Lenovo G50 clean install/upgrade hdd to ssd gone bad for various reason. what are my options? win 8.1 x64

na89 · Apr 7, 2015

I used howtogeek's guide and it worked but I can't activate my system using my lenovo g50 product oem key. It turns out that my clean install is a windows 8.1 pro and my license was only for home premium. Is there any way to downgrade the system?

Lenovo doesn't make it easy to even find the key and I had to use a program to scan the bios. So, am I stuck with an oem key that's never going to be used and have to buy 8.1, or is there something else I should do? All I wanted to do was install an SSD I bought and I wouldn't have done that or bought this budget laptop if I knew it would cause these problems.

The SSD is half the size of the HDD that came with the laptop so I wasn't able to use the lenovo disk image and there were problems with a clean install on that disk anyway since it was completely free of any data.

In my shoes, what would you do?

The link and directions I followed to do a clean install (didn't realize it was for win 8.1 pro, my mistake)

http://www.howtogeek.com/187525/how-to-perform-a-clean-install-of-windows-8.1-with-a-windows-8-key/

na89 · Apr 7, 2015

Well I have upgrade media for windows 8 but that defeats the whole purpose of a clean install and I also own a windows 7 license with the disk but again that defeats my entire purpose of a clean windows 8.1 install on a new ssd on this budget laptop. I could try to reinstall the original harddrive and return it but that's a lot of hassle and I would then have to shell out more $$ to get a nicer and easier to upgrade laptop.

Do you think that there will be damage to the disk if I reformat it again and attempt the home premium 8 or 8.1 install as you suggest? I also don't know for sure that would even work but I suspect it might since I've done that before with windows 7. This disk is not brand new but it's in pretty good shape. A crucial m4 256gb that's been securely erased with parted magic prior to this install and had only moderate use. Without the ssd this laptop which cost 300$ tax included is unacceptable for me. I thought that 300$ would finally be able to buy me a laptop for general use that would be adequate but I'm not satisfied with it even so.

do you think that windows support either online or via phone would get me anywhere? could it backfire by them cancelling the oem key or anything of that sort?

Abdul B · May 8, 2015

na89 :

I used howtogeek's guide and it worked but I can't activate my system using my lenovo g50 product oem key. It turns out that my clean install is a windows 8.1 pro and my license was only for home premium. Is there any way to downgrade the system?

Lenovo doesn't make it easy to even find the key and I had to use a program to scan the bios. So, am I stuck with an oem key that's never going to be used and have to buy 8.1, or is there something else I should do? All I wanted to do was install an SSD I bought and I wouldn't have done that or bought this budget laptop if I knew it would cause these problems.

The SSD is half the size of the HDD that came with the laptop so I wasn't able to use the lenovo disk image and there were problems with a clean install on that disk anyway since it was completely free of any data.

In my shoes, what would you do?

The link and directions I followed to do a clean install (didn't realize it was for win 8.1 pro, my mistake)

http://www.howtogeek.com/187525/how-to-perform-a-clean-install-of-windows-8.1-with-a-windows-8-key/

better to remove ssd and send it back to lenovo if in warranty. after getting back the laptop use some software like disk imager for hdd to ssd transfer.

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Lenovo G50 clean install/upgrade hdd to ssd gone bad for various reason. what are my options? win 8.1 x64

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