Re-Install Windows 8 OEM After Replacement Hard Drive

JDobbsy1987

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England, Cheshire
Hi,

I do this day in and day out with Volume Licensing but never with OEM installs...

A user that works at our company brought their personal laptop in, the hard drive failed hard drive tests so we have put one of our spare hard drives in and now we need to re-install Windows 8 x64.

Where do i get the installation media from if the users doesn't have a disc?
Is it possible or do we need to order a disc?

I feel stupid for needing to ask :eek: lol

Regards,
Jamie
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.30GHz - S1155
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 LE Rev3, Intel P67, S115
    Memory
    8GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
    Sound Card
    On-Board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x 24" {Extended Display}
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    300GB Seagate Barracuda 7200
    PSU
    550W Coolermaster GX550
    Case
    Silverstone Precision PS04B
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    World of Warcraft Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse
    Internet Speed
    80MB
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    MSE / Windows Defender
Yea, OEM sucks nowadays because the key is embedded in the BIOS chip. It will automatically activate once you get it re-installed. Another reason why with OEM it is very important to create a recovery flash drive or image the system right after purchasing the computer. Everything to recover was on that bad drive.
Anyway, the user will now have to try to get a recovery disc from the manufacturer. What make of laptop is it?

P.S. No stupid questions here. :)

EDIT: If you have a retail ISO it should read the embedded key and activate as OEM I believe. Another post here dealing with the same issue: http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/44415-how-install-windows-8-1-8-1-oem-key-2.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Yea, OEM sucks nowadays because the key is embedded in the BIOS chip. It will automatically activate once you get it re-installed. Another reason why with OEM it is very important to create a recovery flash drive or image the system right after purchasing the computer. Everything to recover was on that bad drive.
Anyway, the user will now have to try to get a recovery disc from the manufacturer. What make of laptop is it?

P.S. No stupid questions here. :)

EDIT: If you have a retail ISO it should read the embedded key and activate as OEM I believe. Another post here dealing with the same issue: http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/44415-how-install-windows-8-1-8-1-oem-key-2.html

Thank you for your reply.
I thought this might have been the case from what i could see.
It's an acer, i will tell the user to look at getting a new CD.

Regards,
Jamie
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.30GHz - S1155
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 LE Rev3, Intel P67, S115
    Memory
    8GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
    Sound Card
    On-Board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x 24" {Extended Display}
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    300GB Seagate Barracuda 7200
    PSU
    550W Coolermaster GX550
    Case
    Silverstone Precision PS04B
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    World of Warcraft Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse
    Internet Speed
    80MB
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    MSE / Windows Defender

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Thank you for your reply but these methods all require a running OS don't they?
The user never created a recovery CD and the hard drive with Acer's recovery partition on died therefore that is of no use either.

The link to order Acer recovery disks doesn't work.

I have left this with a guy at work to see if a retail ISO will activated with the OEM serial as mentioned above.

Regards,
Jamie
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.30GHz - S1155
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 LE Rev3, Intel P67, S115
    Memory
    8GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
    Sound Card
    On-Board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x 24" {Extended Display}
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    300GB Seagate Barracuda 7200
    PSU
    550W Coolermaster GX550
    Case
    Silverstone Precision PS04B
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    World of Warcraft Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse
    Internet Speed
    80MB
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    MSE / Windows Defender
Thank you for your reply but these methods all require a running OS don't they?
The user never created a recovery CD and the hard drive with Acer's recovery partition on died therefore that is of no use either.

The link to order Acer recovery disks doesn't work.

I have left this with a guy at work to see if a retail ISO will activated with the OEM serial as mentioned above.

Regards,
Jamie

My TechNet ISO's will read the embedded OEM keys. My laptop came with Windows 8.0 Core. If I use my TechNet 8.0 ISO it reads the key and installs 8.0 Core automatically. Activates online automatically with no issues too. I'm not prompted to enter any key. My TechNet keys are listed as Retail keys so I assume the ISO's are Retail images. If the laptop came with Windows 8.1 you'll need 8.1 install media. The only other gotcha is if its the Single Language version, that's a special ISO that can be hard to find. The regular Retail DVD's won't accept the Single language keys. At least that's what I've read.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Replacement hard drive

hi
i have acre aspire v3-571 i have to change the hard disc and when i try to re-install Windows 8 x64. i try to installed the recovery cd in my aspire v3-571 When booting the computer using the System Disc they supplied, you get the aspire logo for a couple minutes (normal) and then asked language (English) and then 3 options, 2 for what recovery would you like to preform and 1 to exit, no matter which recover you select you get the message that this must be run in Legacy BIOS mode.


Setting the BIOS to Legacy and rebooting you again get the i tcouple minutes of aspire logo and then the message that this must be run in UEFI mode.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer aspire V3-571
Do you get two boot options listed for the recovery DVD? One with UEFI in the description and one without? My ASUS laptop gives me the legacy install mode and a UEFI install mode listing for my bootable thumb drives. My wife's Acer V5 though does not. I found it a real pain to install in UEFI mode on my wife's Acer laptop. I didn't get the error message you got. I just couldn't get it to boot from my thumb drive. It was very fussy as to how the thumb drive was created. I do all my installs from bootable USB thumb drives and haven't had to change any BIOS settings when installing 8.0 or 8.1. Other than the boot order that is.

You can download Windows 8.1 install media from here, Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help that will read you OEM embedded key. You can if you wish do a clean install with that and skip the factory recovery media. You just have to match the version installed on the laptop so the key gets used.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
i try to installed the recovery cd in my aspire v3-571 When booting the computer using the System Disc they supplied

no matter which recover you select you get the message that this must be run in Legacy BIOS mode.

Setting the BIOS to Legacy and rebooting you again get the i tcouple minutes of aspire logo and then the message that this must be run in UEFI mode.

http://www.eightforums.com/installa...will-not-install-acer-factory.html#post343259

To do a full recovery you must first delete everything on the drive and leave the space unallocated.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G580
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3230M
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, standard user account
    Other Info
    UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8 product key.
thank you alphanumeric


but i don't know the
version of windows was installed on the laptop all i know it was windows 8 and now re installed fake windows just to use
my laptop . if you can help with that or if there is away to find out the
version was installed in the
laptop


 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer aspire V3-571
Do you get two boot options listed for the recovery DVD? One with UEFI in the description and one without? My ASUS laptop gives me the legacy install mode and a UEFI install mode listing for my bootable thumb drives. My wife's Acer V5 though does not. I found it a real pain to install in UEFI mode on my wife's Acer laptop. I didn't get the error message you got. I just couldn't get it to boot from my thumb drive. It was very fussy as to how the thumb drive was created. I do all my installs from bootable USB thumb drives and haven't had to change any BIOS settings when installing 8.0 or 8.1. Other than the boot order that is.

You can download Windows 8.1 install media from here, Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help that will read you OEM embedded key. You can if you wish do a clean install with that and skip the factory recovery media. You just have to match the version installed on the laptop so the key gets used.

Thank you for your reply
yes i do have it listed . but i don't know the version of windows was installed on the the laptop all i know it was windows 8 64-bit and now i just have one from the internet is not active yet just to use for now, There any way to find out the version was installed in it and by the way i change the hard disc .


 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer aspire V3-571
It was likely 8.0 or 8.0 single language. Both 8.1 and 8.1 SL can be downloaded here, Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help. You'll know you found the correct version when it installs without prompting you to enter a key. That media will use Windows 8.0 OEM keys too. Option 5 here will retrieve your OEM key, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/27129-product-key-find-windows-8-a.html. I don't know how to tell whet version its for though. There are utilities called PID checkers that will do it. Most of the ones I found via google were online ones. Not something I would want to use.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
It was likely 8.0 or 8.0 single language. Both 8.1 and 8.1 SL can be downloaded here, Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help. You'll know you found the correct version when it installs without prompting you to enter a key. That media will use Windows 8.0 OEM keys too. Option 5 here will retrieve your OEM key, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/27129-product-key-find-windows-8-a.html. I don't know how to tell whet version its for though. There are utilities called PID checkers that will do it. Most of the ones I found via google were online ones. Not something I would want to use.

Thank you for your reply

I just download windows 8 and it show windows is active and it show product key in the system inf and i update the windows and it was fine so far how do i make sure the windows is not fake
thanx alot : alphanumeric
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer aspire V3-571
The Product ID shown on the System page is not your product code. Running showkey,vbs that I linked to earlier, will show you your installed key and your OEM key. If they match you should be fine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
alpha,
showkey has been updated...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
It was likely 8.0 or 8.0 single language. Both 8.1 and 8.1 SL can be downloaded here, Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help. You'll know you found the correct version when it installs without prompting you to enter a key. That media will use Windows 8.0 OEM keys too. Option 5 here will retrieve your OEM key, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/27129-product-key-find-windows-8-a.html. I don't know how to tell whet version its for though. There are utilities called PID checkers that will do it. Most of the ones I found via google were online ones. Not something I would want to use.


dear alphanumeric

thank you for the help and have a good day me too i will not like to use something online .
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer aspire V3-571
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