Have your Windows 7 or 8/8.1 product key ready. If you purchased a retail license, you can find the product key within the product box. The Windows 7 product key is normally found on an orange sticker attached to a pamphlet inside the box. The Windows 8/8.1 product key is found on a small business size card. See examples below. Please note, you can also use your OEM product key too if Windows came preinstalled on your computer.
Key Install Windows 8.1 Pro
Download: https://shoxet.com/2vENI9
If your computer came preinstalled with an OEM version of Windows 7, look for the Certificate of Authenticity sticker attached to the chassis of your computer. Normally this can be at the side or top of the system unit. For laptops, look at the bottom of the chassis or inside the battery or memory compartment. It looks like the following:
With Windows 8, Microsoft had changed from stickers that have the product key that the user has to type in when installing the operating system to new BIOS embedded product keys. The idea is that by eliminating the sticker, you eliminate one of the easier ways for nefarious users to get a legitimate product key. Eliminating the product key sticker also removes any worry that the sticker might get damaged while at the same time eliminating the long and irritating process of typing in various letters and numbers when installing the operating system.
If the user has to reinstall the operating system on a machine that came with Windows 8, the installation process automatically grabs the software product key from the motherboard BIOS with no input from the user. This means that those familiar Windows product key stickers will no longer appear on the Windows 8 computers.
The key is now embedded in BIOS and can be retrieved automatically during the activation process in Windows 8 / 10. Theoretically, you will never be asked for a key to activate your machine. But to have the process run smoothly, you will need the right Windows 8/10 installation media that matches the one stored in BIOS. Or, you will be prompted to type in the right product key.
Hi, I bought a new Dell Inspiron with a Bios Win 8 product key. the problem is that for some reason, this key is blocked. Dell gave me a new key which works but every 15 mins or so, the msg to activate windows comes up. When I checked in system, I can see that Windows somehow goes back to the blocked bios key. I have to activate it every 15 mins!! How can I solve this? Can I replace the blocked bios key with the new key I have which works? thanks Nick
Just wanted to say a massive thank you for this blog as I spent nearly two hours on the phone arguing with Samsung support about getting a recovery disc as I had my HDD upgraded to an SSD and could not work out how to reinstall Windows 8.
But, because it had been upgraded to Win 8.1 since I got it, I also tried RwEverything, and found the information (as shown how to do in the article). I thought that the upgrade to Windows 8.1 (installed from the Microsoft Store), may have changed the key, and wanted to get the original key in case a reinstall was ever needed (since there is no COA sticker on an OEM setup like this).
-Ran OS Win8Pro disk that the AIO came with but the disk asked me for a key @ install -Used one of those temp keys for Win8 pro -Ran all the tools, none worked, got errors or application crashes -Dell service ticket opened, they have to replace mobo again
I have purchase refurbishes pc with genuine windoes 10 home, my bad luck due to some reason i have degraded the windows 10 to windows 7 but my pc was not giving me the performance so if i again install the windows 10 so how can i get back my genuine windows key or any solution to become my windoes 10 again genuine, as there is product number i have, and have a picture from my pc included product id (AAOEM)
I have dell inpiron 5110 lap top. It had win 7. I upgraded it with free win 10. Win 10 worked fine and received updates. However, in july 16, it become corrupted. So I have to install win 8. win 8 key is expiring in Feb 16. I want to install free win 10. Please help. How can I retrieve my earlier win 10 product key.
Hi there. I've never used boot camp before and am hoping to install Windows 8 on my iMac 5k I recently purchased. I am hoping to do this as cheaply as possible (without breaking any laws!). I saw Microsoft offers an ISO of Windows 8.1 on their website, which required a product key to activate. Could I download the 64bit version of the ISO and install it using boot camp? I do not have any previous version of Windows installed on my Mac. If this works, will Windows prompt me to enter a product key right after it installs? I see there are a lot of Windows 8 product keys for sale on eBay and similar sites, so I was hoping to purchase one to activate Windows. Want to make sure this would work though.
If you plan to buy a key from eBay, you must get assurances from the seller on returns, if the key does not work (has a questionable past). You must also reassure the seller that if you return it you will remove windows from your Mac.
If you have been wondering, yes, you can activate Windows 11 with a Windows 7 product key. Therefore, you can also use a genuine Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 key. This means that Windows 11 is a free upgrade for older versions of the operating system. (See also this guide to learn the steps to activate an installation of Windows 11.)
Additionally, make sure to use Device Manager to check that every piece of hardware is installed correctly on your system, and reinstall your antivirus and any other software you uninstall before the upgrade.
To achieve our objective, we need to edit the ei.cfg (edition configuration) file present inside the /sources folder of the ISO image. All we need to do is to provide the version details inside this file so that Windows Setup is not needed to ask for a product key to install the appropriate version relevant to that product key.
Trying to reinstall Win 8.1 from HP oem disk and it still asks for key - I was under the impression that it is supposed to get it automatically from the bios - if I enter a key to get past this it installs - but it will not activate nor will it let me change the key to the one stored in the bios.
Yep, used an install key but ... it won't let me change it to the bios key - all I can think is maybe I'm using the wrong oem disk ... it does show a HP logo on the desktop and login pic is HP logo so the OS does think its an HP laptop ... it just says key cannot be used to activate this edition of windows
Doesn't let me change the key - I enter it and it says can't be used for this version - The hard drive (WD blue) failed so I replaced it with an SSD (Samsung 750 evo I had lying around. which is why I'm reinstalling win 8.1.
one suggestion I have found is - "You have a Single Language licence - download and install that edition." seriously does that make a difference ??? I think the disk I have is multi-language ... so I'll try this - -ca/software-download/windows8ISO?irgwc=1&OCID=AID2000142_aff_7794_12464... hopefully its not language specific ... I'll try English/English first.
If you can't locate the key but the following is true: a) Windows is installed on the computer right now, b) it's working, and c) it was not preinstalled by your computer maker, then you do have the option of extracting the key from your current installation. There are programs called "Windows product key finders" that can do this.
See the What to Do... section further down this page if you need to change the media (disc vs flash drive) that you install Windows from, or if you have an ISO file of the OS and you're not sure what to do with it.
Entering your product key at this point is required. This is unlike in previous versions of Windows, where you could skip the product key entry during installation as long as you provided one within a certain time frame, usually 30 or 60 days. Also unlike in previous versions, activating your product key online is automatic and part of this process.
As we mentioned in the first step in this tutorial, if you've lost your product key, and you're reinstalling Windows 8 over an existing, and working, retail copy of Windows 8, then you should be able to extract the valid product key you used to install Windows the last time.
You should always read software license agreements and look for caveats you might not have expected, especially when it comes to operating systems. Microsoft, as well as most other software makers, have strict and legally binding limits as to how many concurrent computers their software can be operated on. For example, a copy of Windows 8 can only be installed on a single computer at a time. In reality, this means one product key per computer...period.
Even if you might be upgrading from a previous version of Windows to Windows 8, we don't recommend that you upgrade. It sounds like a great option, with your files, settings, and programs all remaining in place, but the reality is often much different. You'll get better performance from Windows 8 and whatever software you choose to install again if you continue with this clean install procedure instead.
Before you delete a partition, please know that all data on that partition will be erased forever, meaning the operating system itself, all installed programs, all saved documents, movies, music, etc. that might be on that drive. It's assumed that, by this point, anything you wanted to keep you've backed up elsewhere. 2ff7e9595c
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