- Mar 24, 2015
- 36
- 0
- 10,540
A bit of a long shot, this one... any help much appreciated!
My laptop came with Windows 8.1 pre-installed. At the time, like many people, I got rid of it ASAP in favour of a less abominable OS.
Now that you can upgrade it to Win10, I would like to retrieve it, though I guess that might not be possible. It was pre-installed (no CD or USB stick backup), so when I formatted the laptop it was gone. I have read that the key might be in the BIOS, though I think I flashed the BIOS when changing OS.
What I'd then like to do is take the key (if indeed it still exists) and transfer the licence to a separate PC. I don't really care about the laptop's licence - I can use Linux or whatever.
On the second PC I would then install Windows 8.1, before downloading the upgrade to Windows 10.
The final piece of the puzzle would be to get the upgrade on to a USB stick, licence intact, for installation on a third, new PC, which is being built from scratch and has no OS.
A very roundabout way of getting free Windows 10 on a new PC, but if it's possible and you can tell me how, I will buy you 42393 beers. Not really of course - the man who'd go to such lengths to not buy Windows 10 would not do that - but I would be extremely grateful!
Failing all that nonsense, what's the cheapest way to go from having no Windows licences to having a full Windows 10 licence (Home would be fine, I think, but Pro preferred if cheap). I thought of buying Windows 7 basic then upgrading but can't find it anywhere.
Thanks!
My laptop came with Windows 8.1 pre-installed. At the time, like many people, I got rid of it ASAP in favour of a less abominable OS.
Now that you can upgrade it to Win10, I would like to retrieve it, though I guess that might not be possible. It was pre-installed (no CD or USB stick backup), so when I formatted the laptop it was gone. I have read that the key might be in the BIOS, though I think I flashed the BIOS when changing OS.
What I'd then like to do is take the key (if indeed it still exists) and transfer the licence to a separate PC. I don't really care about the laptop's licence - I can use Linux or whatever.
On the second PC I would then install Windows 8.1, before downloading the upgrade to Windows 10.
The final piece of the puzzle would be to get the upgrade on to a USB stick, licence intact, for installation on a third, new PC, which is being built from scratch and has no OS.
A very roundabout way of getting free Windows 10 on a new PC, but if it's possible and you can tell me how, I will buy you 42393 beers. Not really of course - the man who'd go to such lengths to not buy Windows 10 would not do that - but I would be extremely grateful!
Failing all that nonsense, what's the cheapest way to go from having no Windows licences to having a full Windows 10 licence (Home would be fine, I think, but Pro preferred if cheap). I thought of buying Windows 7 basic then upgrading but can't find it anywhere.
Thanks!
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