Hi guys can anybody shed some light on reinstallng windows 8 / 8.1 onto a Acer E5 511 laptop. Basically I have had to replace a hard drive in this laptop ( the old one was faulty ) I have never seen the original working. so now the hardware is running again I hame having fun trying to get the original version of windows identified so it will auto activate on install. looking around on the web I have seen this model with 8.1 x64 but its asking for the key on install ? so I guess this must be the wrong version ? Is there a boot disc to id the string ? like there was with xp ? so I can cut out the guess work ? Its not easy when there is no label etc. on the base I dont even know if its a x86 or x64 but at this age ( 2yrs old ) I guess it must be x64 I am fed up of trying different versions. Any suggestions much appreciated regards
Hi guys thanks for both your replies earlier However I think this one is looking a bit iffy !!!! ??*? I have now tried all W8 / W8.1 versions in x86 and x64 non will take the embedded key I have located on google somebody else who had the same issue with this Acer model I believe there is some sort of issue with the embedded key and licensing ??? Using software I have retrieved the embedded key and tried re entering into the laptop after installing using the generic W8.1 key on initial install when I try to change the key it says this key is not valid and blocked a bit worrying when this is the embedded key ??? I am stuck and at a loss of where to go ? surely just changing the hard drive hasn't made the embedded key now invalid ? Any thoughts please ?
Hi Tito I am getting the key saying : Error: Unsupported PKeyConfig file or Invalid Key I am choosing the software package as windows embedded standard 8 ? doesn't look good perhaps the key retrieval software is throwing back the wrong key ? Having said that this may explain why its not working as I said this acer e5 511 has thrown up issues with others on reinstalls ? Could the key be wrong that's embedded ? thanks in advance
still gives the message Error: Unsupported PKeyConfig file or Invalid Key again ? does it matter that I am running this on a different PC or should it be running on the laptop in question ?
Many Many thanks Tito I will start downloading asap and will report back later with good news hopefully ! Perhaps this is the answer to the mystery ?
Its good news It worked !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many thanks Tito how on earth did you work out that I needed this particular W8.1 version and just how does one know which one to use with any particular laptop I just assumed core W8.1 x64 would do the job with most laptops its a minefield working out what works with each model ??? well done Tito good job done a big thank you !