How to reinstall windows 8 on laptop with new HDD? No Produkey?

[mindbug]

Hi,

We need to reinstall windows 8 on a laptop with a new HDD (the old one crashed). There is no recovery partition and no recovery discs at our disposal.

With windows 7 the productkey was on the bottom of the laptop so we could reinstall it with an oem disc. This doesn't seem to be the case with windows 8 anymore.

Anyone knows how to get around this (without ordering the recovery dvd's)?

Many Thanks!

 

[nlinecomputers]

I need to make a macro.

The product key is embedded in the bios. You don't need to have one. Just install with a standard Windows 8 DVD or USB Flash drive.

 

[CLC]

If you need to get the product key out of the bios with a live cd use these tools. It should however find the product key during install like nlinecomputers said.

Windows 8 PE:

http://windowsmatters.com/2013/04/3...with-explorer-shell-and-all-my-favorite-apps/

wpkey_v1.4.7d.zip:

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/archive/index.php/t-30363.html

Works great.

 

[mindbug]

hi,

With a medion laptop it did find the productkey automatically when I installed it with an OEM disc.

Now I got an asus R500V laptop and it prompts me for the cdkey with the same OEM disc. I replaced the HDD. Are there settings in the bios that I need to adjust so that it can read the key from the bios?

I made a windows 8 PE disc according to the instructions above.
Upon booting with the PE disc I can't seem to find the tool to read the key from the bios.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[glricht]

This works for me (consolidated from other TN posts)

1. If the PC will boot, run RWEverything (http://rweverything.com/) to display the BIOS key. (Click "ACPI" tab, then "MSDM" tab)
   If the PC won't boot, delay this step until later.
2. Install Win 8 using the appropriate generic key:
   a) 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT for Core/Home (8.x)
   b) XHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKB for Professional (8.x Pro)
3. If you weren't able to display the BIOS key in step 1, do it now using RWEverything
4. Change the product key to the one extracted in step 1
5. The OS will show as activated

Did this for the first time about two weeks ago for a Win 8 PC with a new HD (the previous HD had died). Installed 8.1 instead of 8.0 so I didn't have to go through the upgrade process. Worked great.

Hope this helps.

 

[Krynn72]

I need to make a macro.

The product key is embedded in the bios. You don't need to have one. Just install with a standard Windows 8 DVD or USB Flash drive.

I've never had a problem with activation just doing this, and I've done a couple dozen HDD replacements on Win8 laptops at least. I don't understand why you guys have to go to such lengths to find the actual key. Am I missing something? Or just lucky?

 

[CLC]

hi,

With a medion laptop it did find the productkey automatically when I installed it with an OEM disc.

Now I got an asus R500V laptop and it prompts me for the cdkey with the same OEM disc. I replaced the HDD. Are there settings in the bios that I need to adjust so that it can read the key from the bios?

I made a windows 8 PE disc according to the instructions above.
Upon booting with the PE disc I can't seem to find the tool to read the key from the bios.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

This is not part of the PE disk, you need to put it on a flash drive and run it after the PE disk is loaded.

wpkey_v1.4.7d.zip:

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/arc...p/t-30363.html

 

[jft135]

I've never had a problem with activation just doing this, and I've done a couple dozen HDD replacements on Win8 laptops at least. I don't understand why you guys have to go to such lengths to find the actual key. Am I missing something? Or just lucky?

Just lucky I guess. It seems to be really hit & miss for me.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I've never had a problem with activation just doing this, and I've done a couple dozen HDD replacements on Win8 laptops at least. I don't understand why you guys have to go to such lengths to find the actual key. Am I missing something? Or just lucky?

That has been my case as well. I've also not had the trouble with password recoveries that some have had.

 

[mindbug]

This is not part of the PE disk, you need to put it on a flash drive and run it after the PE disk is loaded. wpkey_v1.4.7d.zip

@CLC
I extracted the key(s) and I got the message that the key did not match the version on the disc. It's a standard OEM windows 8.1 home disc.
Could it be that the tool extracts the volume license key and that it won't work with OEM discs? Maybe ASUS and some other verdors use volume license keys that won't work with standard OEM discs. That could explain things Any other suggestions that I could try?

If the PC will boot, run RWEverything (http://rweverything.com/) to display the BIOS key.
If the PC won't boot, delay this step until later.
Install Win 8 using the appropriate generic key:
a) 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT for Core/Home (8.x)
b) XHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKB for Professional (8.x Pro)
If you weren't able to display the BIOS key in step 1, do it now using RWEverything
Change the product key to the one extracted in step 1
The OS will show as activated

@glricht
I'm looking at the tools but there is so much information.
Can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks for help guys!

 

[Porthos]

I extracted the key(s) and I got the message that the key did not match the version on the disc. It's a standard OEM windows 8.1 home disc.

Cant use the 8 key on 8.1 need to use one of the dummy keys and activate it after the install since it did not auto insert the key.

 

[Xander]

Wow. If some people actually frequented the forums for more than just their own problems (e.g. posting literally 4 years after their last post), they might have already seen this information several times.
Mind you, it's pointless to point that out as it's "solved" and we won't see some folks for another year or two.