Is this a legitimate use of OEM Windows 8.1?

T3MS

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Jun 27, 2014
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I have a new Asus laptop - 4th gen i7, 8Gb RAM, 1TB HDD, 2GB NVidia card, and pre-installed Windows 8.1. It came with no installation media or Win 8.1 Product Key sticker underneath, although I now have the Product Key using Belarc Advisor.

I want to swap the HDD for a SSD. I don't want to put a cloned Win 8.1 image on the SSD, I want to do a clean install and do a set of optimisations to get the best from the SSD.

I have requested install media from Asus but they just refer me to the recovery partition and creating my own recovery onto USB stick. I know this, but obviously I cannot do a clean install with this and Asus will not supply installation media.

So to my question. If I bought an OEM Win 8.1 licence would I be within my right to install this on my SSD? In this case I would not intend to use the Product Key that came with the laptop, nor would I attempt to sell that Product Key. I don't see how this contravene the OEM T&Cs, thoughts?

Or is there a cheaper, legitimate way to get the Windows 8.1 install media for whichI could use my existing Product Key that I found via Belarc? Would that cause install issues?

Finally I have heard that the current OEM Product Key might be embedded in the BIOS, is this true and would it impact installing a different Product Key on the SSD? Would flashing the BIOS eradicate the embedded information about the OS's Product Key?

Any thoughts on this matter would be much appreciated.
 

electrontau

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Dec 1, 2010
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Belarc Advisor gives you what: Product ID/Key or CD key? They are not the same. You can see product ID by right-click This PC icon and select Properties.

If it gives you CD key, you can use any windows 8.1 installation disc and use the CD key from Belarc. After installation you need to download all the drivers.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
So to my question. If I bought an OEM Win 8.1 licence would I be within my right to install this on my SSD? In this case I would not intend to use the Product Key that came with the laptop, nor would I attempt to sell that Product Key. I don't see how this contravene the OEM T&Cs, thoughts?

If you buy your own, install as needed.