Windows 8 reinstall help for tech enthusiasts
Windows 8 reinstall help for tech enthusiasts
I work as a technician at Tiger Direct. Recently Windows 8 has been unavailable, and I’m facing occasional hard drive failures in these systems. For custom builds, the reinstall is straightforward since a key is provided. With OEM desktops or laptops, things get more complicated. The hard drive is faulty—not a software issue—so holding shift during a restart won’t resolve it. I understand the installation discs are meant to retrieve the product key from the BIOS, but it doesn’t work as expected. Do you know if a particular disc version is required? I’m dealing with system builder versions of Windows 8 and 8.1, and this has been really frustrating because we often can’t reinstall Windows 8 on customers’ machines due to this key problem.
I faced this problem when changing or upgrading my hard drive to an SSD in my laptop. Instead of installing Windows 8 Pro, I ended up with a version that doesn’t work properly on my machine. My university provided me with a Windows 8 key, but I’m unsure if it would function correctly since I haven’t managed a standard Windows 8 installation.
I attempted to extract the drive and executed both the drive and the jelly bean key finder, which returned keys incompatible with the OEM disc. It was clearly the right Windows 8 version I intended to install. I also tried booting a Windows 7 installation media to run them locally, but that failed. I've heard some advice about needing a "retail" copy of Windows 8, though I assumed such a version never existed. My expectations were based on OEM/upgrade information.
I employ Windows 8 Product Key Viewer and select MSDM key. http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/h...oduct-key/
This appears to be a matter you should address with your supervisor. Or at the very least, inform them so they can take appropriate action. Isn’t there a possibility for Microsoft or the original equipment manufacturer to assist? I’ve noticed older pirated versions of XP where the product key is installed automatically—rather than being activated properly. It seems that if many Windows versions were activated simultaneously, an automated script would run, similar to what OS Hackers do. Possibly they use a custom activator. I don’t know much about this, but it’s just what happened when I read your issue. Good luck, OP.