I got my first repair of a windows 8 machine. It happens to be a Gateway. The client has no idea which version of win 8 was pre-installed and the machine now has a new hard drive installed by me. I have a Win 8 dvd gotten off the web which has the core and pro version on it. When I boot that dvd I naturally have a choice of which one to choose. But how can I tell ahead of time which is the correct version that came with this machine? There is no COA sticker anymore, just a windows 8 sticker on the case. If someone gives the answer of how to determine the version will my win 8 version automatically activate? Regards...
My first instinct would be PRO, but having NO COA sticker seems kind of dodgy to me. And, there's no guarantee you'll be able to activate with the key provided with the download if one was.
I found out it was the core version so that's what I installed. I used the CYQG3 key. Naturally it did not activate. To install windows 8 I had to use the legacy mode of this UEFI bios. Now after the win 8 install if I go back to UEFI mode I get "reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press any key." So how does one go about installing Windows 8 after changing the hard drive? regards...
Both editions (Core & Pro) should be able to activate using the same key. Windows 8 computers no longer include a COA sticker. They now load the key (OA 3.0 not SLIC) into the BIOS. Think of it as a unique retail key seeing that is a unique key. Either way, the key should activate either editions.
why not just add the ei.cfg for core and boot to then if you install was core its done, seems rather obvious to me... that is why we have bootable USB any was that is what I do...
Easiest way (well my way) is to use win7 usb dvd creator from MS and let it make the bootable usb, format the usb to Fat32 (UEFI will only boot to fat32), and then extract the iso to the usb drive. This keeps the mbr on the usb drive to still be bootable and gives it Fat32 for installing. Then disable legacy and boot to the newly created usb drive. There are plenty other methods, I've just chosen this way
plz explain this issue #1 what is PE4? and I use hirens bootcd (v.15.1). I do not believe it has rweverything but I'll double check. here's the scenario that occurred with this computer. It's a Gateway DX4870 desktop. It came pre-loaded with win 8 core. I put a new hard drive in and the new hard drive and the dvd drive could not be accessed unless I disabled the secure authentication in the bios and made it a legacy setup. I then was able to install the core version (or any version) of win 8. I then was able to use rweverything within this new installation and extract the win 8 s/n from the bios and also used pid checker to check the version which was core. I then was able to activate this proper s/n. Now I tried to then put the bios back to secure and disable legacy and the hard drive is not accessible on a re-boot after saving these bios settings. if I put the original hard drive back it boots up fine in this secure mode. So what is on the original hard drive that is not on the new "activated" hard drive that lets the original boot, but the 2nd hard drive NOT boot? Regards...
May you compare the System Reserved Partition of 350MB of both HDD. That may gives you a clue what's different!
Answer a few questions [ the new hard drive ] 1. what partition table did you use? GPT or MBR 2. with secure boot you can not use tools like hiren [they are not supported /unsigned] 3. so what software did you use to burn the iso to DVD / is the DVD a original windows retail copy? now to answer your questions secure boot only works with EFI and GPT, and i doubt you have installed windows in a MBR disk hence secure boot fails, PE4 is a pre installation environment used in repair and preparation scenario. and this pe4 supports UEFI mode/secure boot so if you burn a iso with ultra iso / windows own burning tool to a dvd ,then switch the secure boot mode on,boot from the windows dvd , and partition the disk as GPT with diskpart, then let windows install,you will get a proper working windows in secureboot mode.
For your information... If you have oscdimg.exe and Windows Setup Media. There are 3 difference "Windows Setup ISOs" could be created to burn... 1. Boot with BIOS Based : use command... oscdimg -b.\util\etfsboot.com -h -m -u2 -l<DISK_LABEL> <Media.Drive:\Sources "<ISO File>" 2. Boot with AMD-EFI Based : use command... oscdimg -b.\util\efisys.bin -pEF -u1 -udfver102 -l<DISK_LABEL> <Media.Drive:\Sources "<ISO File>" 3. Boot with Itanium Based : use command... oscdimg -b.\util\efisys.bin -h -m -u2 -l<DISK_LABEL> <Media.Drive:\Sources "<ISO File>" Select your computer firmware for Windows Setup CD/DVD.