Windows 8 licence problem

Ar!

My hard drive failed on my Lenovo U410 Ultrabook which came with windows 8 pre-installed. I bought a new SSD to replace it but I now cannot install windows 8 on the new ssd as I never got a windows licence number.

I've tried ringing lenovo customer support but after spending hours on the phone to a heap of people in India somewhere I get no answer of what to do.

Is there any handy way around this?

Thanks.

Bepolite

Ar! wrote: »

My hard drive failed on my Lenovo U410 Ultrabook which came with windows 8 pre-installed. I bought a new SSD to replace it but I now cannot install windows 8 on the new ssd as I never got a windows licence number.

I've tried ringing lenovo customer support but after spending hours on the phone to a heap of people in India somewhere I get no answer of what to do.

Is there any handy way around this?

Thanks.

If you have the HDD pop it back in, there are then various programs you can get to extract the licence number. Activation might be problematic however.

Alternatively image the drive on to the SSD. To resize things you might need a payware application.

solomafioso

Here's a tool on how to view your product key (from Nirsoft, he/she/they have great applications for recovering passwords).

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

Bepolite wrote: »

Alternatively image the drive on to the SSD. To resize things you might need a payware application.

clonezilla will help with this. Completely free too!

http://clonezilla.org/

Ar!

Bepolite wrote: »

If you have the HDD pop it back in, there are then various programs you can get to extract the licence number. Activation might be problematic however.

Alternatively image the drive on to the SSD. To resize things you might need a payware application.

The problem is that the old HDD is so bad it's rarely starts up and when it does it constantly crashes

Bepolite

Ar! wrote: »

The problem is that the old HDD is so bad it's rarely starts up and when it does it constantly crashes

It's a bulk OEM licence so it's going to be problematic. There are all sorts of things you can do:

You can engage data recovery;
You can persevere with technical support;
You can try your consumer rights;

at the end of the day you might be better off just buying a copy of windows.

No way to connect both disks to another machine and clone it across?

solomafioso

Bepolite wrote: »

No way to connect both disks to another machine and clone it across?

Could be problematic if it's a hardware issue with the disk. Or, if it's a software problem it might transfer too!

OP, I'd go with Bepolite's other options.

Is it not a requirement to have the Windows licence key on a label attached to laptop or desktop? Every laptop or desktop I have ever owned has a label stuck on with the OS product key.
Try booting the HDD in safe mode and use one of the many options mentioned to extract the product key.

Bepolite

Deleted User wrote: »

Is it not a requirement to have the Windows licence key on a label attached to laptop or desktop? Every laptop or desktop I have ever owned has a label stuck on with the OS product key.
Try booting the HDD in safe mode and use one of the many options mentioned to extract the product key.

That's what I thought, I have had one with it in the manual though and they go in the bin quite quickly...

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Is it not a requirement to have the Windows licence key on a label attached to laptop or desktop? Every laptop or desktop I have ever owned has a label stuck on with the OS product key.
Try booting the HDD in safe mode and use one of the many options mentioned to extract the product key.

There's a fair bit of misinformation in this thread.

With Windows 8, the key is embedded in the MSDM table in the UEFI. You can use RWEverything, AIDA64 or Get_win8key to retrieve this key. Unlike with Windows 7 or earlier versions, this is not a generic SLP key, it is unique to each system. You'll have no issue activating it.

Ar!

I have now recovered the licence key but when trying to download windows and enter the product key it says that I am unable to download windows with this key.

So the key can possible activate windows but not download it...

I'll try persiste with lenovo customer service, it's just such a nightmare dealing with the foreign help desk. Have spent hours on the phone with them already.

If I get nowhere with them this time I guess I'll just stick to linux ubuntu (which I've been running in the meanwhile)

Thanks for all the replies

Ar!

Ar! wrote: »

I have now recovered the licence key but when trying to download windows and enter the product key it says that I am unable to download windows with this key.

So the key can possible activate windows but not download it...

I'll try persiste with lenovo customer service, it's just such a nightmare dealing with the foreign help desk. Have spent hours on the phone with them already.

If I get nowhere with them this time I guess I'll just stick to linux ubuntu (which I've been running in the meanwhile)

Thanks for all the replies

Are you downloading Windows 8 with an 8.1 key, or vice versa?

Ar!

Karsini wrote: »

Are you downloading Windows 8 with an 8.1 key, or vice versa?

No, it came with windows 8 and that's what I'm trying to download. But thanks for the tip.

Just noticed the option of transferring, will give that a shot but need to get a cable to connect the hd to pc.

Cheers

Ar!

Ar! wrote: »

No, it came with windows 8 and that's what I'm trying to download. But thanks for the tip.

Just noticed the option of transferring, will give that a shot but need to get a cable to connect the hd to pc.

Cheers

PM me if you need a copy of the disc, I can't provide any keys, obviously, but the one you have should work fine.

Ar!

Karsini wrote: »

PM me if you need a copy of the disc, I can't provide any keys, obviously, but the one you have should work fine.

Cool, thanks man.