Win 8 Advice

koolpc · 19 Jan 2015 at 16:17

My friends has a Compaq PC base unit which has crashed.

He didnt make a recovery disc or pen drive. It had Win 8 on it.

Firstly, how would he know which version of Win 8 it was.

Secondly, how could he get the product key as the drive has crashed and he cannot get into windows, just a black screen at startup.

Thirdly, is there another way to enter recovery

Lastly, can he download Win 8 as an ISO and install and would windows extract the product key automaticall?

Thanks

xb8browney · 19 Jan 2015 at 16:31

Power on your computer and repeatedly press the esc key until the Startup Menu opens.
Begin a System Recovery by pressing F11. If prompted, select your keyboard layout.

koolpc · 19 Jan 2015 at 16:56

xb8browney said:
Power on your computer and repeatedly press the esc key until the Startup Menu opens.
Begin a System Recovery by pressing F11. If prompted, select your keyboard layout.

And that can be done with Win 8?

KIA · 20 Jan 2015 at 19:11

Have a look in BIOS for information regarding the Win8 version if the key is integrated.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-retrieve-windows-8-oem-product-key-from-bios/

Ronald · 20 Jan 2015 at 21:48

Pretty much all major OEMs have had Bios based windows actication for years.

Download ISO's from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media -- It was most likely Windows 8 (core, non-pro)

You may need a key to download, there are generic keys mentioned on this forum and all around the net if needed. When you install it on the Compaq it should automatically pick up the bios key.

KIA · 21 Jan 2015 at 19:31

Latest mediacreationtool doesn't require a key.

xb8browney · 21 Jan 2015 at 20:25

koolpc said:
And that can be done with Win 8?

Yeah.