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JJac
@rr.com

JJac

Anon

Windows 8 Product Key...I bought a laptop and it crashed and

I need to reinstall Windows 8 and have no product key, in fact, I can't even install it with out first putting in the key...Help

plencnerb
Premium Member
join:2000-09-25
53403-1242

plencnerb

Premium Member

Well this is interesting.

The reason I say that is if you take a look at the discussions in this thread

»[WIN8] A quick Win8 question

New Laptops that come pre-installed with Windows 8 no longer have the License Key sticker on the outside of them. From what is being discussed in that thread, the key is burned into the BIOS.

In theory, when you go to re-install Windows 8 using the supplied media, it is suppose to read the BIOS for the key, and all should be good.

From what you are describing, that does not appear to be the case.

For those that have posted in the thread that I referenced, I would be interested to see what you have to say about this case. Looks like we have a laptop with no sticker on the side, that was purchased with Windows 8 pre-installed, and it also appears that the key was not burned into the BIOS.

--Brian

urbanriot
Premium Member
join:2004-10-18
Canada

urbanriot

Premium Member

said by plencnerb:

New Laptops that come pre-installed with Windows 8 no longer have the License Key sticker on the outside of them.

This is not true and the biggest poster in that thread was posting erroneous information. I have a Lenovo in front of me with the Windows 8 COA sticker affixed to it.
bkjohnson
Premium Member
join:2002-05-22
Birmingham, AL

bkjohnson

Premium Member

I have a new win 8 Dell laptop. No license key sticker. There is a Dell service tag.

plencnerb
Premium Member
join:2000-09-25
53403-1242

plencnerb to JJac

Premium Member

to JJac
Looks like we got two different sets of information then.

I have not bought a new system that came pre-installed with Windows 8. I'm just going off of what other people have said.

I wonder if its just a Dell thing? The people in the thread that I referenced were talking about Dells.

I know with Lenovo (used to work with them new all the time), they did come with the COA sticker on them. Sure, it may be hidden under the battery, but it was there.

For the OP, what kind of new laptop did you get? You could also try to contact the vendor too, and see if they can help you out.

--Brian

urbanriot
Premium Member
join:2004-10-18
Canada

urbanriot to bkjohnson

Premium Member

to bkjohnson
So far it sounds like a Dell thing... so far I've seen Lenovo and HP laptops with the new Windows 8 COA stickers.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20

Premium Member

Dell claims that it is NOT a Dell thing and Microsoft MVP's have been hostile about it when Microsoft was appealed to by a Dell forum Rockstar (who writes the Dell Wikis detailing how to do a clean install of Windows) regarding Microsoft providing a link to online downloadable reinstallation media for Win 8 as Dell buyers in most of the world cannot obtain reinstallation media and Dell clearly blames Microsoft for this situation.

Dell says Microsoft pressured them and OTHER OEMs into burning the key into the motherboard and not supplying reinstallation media and HP was mentioned as one of them. I don't recall Lenovo being mentioned by Dell but "other OEM"s would make one think Lenovo also. But now I read this and wonder if Dell is simply trying to cover its butt because of the user complaints. Of course, Dell announced they want out of the consumer PC business and will pursue that now they have gone private so maybe they are the only ones to do this because they simply don't care about retaining consumer business. But why they would blame Microsoft after Microsoft has become their partner in going private beats me...doesn't make sense.

Can Lenovo and HP consumers easily obtain reinstallation (not restore) media for Windows 8 ALL OVER THE WORLD either free of charge or for a reasonable fee (under $30)?

Kramer
Mod
join:2000-08-03
Richmond, VA

Kramer to plencnerb

Mod

to plencnerb
Dell has never used a product key although up until now they did put a sticker on the machines with one on it. Going as far back as the early 2000s/XP and possibly well before, the Dell installation media checked the machine BIOS and if the machine was on the list of approved machines (by model) it would install without any activation necessary. You just needed to use their media. I never understood why they even put on a sticker other than to please Microsoft.

I guess secure boot pretty much has married the machine to the media in a more sophisticated way and Microsoft has dropped the requirement for the sticker. I really don't know, but I don't totally trust everything Dell tells me. There was a short period where I could not get installation media on business grade machines and they kept telling me Microsoft made them do that. Then a few weeks or months later they started selling the same old media they had always provided for free and charged me a couple of bucks if I wanted it.

What Dell did has always been extremely convenient. Hard drive dead... just find the media, any media for an approved operating system for that machine. If you lost the media, you could always borrow a Dell disk from someone and use it. No key necessary. They made repairs easy instead of hard like a lot of other manufacturers did by requiring model specific recovery disks. I hope that doesn't change.

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ to JJac

Premium Member

to JJac
said by JJac :

I need to reinstall Windows 8 and have no product key, in fact, I can't even install it with out first putting in the key...Help

You would use the recovery partition. Which laptop did you buy, I'm sure we'll be able to point you to the support page explaining how to do that.

SparkChaser
Premium Member
join:2000-06-06
Downingtown, PA

SparkChaser

Premium Member

said by JohnInSJ:

said by JJac :

I need to reinstall Windows 8 and have no product key, in fact, I can't even install it with out first putting in the key...Help

You would use the recovery partition. Which laptop did you buy, I'm sure we'll be able to point you to the support page explaining how to do that.

+1

You can get to the recovery partition through BIOS. Once working again, make recovery discs

Kramer
Mod
join:2000-08-03
Richmond, VA

Kramer to JohnInSJ

Mod

to JohnInSJ
I'd sure like to know the brand and model too. Everything out there says the key should be embedded in the BIOS. One would assume there might be a number of machines out there that have Windows 8 on them that have yet to conform to the the new technology by embedding the key. In this case a product key would almost have to be provided in some manner with the machine. The OP has provided so little information that it is impossible to say what to do here. Does "crash" mean dead and replaced hard disk? Was Windows 8 provided with the machine? What media was used to restore that there is no product key for? Why not call the manufacturer?