HS wrote:


BenSmith wrote:
"HS" escreveu na mensagem
...

I downloaded the iso file of windows 8.1 from microsoft and it has the
latest
November update. I did a clean reinstall of win 8.1.

............................................

Create installation media for Windows 8.1

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-refresh-media

...........................................

Some people bought OEM Windows 8 preinstalled on machine. In this case
and using the above link, how do you do a reinstall without serial key?



I would first "recover" the product key with a program like Magic Jelly
Bean
and store it is a very safe place before doing a fresh installation

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/

I have also used ProduKey

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

Try both for a peace of mind


HS

If the discussion is about Windows 8 OEM, you need a different
recipe than MagicJellyBean... Something I picked up in some
thread here, only a couple days ago. the new detail, was
with respect to where the key is stored. Now, maybe the key
is obtainable both ways, but at least this gives a way to
get it, without a working Windows running on the computer.

*******
1- Download and create a Linux Live CD, Linux Mint or Ubuntu for example
2 - launch it
3- open the console called Terminal
4- type: ls /sys/firmware/acpi/tables , it will shows you if you have a MSDM table
5- then type: sudo hd /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

the license will shows up on the right of the output.

Then now you can use it to install Win8.xx
*******

Now, while that is interesting, another data point is,
that a Windows 8 Retail install (of matching install type),
will automatically activate when presented with the BIOS key.
So while you can extract the key from MSDM, it may not
even be necessary to have the key in hand. You would
likely need to match Core with Core, or Pro with Pro, so
if your OEM machine came with Core (a.k.a Home), then
you'd likely want to be attempting to install a retail
one similar to that, so it will activate without
complaint. Maybe a universal DVD (with ei.cfg removed)
could be used for the installation. An MSDN subscription
image (via Torrent), could give you materials for
several different flavors of after-market install.

For other OEM OSes (Windows 7 or earlier), they are BIOS
SLIC activated. But there isn't a unique key in there.
The key that goes with SLIC is a "bulk" key of some sort.
The key printed on the COA is a different key, and is
a unique value per machine (Windows 7 machines have a COA,
Windows 8 machines do not). And even with MagicJellyBean,
you have to remember what you're extracting. The "bulk" key
would not be of any use to you, whereas someone who
reinstalled the OS and inserted the COA key, that key
would be reusable if extracted with the Magic. So if the
user did an install based on COA, did phone activation
when prompted, later the COA sticker got scratched up,
the MagicJellyBean can help in that case.

I don't have a Win8 OEM machine here, so I don't have the
materials to verify the new MSDM info. I'm surprised the
key isn't encrypted.

HTH,
Paul