How can I get back the original win 8 that my Lenovo Y580 came with?

diapolical

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Dec 17, 2012
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The preinstalled Win 8 home edition build 9200 on my Lenovo Y580 laptop broke down.
I tried every kind of recovery/restoration and repair with install DVDs for other versions of Win 8 and the installed OS - no luck.
So I downloaded a developers version of WIn 8 enterprise from MS and installed that but it will run out after 90 days.

I have a license so I am entitled to a working version of the same OS but there isn't one to download.

How can I get a copy of the original OS so that it will activate using my license (they gave me no DVD when I bought the laptop) and there is no license key printed on the machine.
It definitely activated the first time.
 

diapolical

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Dec 17, 2012
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Just thought I should share the solution to my problem which I found on another site, quite simple in the end - there is a button on the laptop that restores the original OS!

Just turn off the laptop then press and hold the small button on the right of the ON button (it's got an icon of an arrow that arcs up and points down to the left, like an upside down letter U).

This brings up a menu where you choose to restore the OS (this process is called ONE KEY RECOVERY)


BE CAREFUL
1 - It will erase all the data from the partition where it installs windows, the partition where it originally installed windows. So you will lose all the programs you installed after you got the laptop and any personal files too.
2 - My machine has a 1TB HDD, partitioned into 2 visible partitions. One is for the OS and the other one, 25GB, for storage.
Make sure the folder DRIVERS is still on this 2nd partition (you might have moved it to an external HDD or even erased it!). Maybe you don't have the same HDD as me but I am sure that if your OS was preinstalled then there was a partition containing DRIVERS, and it's probably called LENOVO.
I suppose you could recreate this DRIVERS folder by creating it as a new folder, renaming it then putting folders inside it, each one containing a different driver (I think that when the OS is restored the computer will automatically look here for drivers)

Where does this restored OS come from?
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There is a hidden partition on your HDD that contains the installation files for the preinstalled OS.
If you haven't erased it (which requires advanced skill and can't be done accidentally - so relax on this one!) then your OS can be restored.
Once it connects to the internet it will activate (if the OS was preinstalled then you bought a license)