to the network and give us the full network access and with all the functions associated with that.

So, what we then did is purchase 7 Windows 8.1 professional licenses through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Centre under the Charity Donated licenses scheme.

I find that if i go to 'Windows Add-ons' and try to enter the license key to unlock the Pro features, the Volume License key is not accepted, I have been told that only an install from the VLC Windows 8.1 Pro download version will accept this licence key, the trouble is these new computers have the embedded OEM Licence key for Windows 8.1.

So after reading what you had posted I thought could doing what you suggest work to get over my problem that I'm having, but I'm unsure as to how my ei.cfg file should be written for my situation.

If possible I would be greatful for you help, and whether you think this would work, and if not, do you have any other possible solution, or work around to get Windows 8.1 pro into these PC's licensed and activated fully.

Kind regards
Livio

Haven't finished reading your post, but I just wanted to mention that "OEM" doesn't mean it's not "Professional."

You can have: [Home/Professional] + [OEM/RETAIL]

 

[mrjminer]

They key doesn't need to be entered. It will be pulled automatically on install. However, if it is Windows 8 you need to use a Windows 8 disk; 8.1 disk won't work. You also need to activate before installing 8.1 IIRC. Sounds like you already got it though.