Hi all, if anyone can help me that would be great!
Apologies for this post, it is a long story.
I bought a Dell XPS 15 (L521X) running OEM Windows 8 Home Edition in late February 2012. The laptop was giving me a lot issues with WiFi and Bluetooth drivers. I called Dell and they solved the problem in 4 months by replacing the entire motherboard. At that time, I thought the product key was in the packaging box, I didn't know that key was injected into the BIOS.
Fast forward to present day, I was having connection issue with my bluetooth. This time, the problem was occurring on Win 8.1. I went to Dell's website, downloaded the appropriate driver because I haven't done since I got the laptop and when I click install, it asked me to delete the old driver via Control Panel. I went in there and try to uninstall it but couldn't complete the operation because error message - "lockout: dell". A log showed a program called lockout.exe was preventing my uninstalling process. I call Dell, again, they say they cannot offer any technical support unless I pay for it. I said no thanks and did a factory restore. I then try to install the driver again, the same lockout message popped up. Since it is preloaded in the recovery disk, I thought maybe a clean install of Windows 8 (with no drivers installed) might do the trick and it did; however, my Windows isn't activated and I have no product key to get it activate.
Through googling, I learn about RWeverything and key injection to BIOS, but that was too late because those info aren't there anymore. The new motherboard seems to be void of the product key even though the technician said it is the exact same model board as the one I originally bought from Dell. When I called Dell, and ask about this, they said, they cannot offer me any solution unless I pay, which is so bogus, I was so frustrated I hang up without even say anything else. I feel bad about that. I know it wasn't her fault.
Anyways, so now I'm in this situation where I want to use my bluetooth driver and have an active Windows but I can't find any way to get the product key unless I pay Dell for their insane hourly rate or buy a licence from Windows directly which probably cost cheaper than Dell's service rate....
Finally, my question is: HOW DO I PERFORM A CLEAN INSTALL OF WINDOWS 8, then ACTIVATE it, WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT MY PRODUCT KEY IS?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Apologies for this post, it is a long story.
I bought a Dell XPS 15 (L521X) running OEM Windows 8 Home Edition in late February 2012. The laptop was giving me a lot issues with WiFi and Bluetooth drivers. I called Dell and they solved the problem in 4 months by replacing the entire motherboard. At that time, I thought the product key was in the packaging box, I didn't know that key was injected into the BIOS.
Fast forward to present day, I was having connection issue with my bluetooth. This time, the problem was occurring on Win 8.1. I went to Dell's website, downloaded the appropriate driver because I haven't done since I got the laptop and when I click install, it asked me to delete the old driver via Control Panel. I went in there and try to uninstall it but couldn't complete the operation because error message - "lockout: dell". A log showed a program called lockout.exe was preventing my uninstalling process. I call Dell, again, they say they cannot offer any technical support unless I pay for it. I said no thanks and did a factory restore. I then try to install the driver again, the same lockout message popped up. Since it is preloaded in the recovery disk, I thought maybe a clean install of Windows 8 (with no drivers installed) might do the trick and it did; however, my Windows isn't activated and I have no product key to get it activate.
Through googling, I learn about RWeverything and key injection to BIOS, but that was too late because those info aren't there anymore. The new motherboard seems to be void of the product key even though the technician said it is the exact same model board as the one I originally bought from Dell. When I called Dell, and ask about this, they said, they cannot offer me any solution unless I pay, which is so bogus, I was so frustrated I hang up without even say anything else. I feel bad about that. I know it wasn't her fault.
Anyways, so now I'm in this situation where I want to use my bluetooth driver and have an active Windows but I can't find any way to get the product key unless I pay Dell for their insane hourly rate or buy a licence from Windows directly which probably cost cheaper than Dell's service rate....
Finally, my question is: HOW DO I PERFORM A CLEAN INSTALL OF WINDOWS 8, then ACTIVATE it, WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT MY PRODUCT KEY IS?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
