Will a clean install of Windows 8 recognize an OEM license/product key?
2014-05
Peter Jaric
As I understand it, OEM computers that come with Windows 8 preinstalled has the license/product key stored in the BIOS/on the motherboard somewhere.
If you do a clean install (*) of Windows 8 (for example with an ISO from MSDN) on an computer which came preinstalled with Windows 8, will it recognize that it already has a license? Or will it require you to purchase a new Windows 8 license to activate it?
(And excuse me if I have the terms confused, hopefully the meaning comes across.)
(*) Wiping the drive, perhaps because it has been corrupted in some way and ordinary recovery/repair is impossible.
Jesse
Rather than discuss something I don't know or understand like many of the poster's above (who seem to be leveraging former experiences with prior OSes) I will state my experience and you can accept it for it is.
I purchased an ACER M5 with a pre-loaded OEM version of windows 8, similarly there was no affixed sticker stating the product key. I removed the original hard drive and upgraded to a new SSD. No efforts towards imaging or maintaining of the original HHD were performed. I purchased a system builders DVD for windows 8 pro to install onto the new, entirely blank SSD. During the installation, I was never asked to input a product key. My final istallation was a copy of windows 8 (non pro). Futhermore, a check on the last 5 digits of the product key applied on my installation reflected a different product key than the one shipped with the system builder DVD.
Speculation: the OEM product key was stored elsewhere on the machine, detected, and employed rather than asking the user to supply a product key. I've read elsewhere that the key is maintained in the BIOS for new OEMs from major PC manufactures to simplify reporting to Microsoft.
Personal: I build a new box every two years so the fact that my product key was never requested doesn't impact me; my purchased personal use license for W8 pro will be used eventually.
Zuck
Windows 8 implements OEM Activation 3.0 and will automatically detect the license and activate during the setup if you are using a legit OEM PC.
Check this link: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-8-OEM-OA-3.0-Piracy-Genuine-Microsoft,16636.html
Gww
If the OEM machine has a UEFI which is an interface between your OS and the BIOS then your OS will use Activation 3.0 whether Windows 7 or 8. You will not get a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) period. The COA is in the BIOS, all you will have is a small square Windows 8 logo decal. I'm receiving Lenovo desktops now preloaded with Win7x64 and included Win8 upgrade media at our depot now. Many clients cannot use x64 for there specialized software. If I image a Win7x86 on it, keeping all hardware exactly as it was, the embedded COA is useless even if I manually entered the key which I extracted from the registry earlier. The key will have an OEM block on it and will not activate and Lenovo has said to me "not our problem purchase a retail license". Microsoft will hide under the veil of "Piracy" but really they are just looking for another revenue stream. In many instances now our clients are paying twice for an OS. Good job Microsoft.
olee22
The Win 8 installer can recognize the key stored in the UEFI bios. However, you have to make sure that the Windows 8 version matches that of the key stored.
See this post: Windows 8 clean install from iso using the machines own Windows 8 OEM licence http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony-owners-lounge-forum/669429-official-2012-sony-s-series-owners-thread-594.html#post9078469
kobaltz
The only way that it will recognize the license is if it has Restore Media or a Restore Partition in which case it will re-image your machine. However, it will not take you through the normal installation process.
If you are using downloaded/purchased media to install Windows 8 to the same version that you have, check the side of the computer or the bottom of it for the Product Code. Depending on the manufacture, you may be able to reinstall using the product code with an copy of Windows 8.
However, these OEM licenses often have the manufacture fields filled out and will validate on this when reinstalling which means that the same version/nonmanufacture media may not work.
Mehrdad
Preinstalled copies of Windows on computers usually have a different serial number than the one that comes with the recovery media. As such, does that mean that I now have two licenses to Windows, or one? Are there any restrictions on what I can do with the second license?
Joel Coehoorn
First of all, don't mistake a serial number from a license key. The license key is used for activation, at which point a serial number that identified that activation is issued or created.
That said, there are likely two product keys involved. The number on the computer is the result of a Volume License Key used by the computer manufacturer to install the software. The key point here is that this VLK license belongs to the OEM, and not to you.
Remember that licenses pertain to copyright, which controls how a work can be copied. The VLK license used by the OEM covers the copy they make when they install the software. The key on your laptop allows you to do the same thing and install the software again, if you need to.
They key on your laptop also covers actually running the software. You need a license just to run installed software because of an old court ruling from back before most people, including courtroom judges, really had any idea how computers work. The ruling says that running software creates a copy of that software in cpu and RAM as it executes. Since copyright law changed to make software covered by copyright by default, you must have a license to legally run software. Personally I think that's like saying I make a copy of a book in my brain as I read it — while there might be some truth to that, it's completely beyond the scope of copyright. Nevertheless, the ruling still stands.
Moab
The licence installed by the OEM OS disc is called a Volume Licence Key (VLK), these are used by OEM's to make it easy to install legitimate product on millions of PC's, the COA sticker key is the unique single user license that has to be distributed with the PC as per their agreement with Microsoft. Record the COA key somewhere safe as the stickers tend to get unreadable over time.
No, legally you only have one key. If you lose your OEM install disc, you can use a non OEM disk to install the OS and then use the key on the COA sticker to install and activate.
CreeDorofl
I believe the recovery CD checks for info in the bios to verify it's being run on the correct computer. If it isn't, the recovery can't be used. So while you might technically have 2, they both can only work on one PC and no other.