Access recovery partition

Hello,

I have an Acer Aspire V5-123-3824 bought in Sao Paulo. It came with Portuguese Windows 8, so I installed another Windows 8. Now I would like to restore the original windows 8 in order to do an upgrade to windows 10.

Of course, the Acer recovery management applicatoin is gone. I have tried ALT+F10, but it just opens the windows recovery menu which did not help. There is the PC restore option in the Troubleshooting menu, but it just asks me for an installation or restore medium.

I ran the Ubuntu boot repair tool, which shows me that there is a recovery partition (sda5) - the whole log can be seen here:

http://paste.ubuntu.com/13550369

I guess it is the Acer recovery partition, but I cannot access it. What can I do?

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JordanB

You don't really need to restore the original windows 8 to get the free upgrade. You can view the orginal OEM windows product key from the BIOS....from a command prompt.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/find-windows-product-key

To get to a command prompt......press Shift-F10 when you see the screen below when you boot either windows 8.1 or windows 10 installation media:

You don't need a key to install the vanilla windows 8.1 as it is automatically retrieved from the bios. Also,you don't need to restore or install windows 8 to get free windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft changed the rules.....so you no longer have to do that.

However you will at some point need to enter your original OEM windows 8.1 key to get the free upgrade (to activate Windows 10)....if you clean install Windows 10 for the original activation. After a successful activation, subsequent clean installs of Windows 10 don't require a key as the digital entitlement will be saved on Microsoft's servers.

Again, you don't need to install windows 8. You can just go directly to windows 10.

But if you want to try to re-link your Acer recovery partition and create a factory default Acer OEM Windows 8.1 recovery drive, read the posts by Ironfly in the link below. And then you should be able to reset your PC to factory condition using the USB recovery drive. Try to create a USB factory default recovery drive without using the reagentc.exe command first. If unsuccessful, then you'll have to use reagentc.exe command to re-link.

http://community.acer.com/t5/Aspire/aspire-es-15-wont-restore-after-windows-10-install/td-p/391792/page/3

Drivers and BIOS are here:

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

If all else fails, you can also order your recovery media from Acer Store. You'll probably need to call Acer to order. The serial number is in the BIOS settings for your computer.

http://store.acer.com/store/aceramer/html/pbPage.globalStoreSelector/ThemeID.35703000

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

changekey.PNG

IronFly

if a windows 8 enviroment is not needed, i would clean install windows 10 (retrieving the embedded windows 8 product key from BIOS), wiping the HDD before the installation.

Marcel1234

Thanks to the two of you !

However, it is not that I had not tried to install both Windows 8 / Windows 10 using the MS ISOs (resp. I had created bootable USB drives). But both reject the product key which I had read from EFI via some tool from the internet (there are a few around).

In several calls & chats with MS they confirmed me that the key is valid, and they also recommend me a clean install. When I later get back to them after doing exactly what they did, the usual reaction is that they direct me to some unreachable tech service or just don't reply anymore.

Digging deeper I found out that there are two OEM versions "with Bing" aka. CoreConnected, which use different product keys and of which ISOs are not available for download. These were used esp. for low budget laptops.

This low budget laptop came with Windows 8.1 Single Language, Bras. Portuguese :-) I guess chances are quite high that...

Therefore, I see no other chance but to update from a clean Windows 8.1 Single Language Bras. Portuguese OEM with Bing, hoping that Windows 10 will then accept the product key (either from BIOS or entered). Therefore I'll try this. Any advice would of course be appreciated.

JordanB

Your Windows 8.1 w/ Bing key that you retrieve here should work fine when you upgrade to Windows 10. Just wipe the drive with diskpart clean and install Windows 10. After you install Windows 10, go to Settings>Update and Security>Activation and change your product key to the Windows 8.1 w/Bing key.....and windows 10 should activate no problem.

The Windows 8.1 vanilla media won't work because you have a Win8.1 "Bing" key.

JordanB

To clean install windows 10..............

1. download tool and create media

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

2. Boot the media that you created in step 1.

3. Access Command Prompt

4. view your OEM key (write it down) Smiley Happy

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/find-windows-product-key

5. Use diskpart clean

6. Install Windows 10. Select custom install. Just click on your drive where you want to install windows 10 and click "next". The windows installer will automatically partition and format your HDD....and install windows 10.

7. go to settings>update and security>activation and change the key to your windows 8.1 w/bing key.

8. go to acer website for drivers or bios

Edit: If you have trouble retrieving key, use diskpart clean first, then try retrieving key. The key retrieval method that I've given you is one that I've personally tested.

IronFly

As far as i know, windows 8.1 OEM with Bing single language can be upgraded to windows 10 home.

With the latest microsoft download tool you can choose which version to download.

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