Can't get clean install of Windows 8.1 pick up product key from BIOS

bidzina
bidzina Member Posts: 3 New User

I have Acer S3-391 with a pre-installed Win 8. Initially I thought I would downgrade to Win 7 Pro as I'm used to Win 7. So, I

deleted recovery partition of Acer Windows 8 on my hard drive and installed Win 7 Pro (with my own product key) on it. Also, I've upgraded to UEFI BIOS 2.17 version.

 

Now I've decided to reinstall Win 8 on my notebook, but I'm running into a problem:

As I've wiped out the original recovery partition which included all the bloatware it came with, I'm using a clean Windows 8.1 ISO image trasnferred to a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive. It's actually a Windows 8.1 Professional ISO, but I've added "ei.cfg" file with "Core" and "OEM" parameters in it. So, it installs a clean Windows 8.1 with UEFI setting in BIOS , but won't pick up a product key from UEFI BIOS. It assigns a generic key and I can't activate it with Microsoft.

 

Any suggestions to make it pick up the embeded product key from BIOS without ordering a recovery DVD set for $45 from Acer?

 

Thank you.

Best Answer

  • bidzina
    bidzina Member Posts: 3 New User
    Answer ✓

    You're right, it shipped with 8.0 OEM. Last night I found Win 8.0 ISO, modified it with $OEM$ folder and it activated! Smiley Happy

Answers

  • HK53T
    HK53T Member Posts: 767 Die Hard WiFi Icon

    but it is not OEM load is a retail load, the system did not ship with 8.1 pro?

    order recovery media from Acer store or contact technical support to get media

  • bidzina
    bidzina Member Posts: 3 New User
    Answer ✓

    You're right, it shipped with 8.0 OEM. Last night I found Win 8.0 ISO, modified it with $OEM$ folder and it activated! Smiley Happy

  • Hecticated
    Hecticated Member Posts: 7 New User

    Here is a video tutorial of exactly what you want to do without having to change any settings or muck around. It uses a regular microsoft ISO downloadable from anywhere and you can simply change the license from retail to OEM.

     

    Here's the video tutorial http://www.hecticated.com/video/490/how-to-clean-install-windows-8-1-on-oem-machine/

     

    Super easy Smiley Wink

  • bidzina
    bidzina Member Posts: 3 New User

    Very nice. Essentially you're using RW Everything utility to look up an embedded key in BIOS.

    Thanks Smiley Happy

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