Installing Windows 8 Pro over Standard OEM in your new Win8 Certified notebook

I hope I don't get in trouble for reposting this from my Asus S56 teardown thread, but looking at the titles of some of the other posts, it looks like many other ASUS owners who bought a new Windows 8 Certified notebook are having a hell of a time in installing Windows 8 Professional over the Windows 8 Standard OEM that came with their new notebook / laptop / ultrabook.


With Windows 8 now out, prebuilt computers and notebooks that are deemed "Windows 8 Certified" adhere to certain security protocols on the BIOS level that make installing an OS other than what came with the machine increasingly difficult.

Problem areas and some preface:

SLIC 3.0
SLIC 3.0 is software licensing information located on the BIOS. Other versions of SLIC have been around several years, but all Windows 8 computers must use 3.0, which has keys that are unique to each machine. SLIC allows OEMS to have the keys autoloaded during the OS installation process, which helps to streamline manufacturing. It seems like a logical thing, on the surface. Previous versions of SLIC assigned one single key to volume license hundreds of thousands of machines, and they keys, installed via BIOS hacking, were widely abused by software pirates. The problem arises with SLIC 3.0, because Windows 8 installation procedures will ALWAYS pull the keys from the BIOS and then default to that version during install, since Windows 8 media is not specific and includes all versions on the same disc. Again, this seems logical on Microsoft's end, to limit the number DVD images they must produce. In practice though, this prevents users who own legitimate copies of Windows 8 Pro and its license key, from easily installing their Pro OS on "Windows 8 Certified" hardware that is preloaded with lower versions of the OS.

UEFI & Secure Boot
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a protocol that has also been around for several years, but with the release of Windows 8, carried the increased "security" of Secure Boot, which prevents unsigned bootable media from interfacing with the OS, hardware, or firmware. This function is supposed to make PCs more secure, by disallowing BIOS level exploits that use things like the memory space (ie: Konboot) to accomplish some task. In reality, this is limiting user's ability to control their hardware and limit what OSes they install. Due to the increased restrictions of Secure Boot, I have not been able to use any USB thumb drives, including those created by the official Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool, to boot directly from USB. Bootable DVDs are also required to be signed, and it appears that modifying a signed, legitimate ISO (ie: Windows 8 installation ISO, downloaded from MSDN) by inserting a file, completely prevents it from booting anymore. Additionally, popular boot media with legitimate tools and OSes that I like to use, like Backtrack, Ubuntu, and Partition Magic, are no longer bootable. I haven't tested it yet, but I have a feeling that I can no longer boot Memtest either. I don't mean to preach, but if Windows 8 Certified laptops and desktops are this restrictive via Secure Boot, it does not bode well for the PC industry.

Evaluating ASUS' BIOS in the S56[/SIZE]
It's an understatement to say that the BIOS settings the Asus S56 are poorly documented. There are very few options to change. Even when I went into the Security tab, went into "Key Management" and deleted all of the stored certificates and keys (they can be restored to default), disabled "Secure Boot Control", and played with all variations of all BIOS settings, no matter what, I absolutely could not get my Asus S56 to boot from any USB thumb drives, or unsigned or otherwise modified bootable DVDs.

Fortunately, I found a workaround
I found a bug in the Windows 8 install process that provided me with a workaround to allow me to finally install my copy of Windows 8 Pro, rather than having to stick with Windows 8 Standard OEM. This bug involves the ei.cfg file that Microsoft removed from Windows 8 install media. It was a configuration file that allowed you to specify which version of Windows you wanted to install. You cannot simply modify the Windows 8 install ISO and add the ei.cfg file, as mentioned before, the DVD will not boot. The bug I found, is that during the install process, Windows 8 install still does a cursory check on all accessible drives for the ei.cfg file, even though they intentionally removed it from all of their install media. The cursory check Windows 8 install does, also includes USB drives that are attached. I had a custom ei.cfg on my thumb drive, which Windows picked up, which finally allowed me to select my OS version!

Here's what you'll need:

• Windows 8 installation DVD (unmodified), retail, or a burned copy from an ISO downloaded from Microsoft
• Windows 8 installation ISO
• Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool free, from Microsoft
• USB thumb drive, large enough for the Windows 8 installation DVD (4GB is fine)

1. Burn a copy of the Windows 8 install DVD (assuming you purchased a key, and didn't buy the retail DVD) using your favorite image burning tool. I prefer ImgBurn.
2. Open the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, select the Microsoft Windows 8 installation ISO as your source file, hit Next, and then select USB device. Select your thumb drive and then "Begin Copying"
3. Once your "bootable" thumb drive is ready, open it in Explorer and navigate to the "sources" directory.
4. Using notepad, create a new Text file. Name it ei.cfg. The contents should be as follows:

[Channel]
volume

[VL]
1 ​

5. Save the file and exit.
6. Insert the Windows 8 installation DVD, as well as the Windows 8 installation USB drive you just created (with the added ei.cfg).
7. Reboot. Your notebook will boot from DVD and take you to the Windows 8 install interface. Hit "Install Now".
8. You'll now be presented with the choice of what version of OS to install. Remove the DVD. When you select the version and hit next, installation will occur from the USB!
9. Enjoy being able to use the OS you paid for, on the machine you also paid for that didn't want you to install anything other than what it came with.

There you have it. This workaround defies all logic and sensibility, but it is the only way I could figure out how to install Windows 8 Pro over the Asus S56 Windows 8 Standard OEM. Interesting thing is that if you skip activation and check the key in Windows System, you'll noticed that Windows still pulled the OEM key from BIOS. This workaround forces the installation of Windows 8 Pro. Strange and infuriating. I'm still working on how to disable Secure Boot and the stored SLIC 3.0 keys for good. For now, this is as good as it gets, I suppose.

 

Wow! If this works for everyone, this is immensely helpful! I have come across a number of machines with this lockdown; thanks for the repost. :thumbsup:

 

It should, in concept, since it's a bug that exists in the Windows 8 install process and should be hardware independent-- Windows 8 pre-install bootloader loads drivers to allow for USB access, so it should work for everyone, so long as MS doesn't patch it.

I haven't seen anything to confirm whether this is a known bug/exploit that I used or if I'm the first one to discover it, but it could be helpful in other areas. I have a feeling this exploit has existed since Vista, but until now has been an unknown.

The lockdown of Windows 8 Certified hardware is pretty bad. I'm thinking because the Windows 8 bootloader lords over boot, my next vector of attack in getting unsigned USB and DVDs to boot would be to exploit the Win8 bootloader into loading that media itself by making those USBs and DVDs bootable options.

 

Ssshhh, the MS satellites will hear you.

Let us know how your experimentation fares. This is valuable info.

 

I have been running Windows 8 Pro since it reached RTM on my main desktop computer but today I bought an ASUS K45A and wanted to make a clean install of Windows 8 Pro since I already had bought a license.

My first headache came from the fact that ASUS (I don't know about other vendors but I service computers and I haven't had any customers with Win8 laptops to come by) didn't provide a way to burn the factory image or recovery media. Windows 8 recovery wizard can make a bootable USB along with the recovery partition data but there's no option to burn it to DVD. I made one on a USB drive and then fired up Acronis True Image to image the entire disk to have another way of restoring the laptop to its factory state.

Next, I proceeded to inset my Windows 8 Pro USB drive that has all current updates integrated but as soon as the setup started I got an error saying that Windows couldn't find a suitable image for the preinstalled key in the USB drive. A few searches lead me here.

I'm about to test this workaround. I will report back to let you know how it goes.

Thanks for the information. Hopefully it will work as well as in your case.

Sorry for the long post. I registered to write this but I'm sure I will be checking these forums often.

Reporting back. It worked!

I'm now installing Windows 8 Pro on my ASUS K45A. Thanks for the workaround.

It should be noted that Windows setup won't ask you for a serial. I guess it's like using one of the generic installation keys and after Windows finishes its installation, we can activate it by writing down our license keys.

 

Hello! Does this method allows to clean install Windows 8 in a GPT Partition?

 

It appears that Windows 8 does support GPT partitions, although I don't know that the above method will help you. You can refer to this, however - straight from the horse's mouth - for help in setting up your GPT partition:

Sample: Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Drive Partitions by Using Windows PE and DiskPart

I hope this helps!

 

Thanks!

I was asking because i have a Asus UX32VD laptop and i would like to do a clean install of windows but when i boot from the CD and try to install windows i get a message that says that's not possible to install in a GPT partition i could change ir to mbr but with that i'll lose the issd features with expresscache, and windows will not recognize the iSSD partition etc...

 

So are you trying to run Windows from the iSSD while retaining the Intel Smart Response Technology fast boot stuff? I think, essentially, you just enable the volume with the GPT partition to be recognized by removing flag that specifies the GPT partition(s) as off limits OEM (diskpart -> select disk -> select partition -> gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001) and create a new partition on the iSSD so a bootable volume can be mounted. I wound up just using the mSATA integrated SSD as a conventional MBR volume for my Windows install. I'm not really missing any speed improvements SRT provides, while getting the benefit of being able to have to have multiple drives (iSSD boot volume + hard drive, + optical drive (or hdd in optical drive caddy)).

 

No, i want to run windows (clean install) from my hdd and still have the iSSD to use for that expresscache stuff & instant on etc like the factory instalation but with Windows 8 installed from scratch.

Thanks

 

Is it possible to do this using the Windows 8 Install DVD to boot and then installing Windows 7 from USB instead of Windows 8?

 

I don't think that will work. Worth giving it a shot, but Windows 8 UEFI bootloader in these newer machines is drastically different.

One solution, off the top of my head, would be to install Windows 8 and then do a secondary install of Windows 7 on a separate partition. When all is said and done, you'll have a dual booting system with the Win8 bootloader giving you an OS selection screen. Once Win 7 is installed, delete the Windows 8 installation and see if it'll boot right into 7. It's clumsy, but it just might work. If I have enough time this weekend, I'll see if I can get Win 7 to install on my Ultrabook.

Have you tried installing 7 straight from DVD?

 

Hi. I am having a similar problem and some googling and a lot of reading through some other forums led me here. I recently bought an ASUS G75VW that came with Windows 8 pre-installed. I have been having problems with it, mainly programs freezing a lot and 5 blue screens with little to nothing going on (playing a DVD, launching VLC, etc). So I figured I would just forget about Windows 8 and install Windows 7 and stick with that. So, I tried to format and install Windows 7 with 3 different DVDs, all to no avail. I tried a couple of minor solutions, like disabling Secure Boot from BIOS, before I realized the problem was a lot more widespread than I thought. If all else fails, I will get a fresh copy of Windows 8 Pro and use your workaround and hope that, for some reason, that fresh install doesn't give me as many problems as I've had so far.

Did you ever get around to trying that Win 7 install on your Ultrabook?

 

Hi,
I have a question: Does the USB flash drive need to be UEFI bootable? As I heard somewhere, if we just put the W8 ISO into the USB with the W7 Upgrade tool, the USB won't be UEFI bootable.

 

MifuneT: What happens if you use a .wim with the Standard image deleted, and only have the Pro image left intact?

I don't have a OEM W8 machine so I can't try it out. If it works, it would be useful for those who does reinstalls more often.

 

The most difficult part of this Tutorial as so many of us don't manage to get that

 

Came across this today. Haven't tested it myself, but am interested to see if anyone else has success with this - particularly when downgrading/installing a previous version of Windows on a Windows 8 machine with OA 3.0.

 

MifuneT - you are a star!

I wasted an entire day yesterday doing reload after reload of my OS and tried everything to get Win 8 Pro to install on my Acer XC600 PC but whatever I tried it always installed the standard version and pulled the key from the UEFI.

Your solution worked and I had a full Windows 8 Pro PC setup in under 30 minutes.

I hope you don't mind but I have also shared your link (with all credit to you of course) over at the Acer forums as this solution seems to work with anything. Re: Acer Aspire XC600 - installing Windows 7 - Page 2 - Acer Support Community

Thanks so much again for such a useful post, muchos kudos to you!

Cheers,
Bret

 

I've just tested this on an Acer XC600 desktop PC and it works an absolute treat - I did just post a huge thank you to MifuneT but it doesn't seem to have posted so thanks again!

 

Thanks for posting this great guide, i used it to get Win 8 Pro onto my Dell XPS 18

 

I am using this link

Swapping HD for SSD question in new laptop - [H]ard|Forum

To install Windows 8 clean. But in order to download Windows 8, it is asking for product key. So where can I find the product key in the BOIS?

 

Hi there, I used imgburn on my original windows 8 oem dvd and when I go to select it with the windows 7 usb/dvd tool it says the file is not a valid iso image. Any suggestions?

 

Just to let everyone know, you can boot from a usb drive in UEFI mode, the usb has to be in FAT32 the windows 7 tool put it as NTFS. what i did takes a sec but if you use the tool to make the usb bootable, then go to My computer and format the usb drive to fat32 then drag all the windows content onto the drive it will boot. Oh and don't buy a new Sandisk thumb drive. They no longer make removable drive because of windows 8. all of their thumb drives are Local disk now and you dan't install windows from a local disk.

 

INSTALL WINDOWS 8 PROFESSIONAL OVER THE WINDOWS 8 OEM SYSTEM

Users who bought a new laptop or desktop system with Windows 8 OEM build version operating system but cant install genuine Windows 8 Professional or Windows 8 Professional with Media Centre Version being unable to enter Windows 8 Professional Product Key on that new OEM Version Windows 8 machine due to pre-installed OEM key on system BIOS permanently by the manufacturer, here is the solution to install preferred Windows 8 Professional on that Windows 8 OEM system.

The steps are bellow:

For Bootable Windows 8 Professional DVD

1. Download UltraISO Premium Software from Google ( UltraISO Premium - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com )

2. Install UltraISO Premium Software

3. After finishing installation, open UltraISO Premium Program and make sure Windows 8 Professional disk in DVD drive.

4. On opened UltraISO Premium Program, click ‘File and then click ‘Open CD/DVD’. All the contents of Windows 8 Professional Disk will be shown on the right side
part of UltraISO Premium Application.

5. Double Click on the folder called ‘sources’ and leave the UltraISO Premium Application as it is or you can minimise it.

6. Now the important part. Open a blank notepad and save the note pad as ‘ei.cfg’ to desktop. Before creating the ‘ei.cfg’ file make sure it’s not ‘ei.cfg.txt’, it must be ‘ei.cfg’.

7. Then paste the following code on that ‘ei.cfg’ file, save & close it.

[Channel]
volume

[VL]
1

8. Now go back to UltraISO Premium Program, drag & drop the
‘ei.cfg’ file to ‘sources’ folder.

9. Click ‘File’ of UltraISO Premium Program and save as it to desktop
with the name Windows 8 Professional or as it is, doesn’t matter.

10. Wait till finishing the ISO creation and then burn the newly created
Windows 8 Professional ISO to a black DVD by most common Nero, UltraISO or any other
ISO burning Software.

11. That’s all and enjoy the Windows 8 Professional on Windows 8 OEM
machine.

For Bootable Windows 8 Professional USB Pen Drive

Follow the steps from 1 to 9 For Bootable Windows 8 Professional DVD, and then download the following tool (Windows 7 USB Boot)

Download Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool 1.0.30.0

Once download ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’, install it. After installing the ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’, open the program and follow the on screen instructions. Before opening the ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’ program’, needs to plug in a USB Pen Drive with minimum 4GB storage.

Also note that if you use Windows XP system to create custom boot Windows 8 Professional USB media, you must install ‘Image Mastering API v2.0’ (Download Link: http://www.htwares.com/windows/syst.../image-mastering-api-imapiv20-for-windows-xp/ ) in order to install ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’. In Windows 7 and Windows 8, it doesn’t require to install ‘Image Mastering API v2.0’ for ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’; no idea about Windows Vista whether ‘Image Mastering API v2.0’ needs to install or not since I don’t like Windows Vista at all.

Once USB Pen Drive is ready for installation, boot the system from USB media and enjoy installing Windows 8 Professional and say good bye to Windows 8 OEM Version.

Thank you and best of luck to those who are having problem installing Windows 8 Professional over the Windows 8 OEM system.

 

INSTALL WINDOWS 8 PROFESSIONAL OVER THE WINDOWS 8 OEM SYSTEM

Users who bought a new laptop or desktop system with Windows 8 OEM build version operating system but cant install genuine Windows 8 Professional or Windows 8 Professional with Media Centre Version being unable to enter Windows 8 Professional Product Key on that new OEM Version Windows 8 machine due to pre-installed OEM key on system BIOS permanently by the manufacturer, here is the solution to install preferred Windows 8 Professional on that Windows 8 OEM system.

The steps are bellow:

For Bootable Windows 8 Professional DVD

1. Download UltraISO Premium Software from Google ( UltraISO Premium - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com )

2. Install UltraISO Premium Software

3. After finishing installation, open UltraISO Premium Program and make sure Windows 8 Professional disk in DVD drive.

4. On opened UltraISO Premium Program, click ‘File and then click ‘Open CD/DVD’. All the contents of Windows 8 Professional Disk will be shown on the right side part of UltraISO Premium Application.

5. Double Click on the folder called ‘sources’ and leave the UltraISO Premium Application as it is or you can minimise it.

6. Now the important part. Open a blank notepad and save the note pad as ‘ei.cfg’ to desktop. Before creating the ‘ei.cfg’ file make sure it’s not ‘ei.cfg.txt’, it must be ‘ei.cfg’.

7. Then paste the following code on that ‘ei.cfg’ file, save & close it.

[Channel]
volume

[VL]
1

8. Now go back to UltraISO Premium Program, drag & drop the
‘ei.cfg’ file to ‘sources’ folder.

9. Click ‘File’ of UltraISO Premium Program and save as it to desktop
with the name Windows 8 Professional or as it is, doesn’t matter.

10. Wait till finishing the ISO creation and then burn the newly created
Windows 8 Professional ISO to a black DVD by most common Nero, UltraISO or any other
ISO burning Software.

11. That’s all and enjoy the Windows 8 Professional on Windows 8 OEM
machine.

For Bootable Windows 8 Professional USB Pen Drive

Follow the steps from 1 to 9 For Bootable Windows 8 Professional DVD, and then download the following tool (Windows 7 USB Boot)

Download Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool 1.0.30.0

Once download ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’, install it. After installing the ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’, open the program and follow the on screen instructions. Before opening the ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’ program’, needs to plug in a USB Pen Drive with minimum 4GB storage.

Also note that if you use Windows XP system to create custom boot Windows 8 Professional USB media, you must install ‘Image Mastering API v2.0’ (Download Link: Image Mastering API (IMAPIv2.0) for Windows XP v2.0 Download ) in order to install ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’. In Windows 7 and Windows 8, it doesn’t require to install ‘Image Mastering API v2.0’ for ‘Windows 7 USB Boot Tool’; no idea about Windows Vista whether ‘Image Mastering API v2.0’ needs to install or not since I don’t like Windows Vista at all.

Once USB Pen Drive is ready for installation, boot the system from USB media and enjoy installing Windows 8 Professional and say good bye to Windows 8 OEM Version.

Thank you and best of luck to those who are having problem installing Windows 8 Professional over the Windows 8 OEM system.

 

I've registered on this forum just to personnaly thank the original poster: after days having tried everything and not understanding why I couldn't install windows 8 pro on my preinstalled-with-win8-laptop (a Packard Bell TE69KB), your procedure saved (and restored) my sanity.

Many, many, many thanks :thumbsup:

For the user getting an "invalid ISO file" error with the Win7 USB/DVD tool, you can patch your ISO file using a simple command line utility, here: Use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool with custom ISOs

Or better, you may use WinUSBMaker (here: WinUSB Maker - Josh Cell Softwares) as a replacement to the MS tool, works like a charm !

All the best!

--tilleul

 

Thank you so much, I have been working around this on an ASUS X45U that came with Win 8 standard and could not find a way to upgrade to pro.

WORKED Just fine for me!

Thanks again.

 

Wow you just made my day. After a whole day I run into this thread. I tried it and it actually worked. I just installed 8.1 Pro on my MSI GE60.

Thank you so much!

 

Will this method work on 8.1 to 8.1 Pro as well?

 

Wow... This worked perfectly..

 

Yes