Need to Replace HDD without HP Media

boweasel

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Have an HP Pavilion p7-1439 tower. The hard drive has gone bad so I have to buy a new one. I also have no reinstall media from HP, although I do have several W8 disks, two of which I downloaded from links supplied by this forum.

If I pop in a new drive will I be prompted for a product key? Of course W8 no longer has the COA sticker with the 25 character key. Since it's now embedded in the BIOS I have no clue what the key is.

HP wants to charge me $63.55 for reinstallation media which would be a flash drive, not a disk. If I can't use any of my non-HP W8 disks I have to consider whether this is worth the price of a new HDD + the HP media.
 
If you install the correct version of Windows (Home or Pro), it will not ask for a product key, it will automatically read the key in the BIOS and install the version that matches your key. It will also automatically activate. If it does ask for a key, you are installing the wrong version. If your computer came with Windows 8 Home N, and you try to install Windows 8 Home without the N, it will not activate.

The new Windows 8.1 ISO's will now accept Windows 8 and 8.1 product keys.
 
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