Brand new laptop no windows disc, how to reinstall on ssd?

steinooo · 21 Mar 2015 at 08:54

Hi all,

I'm due to take delivery of a laptop today and want to upgrade it to an ssd before I start on it, but want to use the windows 8 license that comes with it.

I read about cloning the Os but read it wasn't advisable due to alignment of sectors, so wanted to do a clean install but how do I use the oem license without a disc?

Do I need to find out what the product key is or something?

cats_five · 21 Mar 2015 at 09:20

As I see it your problem with getting a DVD is that 1) Digital River no longer have downloads of the ISOs on their website and 2) the Microsoft Software Recovery site only works with retail keys, no OEM ones.

However you should be able to make a recovery disk and you might be able to use that to install onto an SSD - at least you won't be damaging the HDD in the process.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

Whoop · 21 Mar 2015 at 09:22

Try starting it up, using a key reader software such as Belarc Advisor and then make yourself either a USB installer or a DVD using the official tool.

The tool required is here - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

(Don't bother reading the page, once you run the create media tool all becomes clear)

BunnyKillBot · 21 Mar 2015 at 11:25

Hi OP, the windows 8 key is stored in the uefi firmware and will automatically detect when you run the install. For install media sources check out the mydigitallife forums.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/40897-Guide-to-preserve-Windows-8-x-OEM-Activation

steinooo · 21 Mar 2015 at 11:35

cats_five said:
As I see it your problem with getting a DVD is that 1) Digital River no longer have downloads of the ISOs on their website and 2) the Microsoft Software Recovery site only works with retail keys, no OEM ones.

However you should be able to make a recovery disk and you might be able to use that to install onto an SSD - at least you won't be damaging the HDD in the process.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

thanks for that, I tried this but the recovery disk I made on a USB stick didn't want to restore onto the SSD, errored saying that it couldn't find the restore files :S

hyperseven · 21 Mar 2015 at 11:43

If a Samsung SSD just use the migration tool thing, its designed to clone the OS, used it a few times no problems.

steinooo · 21 Mar 2015 at 11:53

it's a sandisk unfortunately,but thanks for the post!

steinooo · 21 Mar 2015 at 11:56

it's strange because Windows 8 says it's made the recovery drive no problem, I just tried again, but when I boot to it, choose my language it says that Windows cannot find a system image on this computer :S

steinooo · 21 Mar 2015 at 12:10

Whoop said:
Try starting it up, using a key reader software such as Belarc Advisor and then make yourself either a USB installer or a DVD using the official tool.

The tool required is here - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

(Don't bother reading the page, once you run the create media tool all becomes clear)

I'm trying this now, cheers for this! I had no idea MS had started letting people download the OS for free and trusting the key

KIA · 21 Mar 2015 at 17:33

You can use Macrium Reflect to clone the drive. It will take care of alignment.

steinooo · 22 Mar 2015 at 18:24

Just thought i'd update the thread to say what I did and thank whoop and bunny killbot because the download from the Microsoft site and flashing it to USB worked.

Then my product key must have been stored in the firmware becuase as soon as I connected to the web it activated automatically.

The only other funny I had was on this laptop - a "Lenovo", it didn't want to boot to USB so i went in the BIOS and disabled loads of stuff e.g. "secure boot" and "fast boot" (no idea what they do) and flicked a switch to enable legacy OS', then it booted. Speed is great with Win 8.1 on an SSD, thanks again to the helpers