Rebuild on SSD

webmattr

New Member
Messages
4
Howdy Folks,

I used to be fairly active on the W7 forums helping people, but since I'm now working with W8, it's time to ask for some help. Here's the situation:

I bought myself a nice little Asus desktop with W8 preinstalled, and am fairly content with it (I avoid the tiles, but that's not here nor there). However, I'd like to reinstall W8 onto an SSD, and convert the sata disk to being purely data. I've limited experience delving into 8's licensing model, so that's where I need help. The desktop came with zero documentation or "here's your Window license. Don't lose it!" paperwork. A friend told me that I should be able to rebuild the machine on the SSD, and have it simply 'pickup' the license from the hardware? I don't buy that, so I thought I'd ask: is there a location in the registry I can pull it from, or a spot where it's referenced that's accessible?

Alternatively, I did spot this guide on the 7 forums, which is a process I'm comfortable doing, if this would work for W8 as well as W7.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8
A friend told me that I should be able to rebuild the machine on the SSD, and have it simply 'pickup' the license from the hardware? I don't buy that
That's correct, the license key is buried in the BIOS.

is there a location in the registry I can pull it from, or a spot where it's referenced that's accessible?
The location for the Activation info is stored in a hidden folder under:
C:\Windows\System32\spp
You can backup the whole folder to somewhere else

To find out your Product Key: Product Key Viewer 1.4.7d - Windows 8

I'd like to reinstall Windows 8 onto an SSD, and convert the sata disk to being purely data
All you need to do is connect the new SSD to the USB Port then use an image backup software to clone your current Windows system to it then swap the drives.
Macrium is good for this: Macrium Reflect Free
User Guide: Macrium User Manual

EDIT: You should clean up and defrag your current windows disk so it will consolidate all the free spaces before cloning.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
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