Solved Clean Install 8.1 OEM on SSD - Work for Win 7 OEM desktop?

Hi...just joined eightforums from sevenforums, as there is much info on installing, but no clear answer on this particular situation when searching (my searches capture too many other scenarios).

Thought I'd ask here before taking action and wasting time and money.

I have a Client (side business) with several computers with OEM install of Win 7 (with recovery partition).

He wants to do a fresh install of Win 8.1 PRO on an SSD for them. Because of prior bad experience with upgrades, he'd rather avoid an Upgrade and copy/migrate to new drive. With what I've read so far on this, his concern is not misplaced.

I checked using Upgrade Assistant and looks like no problems that we could not handle in reinstalling their Win 8 compatible versions of their few flagged apps. Hardware minimum is definitely met.

Microsoft has changed the OEM authorization process, writing info to the BIOS. I don't think any such thing exists with a Win 7 era computer (correct?).

The question is, will running a clean install on a new drive with the new key provided (OEM DVD pkg) even work? Are there any potential "gotchas"?

Remove the old windows 7 drive
install the new drive and install windows 8.1 with new product key

then you can do one of two things -
reinstall the old windows 7 drive and use the BIOS settings to select the boot disk
or add the other version of windows to the primary boot disk BCD (Boot manager)

either way will allow you to dual boot the PC

Thanks for your quick response!

KYHI said:

Remove the old windows 7 drive
install the new drive and install windows 8.1 with new product key

Click to expand...

If I were to stop at this point, the client will have a fully authorized and operational Win 8.1 PRO, correct?

Are there any catches or conditions I may be missing just doing the fresh install?

For example, does the OEM version of Win 8.1 require BIOS to be updated to allow it to write it's authorization verifier code to the BIOS (if this is even possible - might require newer hardware for OEM to work?)? (Just making this up as one possible scenario, but want to make sure all bases are covered so we don't run into a red flag from MS down the road).

Also, this confirms (as I have read elsewhere) that the MS OEM Installer package is not necessary (really only needed for OEM to insert bloatware, as I understand). Correct?

KYHI said:

then you can do one of two things -
reinstall the old windows 7 drive and use the BIOS settings to select the boot disk
or add the other version of windows to the primary boot disk BCD (Boot manager)

either way will allow you to dual boot the PC

Click to expand...

Nice to know, but the client is not really interested in a dual boot, unless you mean to say that this is required in order to run the OEM 8.1 version (for some MS hidden files/code).

Do a clean install of windows 8.1 > type in the required product activation key > install any needed system drivers and programs = done..

If I were to stop at this point, the client will have a fully authorized and operational Win 8.1 PRO, correct?

Click to expand...

Correct! And there is no requirement for dual boot to run W8.1.

Great! Thanks guys (gals?)!