Windows 8 Windows 8 Product key - where to find it?

Veronika0x96

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Apr 13, 2014
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Hello,
few months ago I bought a new laptop with Windows 8 pre-installed. After some time, I installed W7 again and now I want to go back to W8. But unfortunately, I found out that my laptop has no product key sticker on it, I can't even find any certificate in the box that my laptop came in. Is there a way to find out the product key when I have W7 installed right now or did I completely lose my license by installing another OS?

Thanks in advance,
Veronika
 
Solution
IHello again, I finally figured it out. I downloaded Windows 8 x64 MSDN DVD ISO, made a bootable usb stick a installed it, it didn't even ask for the key, so it recognized the oem key embedded to my bios. Windows says my licence is valid and everything is working just fine,
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With the new windows 8 and UEFI BIOS, the product is embedded into the mother board. I personally don't know how to find that information as I don't have a laptop with windows 8 pre-installed on it. Although I do have a laptop with UEFI BIOS but it came with windows 7.

That's really a good question and I think some investigating is in order. In the meantime you can try MagicJellyBean and see if that works for you. Since you installed 7 over top of 8 I not sure if you get the 7 key or the 8 key.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/
 
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Thank you for you fast reply, I already figured out how to get the key, I did it through a program called RWPortable, but now I've got another problem, because the installation program for w8 won't accept OEM version key, so I will just keep looking for the OEM iso. Thank you anyways!
 
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IHello again, I finally figured it out. I downloaded Windows 8 x64 MSDN DVD ISO, made a bootable usb stick a installed it, it didn't even ask for the key, so it recognized the oem key embedded to my bios. Windows says my licence is valid and everything is working just fine,
 
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Solution
That's great but not everyone can afford one of those subscriptions from MSDN. The rest of us poor folk are SOL.
 
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............ I already figured out how to get the key, I did it through a program called RWPortable, but now I've got another problem, because the installation program for w8 won't accept OEM version key
............ downloaded Windows 8 x64 MSDN DVD ISO, made a bootable usb stick a installed it, it didn't even ask for the key
The above 2 statements are contradictory to each other. Why ? There must be a reason.

........... so it recognized the oem key embedded to my bios.
That, perhaps, is just a presumption.

If I may suggest, go to System Properties and see if it says the os is activated.
Thank you.

 
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Pardon my contradiction.......
No "key finder" programs can find the OEM product keys.
What it will find is a generic product key used by the computer manufacturers for mass production.
That key is NOT for individual installing or re-installing.

Key finder programs will help users retrieving retail product keys.
Example.......
If one has a pre-installed Win 8 key and then the user clean installed Win 7 over it and user forgets the Win 7 key, the key finder will find the Win 7 product key for the user. Not the OEM, Win 8 key.
 
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It finds the key that the OEM has applied. But that does not help in the case of Windows 7. There you use the key from the COA sticker for a reinstall. That is YOUR key.

In Windows 8 it is neither here or there. The key is in the BIOS and the installer finds it by itself.
 
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"Why did the key finder tool find a different Windows product key than the one on the sticker on my PC?"
If your computer was manufactured by a large company like Dell, Sony, Gateway, etc. then the product key that the key finder found was very, very likely a generic product key that Microsoft allows the manufacturer to use so it's easy for them to mass produce PCs.
This generic product key will NOT work if you use it to reinstall Windows. I should also note here that a commercial key finder program will not find a different key so don't pay money for one thinking you'll get a different product key.
You'll need to use the product key that's on the sticker attached to your PC and not the one that any key finder tool finds. If you can't locate your product key, you may have to Link Removed.

Source : Link Removed
 
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So my question is, like the OP question is, so how does one find the product key of a windows 8 pre-installed PC that's embedded in the BIOS?
 
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bassfisher6522 said:
So my question is, like the OP question is, so how does one find the product key of a windows 8 pre-installed PC that's embedded in the BIOS?
Click to expand...

Product key finder

I use pkeyui... get it from here http://www.chip.de/downloads/c1_dow...863&v=3600&s=dc77e84af87dec3a8f82a5b826fb731a


You can see any product key with this little program... but the MSDM = what the op is calling the oem key.

p.s. msdm keys live and die with the laptop and can't be used elsewhere so this is just a way to backup your key.
 
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Does that include the OEM pre-embedded keys.....I can't verify as I don't own a PC that does have it embedded.
 
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Yes m8... untick the MSDM to see a normal installed key (like her window 7) then retick it to see the pre-embedded key.

P.s. If you install this program on a system without an msdm embedded key then the tick box won't appear.
 
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It says my windows is activated, everything works fine and I succesfully upgraded to win 8.1. You can find the MSDN untouched DVD iso if you search over the internet, so you don't really have to buy it. I tried the product key finder but it finds the product key of the OS you're running atm, so if you want to find the OEM key embedded to BIOS, use the RWPortable tool.
 
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Again...you can't get a legal copy of Windows 8 ISO from the internet unless you have a subscription to MSDN...so stop telling people you can.
 
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