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I have to reinstall an Asus laptop with Windows 8 sticker. It doesn't have a license key sticker, and I assume that the key was stored in the BIOS. The OS had probably be upgraded to Windows 8.1 or 10 as I can see a Windows.old folder.

Currently, the partition scheme is so: 

100 Mo EFI
900 Mo Recovery partition
950 Go not allocated (=RAW), which was in fact the Windows partition.

A previous "technician" had installed a dual boot (Windows/Linux) and the recovery tools of Windows are currently no longer working.

I would like doing a fresh install but not loosing the Windows key. The HDD was cloned and the user data could be saved.

From an other computer, I can create an .iso of Windows using Windows Media Creation Tool.

Questions:

  1. In this case, is the best approach to burn a DVD and try running its restore tools?
  2. Is it better to use a Windows 8 DVD or directly a Windows 8.1 DVD?
  3. Should I rather create the DVD using Windows Media Creation Tool or build some .iso from the Recovery partition?

Thanks.

OuzoPower
  • 244

1 Answers1

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I have to reinstall an Asus laptop with Windows 8 sticker. It doesn't have a license key sticker, and I assume that the key was stored in the BIOS.

The license key to Windows, on all Windows 8.x+ OEM machines, are stored in the ACPI table. The Windows installation environment, for those versions, is able to automatically detect what your key is.

The OS had probably be upgraded to Windows 8.1 or 10 as I can see a Windows.old folder.

You need to determine what version of Windows came with the machine. While it is possible to activate Windows 8.1 installation with a Windows 8.0 key, one cannot use a Windows 8.0 key to install Windows 8.1

I would like doing a fresh install but not losing the Windows key. The HDD was cloned and the user data could be saved.

You can accomplish this in three steps.

  1. Download the current Windows 8.1 Update 1 ISO from Microsoft.
  2. Boot the Windows 8.1 installation environment and delete all partitions on the disk. 3 Install Windows 8.1 on the disk

Is the best approach to burn a DVD and try running its restore tools?

You indicated that somebody already deleted the restore tools.

Is it better to use a Windows 8 DVD or directly a Windows 8.1 DVD?

  • If the system came with Windows 8 then you should install Windows 8 then from within Windows 8 upgrade to Windows 8.1

  • If the system came with Windows 8.1 you should install Windows 8.1 Update 1

Should I rather create the DVD using Windows Media Creation Tool or build some .iso from the Recovery partition?

It does not really matter what method is used to download the ISO. Just download the applicable version of Windows 8.x that came with your system originally.

Ramhound
  • 44,080