Windows 8 How to re-install Windows 8 from OEM version

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flroots

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Nov 29, 2012
I just purchased a Dell Inspiron 15R 5520 laptop with Windows 8 installed. I wish to re-partition (into C and D), format, and re-install Windows 8 so that I can eliminate all bloatware. In order to accomplish this how do I accomplish the following:
1. Download and burn to DVD a copy of Windows 8
2. Retrieve the proper product key from my laptop that will be accepted during the install of Windows 8

I know for Windows 7 this process could be accomplished by retrieving the OEM product key (which is different than the key found on the COA sticker). With the OEM product key in hand you could then install and activate Windows 7. I wish to know how to do this with Windows 8 so I don't have to go purchase another Windows 8 even though my laptop came with a fully licensed copy. Thanks
Pete
 
Contact Dell and they should provide a disk free of charge. I assume they will also furnish you with the key but if not there are means to find out..
 
The problem might be that the DVD provided by Dell will contain all the bloatware as well. It's also most likely that your PC came with the Win 8 Standard edition.

Why not just uninstall all the junk included by Dell. I use an app called PC Decrapifier (that's really the name) to assist with this chore.

You cannot download the Win 8 ISO file unless you purchase a copy for $40 from MS. If you do this during the install, you will be given a choice to Install from created media. This will allow you to burn the ISO file to either DVD or Flash Drive. This will however give you a copy of Win 8 that is totally free of Dell junk. It will also give you a DVD that includes the Repair Console.

If you wish to keep your present Win 8 junk filled installation you can make an Image of it using a 3rd party Imaging app. This way you do not have to create a dual boot (which you will have to get rid of later, fairly easy to do if you know what you are doing, but will require 3rd party Partitioning app). Simply replace the present junk filled Win 8 installation with the MS plain installation.

Another advantage is that the new PC probably includes Win 8 standard edition. The $40 upgrade edition you will purchase and burn the ISO file to DVD will be the Win 8 Pro version which also qualifies for the free Media Center addition. The Standard version does not allow Media Center upgrade unless you upgrade to Win 8 Pro using the Pro Pack Upgrade, which is actually more than the $40 Upgrade edition.
 
kemical said:
Contact Dell and they should provide a disk free of charge. I assume they will also furnish you with the key but if not there are means to find out..
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Thanks. I bought the Dell from Sam's Club so I'm not sure if Dell will help?

Update: Thanks. I just contacted Dell Customer Care and they said they can provide me with a free copy of the Windows CD once I provide them with the Express Service Code. As soon as my laptop arrives I will do that. I'm actually amazed that Dell was that helpful.
Pete
 
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Medicted60 said:
The problem might be that the DVD provided by Dell will contain all the bloatware as well. It's also most likely that your PC came with the Win 8 Standard edition.

Why not just uninstall all the junk included by Dell. I use an app called PC Decrapifier (that's really the name) to assist with this chore.

You cannot download the Win 8 ISO file unless you purchase a copy for $40 from MS. If you do this during the install, you will be given a choice to Install from created media. This will allow you to burn the ISO file to either DVD or Flash Drive. This will however give you a copy of Win 8 that is totally free of Dell junk. It will also give you a DVD that includes the Repair Console.

If you wish to keep your present Win 8 junk filled installation you can make an Image of it using a 3rd party Imaging app. This way you do not have to create a dual boot (which you will have to get rid of later, fairly easy to do if you know what you are doing, but will require 3rd party Partitioning app). Simply replace the present junk filled Win 8 installation with the MS plain installation.

Another advantage is that the new PC probably includes Win 8 standard edition. The $40 upgrade edition you will purchase and burn the ISO file to DVD will be the Win 8 Pro version which also qualifies for the free Media Center addition. The Standard version does not allow Media Center upgrade unless you upgrade to Win 8 Pro using the Pro Pack Upgrade, which is actually more than the $40 Upgrade edition.
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Thanks. I definitely want to install Windows 8 to a freshly formatted drive. IMHO, that's the only way to insure an absolutely bloatware free install. I know this can be done with Windows 7 so I was hoping there was some way to do it for Windows 8. I also don't want to buy another Windows 8 since the Dell already includes a legally licensed copy.
Pete
 
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During the installation from DVD after you choose Custom Install, on the next screen there is a link for Advanced Disk Options. After you click this you can highlight the partition containing Win 8 and choose to format it as part of the installation.

As I stated earlier, the DVD you receive from Dell will most likely be the Dell branded DVD and include all the Dell Junk. Plus it will most likely be the Standard version, not the Pro version. That's why I suggested the possibility of an additional purchase from MS. The download and ISO burn to DVD will give you a virgin Win 8 Pro installation without any of the Dell junk. As I stated the Pro version also allows the addition of Media Center which the Standard version does not allow.
 
Medicted60 said:
During the installation from DVD after you choose Custom Install, on the next screen there is a link for Advanced Disk Options. After you click this you can highlight the partition containing Win 8 and choose to format it as part of the installation.

As I stated earlier, the DVD you receive from Dell will most likely be the Dell branded DVD and include all the Dell Junk. Plus it will most likely be the Standard version, not the Pro version. That's why I suggested the possibility of an additional purchase from MS. The download and ISO burn to DVD will give you a virgin Win 8 Pro installation without any of the Dell junk. As I stated the Pro version also allows the addition of Media Center which the Standard version does not allow.
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Thanks. I will be destroying the existing Windows while creating C and D partitions and resizing them with a bootable partition manager. I keep OS and programs on C and all data on D. Once the Windows install is complete, I use a bootable version of Acronis True Image to make a backup of the C partition. I use SyncBackSE to make daily backups of data on D.

The rep from Dell told me that they will send me several CDs, one of which is the plain Windows install CD. Other disks will include various software. Hopefully he was correct. As you say, I always have the option of purchasing the Pro version and at the $40 price it may be worthwhile. I have no foreseeable need for Media Center software.
Pete
 
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If you already have a Data partition there is no reason to wipe that out. I kept my Data partition in place, formatted the C Drive as part of the install as outlined above. I further removed a dual boot and resized the Data partition to make it bigger.

Win 8 Pro (clean from MS, no manufacturer junk installed) without harming the data partition in the least. Once the installation was done I had to change the data pointers in the OS to the existing data partition. Worked great.

Wiping out the old OS and starting from scratch is great. If the Dell DVD is indeed a "virgin" windows DVD that is great. For the average home user, unless you need Media Center, the Standard version is most likely OK. This Wikipedia article has a chart showing the comparison of the various versions.
 
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Medicted60 said:
If you already have a Data partition there is no reason to wipe that out. I kept my Data partition in place, formatted the C Drive as part of the install as outlined above. I further removed a dual boot and resized the Data partition to make it bigger.

Win 8 Pro (clean from MS, no manufacturer junk installed) without harming the data partition in the least. Once the installation was done I had to change the data pointers in the OS to the existing data partition. Worked great.

Wiping out the old OS and starting from scratch is great. If the Dell DVD is indeed a "virgin" windows DVD that is great. For the average home user, unless you need Media Center, the Standard version is most likely OK. This Wikipedia article has a chart showing the comparison of the various versions.
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Thanks. It appears from your link that I should be fine with the regular Windows 8. It is tempting, however, to take advantage of the Pro promotion before it expires in January. Worst case, I could always resell it to someone who needs it :tickled_pink:

I don't even bother changing pointers since I have the D drive setup the way I want and most software I use allows me to redirect data to D anyways. I recall iTunes didn't which really annoyed me. Finally, we sold the iPhone and bought an Android phone. SyncBackSE is another one, so I wrote a batch file to copy its data from C to D.

With respect to the clean install, I usually have to go to the manufacturer's website and download a few key drivers once the Windows install is complete. Prior to that I do a Windows update since many of the drivers will be auto-installed. I assume the process will be the same with Windows 8?

Since I've never even seen Windows 8, I have a couple of questions:
1. Why wouldn't I just convert Windows 8 to look like 7?
2. Is it really true that 8 is lighter and faster than 7?
3. Are there any significant benefits of 8 vs 7?​
Pete
 
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By changing the pointers in the approved method you can move all your system data, favorites, pictures, music, etc., to the data partition and the libraries will point to the correct folders automatically as well.
 
Medicted60 said:
By changing the pointers in the approved method you can move all your system data, favorites, pictures, music, etc., to the data partition and the libraries will point to the correct folders automatically as well.
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Thanks. Yes, I've tried that before but I found that it was more trouble than it was worth. Maybe with a new OS, I'll give it a try again.
Pete
 
This has worked excellently for me. I have included a screenshot of my data drive. These were set up in Win 7 and when I installed Win 8 I simply used the same method to change the pointers to the data drive without ever touching the data drive during the installation. Worked great. This was handy when I had a dual boot because I set the pointers to both of these OSs to the same data partition. In this way it did not matter which OS I was using, my data was upgraded as I made changes in either OS.

DataDrive.jpg
 
Medicted60 said:
This has worked excellently for me. I have included a screenshot of my data drive. These were set up in Win 7 and when I installed Win 8 I simply used the same method to change the pointers to the data drive without ever touching the data drive during the installation. Worked great. This was handy when I had a dual boot because I set the pointers to both of these OSs to the same data partition. In this way it did not matter which OS I was using, my data was upgraded as I made changes in either OS.

View attachment 817
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Thanks. I'll give it another try. The thing is that I've been doing without the pointers for so long, at this point it's hard to justify change. As mentioned, the only program where it's still an issue is SyncBackSE and I have a workaround for that.
Pete
 
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I might like to upgrade the Windows 8 my new laptop comes with to Windows 8 Pro using the $39.99 promotion. I can purchase and download the ISO file to my current Windows 7 (32 bit) computer. My question is whether the resulting ISO file is for 32 bit only or is it both 32 and 64 bit? Ideally, it is both and I can use the DVD created from the ISO file to do a clean install to my Windows 8 laptop.
Pete
 
The downloaded ISO file is the same "Bitness" as the PC you download it on. If Win 7 is a 32 Bit, that's what you will get.

I do not know of any way to download the other "Bitness" ISO file.
 
Medicted60 said:
The downloaded ISO file is the same "Bitness" as the PC you download it on. If Win 7 is a 32 Bit, that's what you will get.

I do not know of any way to download the other "Bitness" ISO file.
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Thanks. I have read the same, but wonder if there's a link (possibly from MS) that verifies it. For convenience sake, I would like to purchase and download the ISO file on my 32 bit laptop running Windows 7 and then use the resulting DVD to clean install Windows 8 Pro to my new Windows 8 laptop.

One reason for hoping that the ISO file supports both 32 and 64 bit is that I would then have the option of installing the Windows 8 Pro to either my present 32 bit Windows 7 laptop or my new 64 bit Windows 8 laptop.
Pete
 
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My situation is that I will soon have two laptops: my existing 32 bit laptop running Windows 7 and a newly purchased, soon to arrive 64 bit laptop running (standard) Windows 8. I am thinking of purchasing the $39.99 promotion for Windows 8 Pro before it expires next month. It would be nice to do that and keep the option as to which of the two laptops I install it on. I just read a thread in which someone was able to purchase the promotion and download both 32 and 64 bit versions of the ISO file. If true, this would give me that flexibility. After all you're basically buying the key, not the media. Can anyone confirm that this is possible? To see the reference check the post by
BJW dated November 19th here:
Pete
 
I have just succeeded in installing both Windows 7 and 8 to UEFI/GPT partitions. They are separate installs backed up with Acronis ie, not dual boot. The trick was making sure that the OS DVD was booted while the BIOS was set to UEFI mode. I don't believe it will work if you boot the DVDs in Legacy mode. When the 'Install now' screen appeared I typed <shift-F10> to get a command prompt and ran diskpart to clean and convert gpt. After doing this for Windows 8, I then attempted the same thing with Windows 7. I left the partitions alone and got an error message informing me that the partitions were in the wrong order? I clicked Proceed. I don't know how serious this error might be, but the install did continue without further issues. Anyone know what this error signifies?

Of course, I can't boot Windows 7 with secure boot which makes me wonder if UEFI offers any advantages over Legacy/MBR partitions on my laptop if I choose to use Windows 7?
Pete
 
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