dangalore1988
New Member
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Hello - Please accept my apologies if this is answered elsewhere but I have googled for days and cannot find anything on this.
From what I can gather, there are 3 "generations" of Windows 8:
- Windows 8 (Standard & Professional)
- Windows 8.1 (Standard & Professional)
- Windows 8.1 with Update (Standard & Professional)
I have a laptop which came "Pre-Installed" with Windows 8.1 "Standard" - the laptop uses UEFI so I know the product key is stored in the ROM etc.
I was originally trying to install using the x64 Windows 8 image till I realised it was the 8.1 version pre-installed, I then used the 8.1 version and it still wouldn't detect the key. Then I realised that there was a third version, this "Windows 8.1 with Update", once I obtained the ISO for this version, during setup it detected the key and installed correctly pre-activated as it should do.
My question however relates to an Unattended Setup - I use Answer files to install Windows 8 you see... when I use the Windows 8.1 Standard key for OEM in the Answer file, 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT it installs with that key and doesn't read the correct key from the UEFI... naturally this fails activation as you can't activate the generic keys.
If I remove the ProductKey section from the answer file, Setup fails saying "Cannot read the <ProductKey> setting from the unattend answer file". It appears that I must use a key of some sort, but is there a different key for Windows 8.1 UPDATE as opposed to normal Windows 8.1 without the Update? Or is there a way to use an answer file and get it to detect the key?
I'm only interested in the OEM versions of Standard & Professional, this does not relate to Enterprise or VLK's etc as I know it's a different procedure with these.
Any help?
Thanks Guys!
From what I can gather, there are 3 "generations" of Windows 8:
- Windows 8 (Standard & Professional)
- Windows 8.1 (Standard & Professional)
- Windows 8.1 with Update (Standard & Professional)
I have a laptop which came "Pre-Installed" with Windows 8.1 "Standard" - the laptop uses UEFI so I know the product key is stored in the ROM etc.
I was originally trying to install using the x64 Windows 8 image till I realised it was the 8.1 version pre-installed, I then used the 8.1 version and it still wouldn't detect the key. Then I realised that there was a third version, this "Windows 8.1 with Update", once I obtained the ISO for this version, during setup it detected the key and installed correctly pre-activated as it should do.
My question however relates to an Unattended Setup - I use Answer files to install Windows 8 you see... when I use the Windows 8.1 Standard key for OEM in the Answer file, 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT it installs with that key and doesn't read the correct key from the UEFI... naturally this fails activation as you can't activate the generic keys.
If I remove the ProductKey section from the answer file, Setup fails saying "Cannot read the <ProductKey> setting from the unattend answer file". It appears that I must use a key of some sort, but is there a different key for Windows 8.1 UPDATE as opposed to normal Windows 8.1 without the Update? Or is there a way to use an answer file and get it to detect the key?
I'm only interested in the OEM versions of Standard & Professional, this does not relate to Enterprise or VLK's etc as I know it's a different procedure with these.
Any help?
Thanks Guys!
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Microsoft Windows 10 Professional x64