G+_Bernard Bout Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 +Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ You spoke about the best upgrade being to add an SSD. I know that there is software out there to duplicate a drive so that should not be a problem. The problem I have is that I, like most others, have an OEM PC with Windows 8 installed. So I have no CD to do a re-install and no driver disk. Everything is on the HD in multiple partitions. As you know, to restore, I am supposed to use the Win8 interface to restore the OS and drivers. Also to make it worse, us OEM owners also have no usable Windows Serial No.. The one that comes with the PC is tied to it and cannot be entered into the MS site to download any ISO's. I have tried when upgrading to 8.1. Finally the killer is that this Serial #, as you mentioned in your cast, is tied to the Hardware. I also think it is embedded into the BIOS. I would love to upgrade my PC with a boot SSD screamer, but don't want to spend the cash and then find out that the Windows ID is tied to the old HD and that the PC is now unusable. So could you or anyone else, who is in the same situ., and has already done an SSD upgrade, clarify that given the above circumstances, a SSD upgrade by cloning my C: boot drive is possible on an OEM machine? By the way, the newer interface for making an external SSD to USB 3 is now NGFF and not mSata. The boxes are the same price but the drives more expensive, but smaller & faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 The Windows key on your machine may very well be associated with the serial number, but the is more likely the SN of the motherboard and not the HDD. HDs fail all the time, so they can't expect you to never replace it. It's also very likely the Windows key is on the bottom of the laptop - perhaps behind the battery if it's removable (also assuming laptop and not desktop). I haven't yet replaced the drive in a Win 8 machine, but I've done several Win 7. The last one I pulled an HDD from an Acer laptop with Win 7 installed and stuck it in a Lenovo. Since the hardware changed it asked for the key again so I gave it the key from the bottom. Back up n running in a few min. As for the no DVD drive, USB flash drives can be used for OS install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ed Lazarus (thegrayarea Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media that will let you create windows 8.1 disc for reinstall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Arcturus Lancaster Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 Ms does have a repair USB creator that will make a boitable thumb drive and it does work on a fresh drive tho you will from then on need that USB to do repairs like system refresh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Bernard Bout Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 Arcturus Lancaster I know about that. I have already made one. My Q was mainly about the Hardware changes - New SSD - affecting the serial # linked to the OEM hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Arcturus Lancaster Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 Have done it before without issue. Have never been asked for a serial to install win8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Arcturus Lancaster Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 One thing would be to download network drivers ahead of time in case win does not support it out of the box. Anything else can be downloaded after install Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Scott Snodgrass Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 Use this to find the serial key from BIOS: http://www.isunshare.com/product-key-finder/find-product-key-for-windows-8-or-8.1.html Use this tool to create a bootable Windows 8.1 USB: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Kia Y Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 you can use this also to find your keys https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 And if you don't want to trust a 3rd party executable, here's a VBScript that should give you the Windows key from your registry: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Backup-Windows-product-key-1a200645 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Bernard Bout Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 Ben Reese and others ( Scott & Kia) I already know my key and found it long ago using some other utility. However (this was many months ago) when I wanted to download the (then) new windows 8.1 the MS website would not recognise the key since it was an OEM one. I saw many such posts on Google search about this. I finally had to do an internet upgrade and subsequently have downloaded the ISO for 8.1 when MS finally made it available. Anyway Padre kindly allayed some of my fears on the latest KH and I will now try and get the DVD media that I need - Windows disks and Drivers (most important) since my computer is a beautiful Hybrid AIO - https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103934360968549711802. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Bernard Bout Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 Hey Ben Reese - tried that vbscript and a msgbox popped up but disappeared when I clicked YES to Save. So where does it save the file to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Bernard Bout? Since it's a VBScript, we can open it in our favorite text editor (I prefer Notepad++ on the desktop, but notepad works fine too) and see exactly what it's doing. At first glance it appears to be saving it as a text file on your desktop. '---------- 'Save data to a file Function Save(Data) Dim fso, fName, txt,objshell,UserName Set objshell = CreateObject("wscript.shell") 'Get current user name UserName = objshell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%UserName%") 'Create a text file on desktop fName = "C:\Users\" & UserName & "\Desktop\WindowsKeyInfo.txt" Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set txt = fso.CreateTextFile(fName) txt.Writeline Data txt.Close End Function '--------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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