Windows 8 download?

ponder

ponder

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Ok here's the scenario, existing compaq laptop with win8 but has a lot of kuk preinstalled with it so doing a fresh install from the recovery partition would just add this bundled crap again. Can one download a legit iso without this crap and install it? Laptop has one of those win8 holograph stickers stuck to the bottom but no license key info etc that I can see. Existing install is 64-bit but it only has 2GB ram so was thinking a 32-bit install would go a bit easier on the ram usage.

Any ideas?
 
I can upload it for you, 8 64bit Pro & 8.1 Pro, all I have. (Legitimate unaltered Microsoft ISO's)

Just check what version you have and let me know before I start upload:

Winows 8
Winows 8 Pro
Winows 8 Enterprise

Licence keys in OEM hardware are stored in the bios these days, so no activation is necessary when using their recovery software.
 
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I know where to get the iso images, my main concern is can I simply install it and it will work?

My question arises from the old days where you use to get retail, oem copies etc and you could not substitute one for the other.

I don't have the laptop, will only get it on friday, doing a friend a favour as the thing is borked, so I don't know whether it has normal, pro or enterprise. It's a el cheapo compaq with amd apu so I suspect it probably comes with normal win 8. I could always download all 3 iso images if need be but I first wanna know if it will work before wasting the time.
 
ponder said:
I know where to get the iso images, my main concern is can I simply install it and it will work?

My question arises from the old days where you use to get retail, oem copies etc and you could not substitute one for the other.

I don't have the laptop, will only get it on friday, doing a friend a favour as the thing is borked, so I don't know whether it has normal, pro or enterprise. It's a el cheapo compaq with amd apu so I suspect it probably comes with normal win 8. I could always download all 3 iso images if need be but I first wanna know if it will work before wasting the time.
Click to expand...

It will work, just get correct version or you wont be able to licence it, and manually download all drivers too.
I have never had a problem replacing OS versions on OEM hardware myself.
 
Cameronkk said:
It will work, just get correct version or you wont be able to licence it, and manually download all drivers too.
I have never had a problem replacing OS versions on OEM hardware myself.
Click to expand...

Excellent!

I've got the compaq part number (C2B23EA#ACQ) and according to that it comes with plain Windows 8 64-bit so I will download Win8.1,
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c03546965.pdf
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/za/e...42-5295759-5295759-5296096-5315793.html?dnr=2
 
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Omfg, looks like you can't install from a 8.1 iso if you have a 8.0 key, that's really stupid microsoft!

There are fixes for this though but you have to remaster the iso, easier if you are just gonna do a USB image.
 
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ponder said:
Omfg, looks like you can't install from a 8.1 iso if you have a 8.0 key, that's really stupid microsoft!

There are fixes for this though but you have to remaster the iso.
Click to expand...

You can, if your Windows 8 key is for Windows 8 multiple language, doesn't work for single language. You use a Windows 8.1 generic key and then activate with the Windows 8 key.
 
DearHeart said:
You can, if your Windows 8 key is for Windows 8 multiple language, doesn't work for single language. You use a Windows 8.1 generic key and then activate with the Windows 8 key.
Click to expand...

I'm just gonna create a ei.cfg file on the install USB so I will not be prompted for a key at all and also gives me the option to select core or pro. This way there will be no issues and you can activate post install with the Win 8 key. I'll then create a image of the USB for backup purposes because optical media is so yesterday :D

For any others that are interested http://www.jmedved.com/2013/09/installing-windows-8-1-or-8-without-a-product-key/
 
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ponder said:
I'm just gonna create a ei.cfg on the install USB so I will not be prompted for a key at all and also gives me the option to select core or pro. This way there will be no issues and you can activate post install with the Win 8 key. I'll then create a image of the USB for backup purposes because optical media is so yesterday :D
Click to expand...

You seem to have made radical progress between your first post in this one :p
 
DearHeart said:
Didn't know how serious the "bork" was :whistle:
Click to expand...

Just to much hassle using the MS downloader. I do have a Win7 partition (I last used in 2013) and a Win7 VM install so I could do it but I don't see why I should have to jump through all these idiotic hoops.

mydigitallife forums provided me with a magnet link to the real deal (with md5 & sha256 hashes) which is much easier and more reliable download method due to the nature of torrents.
 
DearHeart said:
You seem to have made radical progress between your first post in this one :p
Click to expand...

:D Lol, I'll be taking orders soon for sanitised usb images :twisted:

Seriously, it's a once of process to modify the media slightly (2min job) and then in future not having to worry about dummy keys and all that crap. Dunno why MS don't do this from the outset as they provide the info on their site, suppose they like making things 'difficult'.
 
DearHeart said:
AFAIK you can't go from 64-bit to 32-bit on the same product key, 64-bit doesn't use significantly more RAM than 32-bit.
Click to expand...

You still can, I've done it once already with a 32-64-bit migration for a friend that had their laptop replaced.

ponder said:
Omfg, looks like you can't install from a 8.1 iso if you have a 8.0 key, that's really stupid microsoft!
Click to expand...

You can't even download the 8.1 update to install it on the desktop, how stupid is that?

ponder said:
Seriously, it's a once of process to modify the media slightly (2min job) and then in future not having to worry about dummy keys and all that crap. Dunno why MS don't do this from the outset as they provide the info on their site, suppose they like making things 'difficult'.
Click to expand...

This might interest you as well, if you don't want to handle the task of doing a OS format on the system later on when your friend wants to refresh or reset the OS. IIRC, it also works when you've installed an activated stuff like Photoshop and Office.

Ipwn 4 said:
Have u tried a reset? Should remove all the crap...
Click to expand...

Resets only put the system back to factory settings, it doesn't remove bloatware.
 
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NAG - Wesley said:
This might interest you as well, if you don't want to handle the task of doing a OS format on the system later on when your friend wants to refresh or reset the OS. IIRC, it also works when you've installed an activated stuff like Photoshop and Office.
Click to expand...

Thanks, will definitely look into that.

I honestly have no idea why MS has all these restrictions (wrt 8.1 download/update) in place, it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen and makes zero sense to me.
 
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I've created a bootable USB image from linux and the process is very simple.

1. Create a single partition on a USB stick, format to NTFS, set the bootable flag. You can do this from cli or gparted.
2. Use ms-sys -7 to write a Win7+ bootsector to the usb stick.
3. Mount the iso image and copy the files across

Done!
 
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