Reinstall without DVD

Me and my girlfriend both have recently bought new laptops that came with Windows 8 installed (HP Pavilion) but wiped the drive and installed Ubuntu straight away without booting Windows 8.

Now that 8.1 is out we want to give it a chance.
I see I can download 8.1 preview from Microsoft but it comes with a product key, so I'm guessing that it will expire once 8.1 is officially released, but both laptops had Windows 8 preinstalled so they should have an embedded product key, correct?

Is is possible to install 8.1 preview and get it to use the embedded product keys, or do I have to buy a HP recovery disc and use that to install Windows 8 on both laptops, then update both to 8.1 through the store?

Also, if I was to buy a Windows 8 DVD in store (only about £20 more than a HP recovery disc), could I use that to install Windows 8 on both laptops (using the embedded product keys), and then use the product key that came with it to upgrade a family member to Windows 8?

Sorry for so many questions!

Hello descendent, and welcome to Eight Forums.

The Windows 8.1 Preview will still expire whether you used the embedded key or the provided preview key, so it really doesn't matter which one you used.

You'll be able to do a clean install with the Windows 8.1 Preview if you like, so no need to install Window 8 first and upgrade to Windows 8.1 Preview.
Since these are preinstalled OEM Windows 8 keys, you will not be able to use them on any other PC than the PC they came preinstalled on.


Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for posting in the wrong forum.

I thought that would be the case with the 8.1 preview.

I'm still trying to figure out if there is a way I can legally install Windows 8 on both our laptops (using the OEM preinstalled keys) without having to purchase a copy of the DVD (I don't mind paying for a HP recovery/install disc as long as it's not too much).

I can buy Windows 8 Pro in PC World for £49 (but I'm guessing I can't use it to install Win8 on both laptops using the OEM preinstalled keys as it's the Pro DVD, so I'd have to buy 2 copies which is £99) or I can buy Windows 8 (non-pro) for £99 on microsoft.com (why it costs twice as much to buy the non-pro version I have no idea?!).

Do you have the product keys of both laptops written down somewhere? If so, then you could see if you may be able to download a Windows 8 ISO at the link below.
If not, then your best bet would be to order the HP recovery/install disc.

Order Recovery DVD
https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc...dlc=en&lc=en&os=4132&product=5309543&sw_lang=