Reinstall Win 8 on Laptop w/preinstlled

[gb777]

Hello,

Just got a new Gateway laptop with windows 8 (not pro) pre-installed. They didn't give me a product key so I believe it's embedded in the bios as I've read. I want to make the laptop a multi-boot and need to reinstall win8. I have a Windows 8 Pro install disk & memory stick from another PC.

Can I use the Windows 8 Pro install disk I already have to reinstall Windows 8 (not pro) on my new laptop?

Will I need to retrieve my product key with a utility or will the windows 8 setup retrieve it automatically for me?

Thanks

 

[christop]

You should have a product key on of your laptop. Flip it over and look at the underside.

 

[johnbl]

Run the Windows 8 installer and see if it asks for a new key or just looks at the encrypted key in the BIOS.

 

[gb777]

You should have a product key on of your laptop. Flip it over and look at the underside.

Windows 8 computers, laptops and desktops are now shipping with product keys embedded and encrypted in the BIOS. There's no key on the sticker or in any of the doc that's included. Microsoft actually recommends if you want the key to download and use a key recovery program.

 

[gb777]

Hello,

Just got a new Gateway laptop with windows 8 (not pro) pre-installed. They didn't give me a product key so I believe it's embedded in the bios as I've read. I want to make the laptop a multi-boot and need to reinstall win8. I have a Windows 8 Pro install disk & memory stick from another PC.

Can I use the Windows 8 Pro install disk I already have to reinstall Windows 8 (not pro) on my new laptop?

Will I need to retrieve my product key with a utility or will the windows 8 setup retrieve it automatically for me?

Thanks

Here's the answer if anyone is interested.

The product key is embedded in the bios. I tried to install win8 basic from my win8 pro disk & usb stick. First I had to change my boot mode in the bios from UEFI to Legacy. The bios boot manager wouldn't see either my dvd or memory stick with UEFI. Installing from the mem stick went into a loop so had to cycle the machine. Tried the dvd and it started to install but popped up saying the embedded key doesn't match the disk, enter a different key > ok. Clicked ok and it just went back to the beginning. didn't let me enter any key. Don't know how then I'd upgrade to Win8 pro if I bought and upgrade.

So there it is. I'm still looking for the Win8 Basic disks or ISO file so I can install from scratch the way I want the machine to be.

BTW, this laptop is giving me fits. Half the time something either gets selected or entered/clicked without me doing anything. The crazy mouse syndrome. Thought that would have gotten better as time went on.

 

[DarkSable]

Didja pop open the back cover? Lots of windows 7 lappies came with embedded keys as well, but still have the windows key sticker underneath the dust cover.

 

[gb777]

Didja pop open the back cover? Lots of windows 7 lappies came with embedded keys as well, but still have the windows key sticker underneath the dust cover.

First thing I did was that to see what memory chips it had. they don't even tell you what ones you need to upgrade in the user guide. Looks like that's what Msoft wants. I was able to get the key with a utility called Jelly Bean. Doesn't matter though unless I can find the Win 8 basic install disk. I want Linux on the first partition and win8 on the 2nd. Don't see any way to do that with the recovery disk. Gateway doesn't have the disks. The guy I talked to didn't even know what I was talking about. Having bought laptops since they came out, there was usually a way to get os disks when they stopped giving them to you when you bought the laptop. This guy didn't know what an install disk was.