Hello all,
I recently had a major problem with my PC, running Windows 8.1 - it went into the "Attempting Automatic Repair Loop", that other users have complained about, and after trying numerous things I could find no other solution than to reinstall.
Unfortunately, I have lost my Windows 8 activation key that was presumably emailed to me when I first bought it (in Nov 2012). I therefore reinstalled Windows 7, which I have a physical copy of.
What I do have on my PC (on a separate internal drive), is a WindowsImageBackup of the Windows 8 installation. Why don't you restore this, I hear you ask? I have tried, using a Windows 8 recovery USB drive, but it will not find the restore image on the internal harddrive for some reason, even though I know for a fact it is there and was successfully used once about 6 months ago.
I assume that somewhere embedded inside the WindowsImageBackup folder will be my original activation code - I know you can use tools to extract activation codes from the registry of a *working* windows installation, but is there any such tool which can extract it from a backed up image, e.g. by mounting the VHDX file?
Or, would it be simpler to get a new activation key from Microsoft? I am loathe to pay for one, given that it was their OS which failed on me!
Any help would be much appreciated.
Ackoman
I recently had a major problem with my PC, running Windows 8.1 - it went into the "Attempting Automatic Repair Loop", that other users have complained about, and after trying numerous things I could find no other solution than to reinstall.
Unfortunately, I have lost my Windows 8 activation key that was presumably emailed to me when I first bought it (in Nov 2012). I therefore reinstalled Windows 7, which I have a physical copy of.
What I do have on my PC (on a separate internal drive), is a WindowsImageBackup of the Windows 8 installation. Why don't you restore this, I hear you ask? I have tried, using a Windows 8 recovery USB drive, but it will not find the restore image on the internal harddrive for some reason, even though I know for a fact it is there and was successfully used once about 6 months ago.
I assume that somewhere embedded inside the WindowsImageBackup folder will be my original activation code - I know you can use tools to extract activation codes from the registry of a *working* windows installation, but is there any such tool which can extract it from a backed up image, e.g. by mounting the VHDX file?
Or, would it be simpler to get a new activation key from Microsoft? I am loathe to pay for one, given that it was their OS which failed on me!
Any help would be much appreciated.
Ackoman
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