- Oct 23, 2012
- 12,527
If you have purchased a laptop running Windows 8 recently you may have noticed that it may not contain a small label on the back side or battery compartment listing the operating system’s product key. The question that should come up at this point is how you are going to reinstall the operating system without the product key.
The answer is however fairly simple. Device manufacturers are embedding the product key in the BIOS of the motherboard. What this means is that the installer will automatically recognize the product key and use it during installation and activation of the Windows 8 operating system.
This has several advantages, both for Microsoft and OEMs as it is no longer that easy to “steal” product keys this way, and for users who do not have to worry about fading text or damaged labels on their laptops.
One of the improvements Microsoft is making to Activation 3.0 for newly built machines that come preloaded with Windows 8, you won’t have a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) sticker attached to the machine anymore. Instead, this will be embedded in the BIOS.
So far so good. There is a slight problem though in regards to installing a different version of the operating system on those devices. Say you have bought a laptop running Windows 8, and have an OEM copy of Windows 8 Pro lying around that you want to install on that laptop.
The installer will automatically use the BIOS key during installation giving you no option to enter the retail copy product key during installation. You do end up with an activated copy of the original version of Windows and not the one that you have purchased separately.
Is there a way to get past this? I honestly do not know and would like to ask each and everyone of you to chime in and post your thoughts on how to get the installer to not use the embedded BIOS key during installation of Windows 8. (via Deskmodder)
The answer is however fairly simple. Device manufacturers are embedding the product key in the BIOS of the motherboard. What this means is that the installer will automatically recognize the product key and use it during installation and activation of the Windows 8 operating system.
This has several advantages, both for Microsoft and OEMs as it is no longer that easy to “steal” product keys this way, and for users who do not have to worry about fading text or damaged labels on their laptops.
One of the improvements Microsoft is making to Activation 3.0 for newly built machines that come preloaded with Windows 8, you won’t have a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) sticker attached to the machine anymore. Instead, this will be embedded in the BIOS.
So far so good. There is a slight problem though in regards to installing a different version of the operating system on those devices. Say you have bought a laptop running Windows 8, and have an OEM copy of Windows 8 Pro lying around that you want to install on that laptop.
The installer will automatically use the BIOS key during installation giving you no option to enter the retail copy product key during installation. You do end up with an activated copy of the original version of Windows and not the one that you have purchased separately.
Is there a way to get past this? I honestly do not know and would like to ask each and everyone of you to chime in and post your thoughts on how to get the installer to not use the embedded BIOS key during installation of Windows 8. (via Deskmodder)
