Clean reinstall on Win8.1 laptops?

[etherealfocus]

My company just bought some new laptops with Win8.1 and, as usual, they came full of crapware. My standard process for Win7 machines was just to format and reinstall, but with 8/8.1 now having the product key in the UEFI, I'm not sure how to go about that.

Looks like I need to have a product key in order to download a clean 8.1 image from Microsoft (which I'll be installing from USB; we're a disc-free company ), but I can't access the product key.

Tried imaging my laptop's Win8.1 and installing from that, but it gives me an invalid product key error (my laptop has UEFI also, maybe the image is trying to use my key instead of the UEFI key or something?).

There has to be a way to get a valid boot image without sending Microsoft a key that's hidden in UEFI or having an MSDN subscription... I hope?

This seems like the kind of problem that should be a Google search away from a solution, but I found a bunch of instructions for different tasks, mostly installing Win8.1 with an 8.0 key.

 

[ArisVer]

There should be programs that you can get the key code (in Windows 7 they do), and it may be possible to reinstall using the keys you find. Not sure if this will work though.

For W7 there is the "produkey-x64" and "WinKeyFinder175".

 

[etherealfocus]

The key should be applied automatically during install if I can find a clean disc image. Unfortunately Google tells me I can't use OEM keys to download an iso anyway. I mean, I could order an OEM recovery disc, but that'd take several days, cost extra money, and come with all the crap I'm trying to get rid of in the first place. I really with MS would ban third party software preinstalls. The extra $20 or whatever we'd pay for OEMs to make up the margin would be well worth it.

 

[etherealfocus]

Does MS seriously have no solution for OEM buyers who want a clean installation?

 

[code65536]

*cough* torrent *cough*

You'll still need a valid key, which a number of programs can extract (I personally use AIDA64).

 

[Elixer]

Well, you could use a generic install key...
See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx for a list of those keys, and yes, those are legit MS keys for installing only.
That will get 8.1 to install, but that key does NOT activate it.

 

[etherealfocus]

It installs fine - I can just hit the Skip button to avoid entering a key immediately - but then I get into Windows and can't activate it. This is for business use - we can't ignore invalid licenses.

For now, I'll give AIDA64 a shot. Thanks!

 

[corkyg]

Doing a clean install on a laptop to get rid of so called "crapware" is not always a good idea. Unless you are very careful and have all of the necessary drivers handy, you can lose many of the laptop's proprietary functions such as sound, OEM updates, Fn key functions, special power management, etc., etc. I have always found that removing the "crapware" and then running CCleaner is a better solution. A lot of so-called crapware is really useful. Example, the Lenovo "Blue" button, and fingerprint readers.

Arbitrary clean installs often result in a crippled laptop.

 

[etherealfocus]

When we buy pro machines, we use a more careful process and install SSDs that make a lot of the fragmentation issue a moot point anyway.

This process is for basic business monkey laptops - mostly Satellite C75s. We can certainly go download OEM software from the website if needed, but we've yet to buy a machine that doesn't run fine with Windows default drivers.

 

[Elixer]

It installs fine - I can just hit the Skip button to avoid entering a key immediately - but then I get into Windows and can't activate it. This is for business use - we can't ignore invalid licenses.

For now, I'll give AIDA64 a shot. Thanks!

Oh, whoops, missed that.
Here, you follow the steps listed in the solution.
http://superuser.com/questions/697253/clean-install-windows-8-1-or-windows-8-from-oem-key

 

[G73S]

*Windows 8.1 clean install guide removed due to unappreciative OP didn't even make a comment about my 1 hour of time writing the guide*

 

[Mushkins]

Anyone using Win8/8.1 in a business environment should really look into making a proper disk image for doing clean reinstalls.

Make a generic keyless install, get everything set up with drivers/apps/etc, and take the snapshot. Then when you need a fresh machine just use keyfinder software to pull the key, slap your image on it, put the proper key back in, and activate away. Even better if you have enterprise licensing because it's all the same key.

 

[code65536]

Doing a clean install on a laptop to get rid of so called "crapware" is not always a good idea. Unless you are very careful and have all of the necessary drivers handy, you can lose many of the laptop's proprietary functions such as sound, OEM updates, Fn key functions, special power management, etc., etc.

In my experience, every manufacturer has posted downloads of their device-specific and feature-specific drivers and software. I've yet to run into a case where they didn't offer a download to reinstall one of those things.

And even then, some of that "special sauce" is quite dubious. E.g., Asus's "feature" to drive up the current in a USB port beyond spec to speed up charging. That is one thing that I was sure not to reinstall when I nuked my system, and I liked knowing exactly what goes into the system because I am explicitly installing each. It's a little like the difference between whitelisting and blacklisting.

Anyway, it's my policy to nuke-and-reinstall every system. Never had a problem with it, and wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[etherealfocus]

^Agreed. Any OEM that doesn't post their essential functionality sw online doesn't deserve to be in business, and I'd RMA any machine that didn't have such functionality available. Not that it's ever been an issue.

Anyway, problem solved! http://superuser.com/questions/697253/clean-install-windows-8-1-or-windows-8-from-oem-key did the trick in case anyone else is wondering - thanks guys!

Mushkins - you're right. We have a Win7 image but are just starting to migrate non-techie employees to Win81 now and I haven't gotten around to getting a proper image set up yet. Shame on me.

 

[mlody]

Microsoft offers volume licensing for as little as 5 systems, so if your company is a decent size and uses any other Microsoft products, I would advice to look into that and see how that works out price wise. With at least 25 systems, you could technically setup an in-house KMS licensing server and do you own activations by leveraging KMS client keys.

 

[etherealfocus]

Do the volume programs differ significantly between Windows and Office? I was just talking to a Microsoft rep about getting Office 365 Small Biz Premium (we have 17 computers right now that need Office) and he said we could start getting volume discounts at 200 licenses.

But it only takes 5 for Windows... or was the rep just BSing me?

 

[ViRGE]

I really don't know why everyone is going on about fetching the Windows key from the BIOS. That's not the problem; you don't need that key for anything (the Windows installer finds the BIOS key) and it doesn't need to be replaced.

The solution is that you need clean install media. Microsoft does not provide this media for OEM machines, as it's up to the OEMs and most OEMs are not interested in providing it either. Therefore you are left to your creativity and your connections.

 

[G73S]

I really don't know why everyone is going on about fetching the Windows key from the BIOS. That's not the problem; you don't need that key for anything (the Windows installer finds the BIOS key) and it doesn't need to be replaced.

The solution is that you need clean install media. Microsoft does not provide this media for OEM machines, as it's up to the OEMs and most OEMs are not interested in providing it either. Therefore you are left to your creativity and your connections.

In Windows 8, if you are installing the same image of the license you have (example: you have a Windows 8.1 Single Language license, and you are trying to install a Windows 8 Single Language ISO) then the setup will not even ask you for a key, it will grab it from the BIOS automatically.

However, with Windows 8.1 that changed, you first need to enter one of the default installation keys publicly available on the internet, entering your real product key that is embedded in the BIOS will give you a wrong key error message. So you need to use the default installation key which is just used for the sake of installation and cannot be activated.

Once you are in Windows, you need to enter your real Windows 8 product key and it will then be activated. There is no automatic grabbing of the product key from BIOS in 8.1. Don't know why Microsoft made it even harder now! kinda retarded and makes it really tricky for non tech savvy customers to install and activate Windows 8.1

 

[ViRGE]

Don't know why Microsoft made it even harder now! kinda retarded and makes it really tricky for non tech savvy customers to install and activate Windows 8.1

The short answer is because they're supposed to install Win8, and then update to Win8.1. OEM customers aren't intended to be installing from 8.1 unless their machine came with 8.1 in the first place (seeing as how their media would be 8).:|

 

[G73S]

The short answer is because they're supposed to install Win8, and then update to Win8.1. OEM customers aren't intended to be installing from 8.1 unless their machine came with 8.1 in the first place (seeing as how their media would be 8).:|

ahh makes perfect sense.

What I did was, to obtain an install media official from Microsoft for Windows 8.1 Single Language is...

I had a USB Flash Disk that had the RTM Windows 8.1 Single Language on it.

I then restoed the recovery image on my laptop which is Windows 8. then I updated to Windows 8.1 from the store

I then copy/pasted/overwritten the files downloaded by the Windows store located in C:\ onto the USB Flash Disk overwriting every file previously found and that worked like a charm

just installed Windows 8.1 Single Language straight off the USB and it came with the latest build from Microsoft.

Ill probably do this again next month as I think there will be a new spring update ISO from Microsoft soon that includes all the new updates