ASUS N56VZ -S4242 New hard drive & Windows 8

Hi

I've started a new thread because i want to keep it specific to one point, hope that's ok. Just to advise that my laptop came with Windows 8 pre installed

I have replaced the original hard drive with a faster spin hard drive and gained access to the laptops Bios and changed the boot sequence with no problems.

After doing this i installed Windows 7 64 bit with no problem.

BUT i then tried also to install a fresh copy ( not upgrading ) of Windows 8 64 bit from rebooting and reloading Windows 8 when i have hit a brick wall. After setting the region on the initial start up i then get a message saying that installed key does not match.This only happens on Windows 8 and not Windows 7.

Ive read that there is a pre installed Windows 8 key in the Bios but i want to instal my own windows 8 with my own key ??

Is there any way i can install my own fresh Windows 8 on my new hard drive please ?

 

Probably what happens is that you have a normal primary partition with win7 along with a system partition, and then a reference to that in the mbr. The win8 boot has, possibly (we're talking windows here, after all), made itself a gpt partition set with compatibility for an efi boot, with essentially the same setup as the win7 boot.

But when you boot from bios, what happens (probably) is that the bios sees the first disk with an mbr written to it. So it won't launch it's own efi shell (if that even exists after the clean reinstall) - that would then be able to launch the win8 boot.

Ways to fix this (after confirming that the win8 boot is inside a gpt-partition set) is either:
1. Find a way to install the original efi boot-manager, or install a new one that will be able to chain the win8 setup.
2. Destroy the gpt-set, install win8 again - then overwrite the mbr to make it launch win8 instead of win7.

[insert extremely caustic comment about MS here]

 

Hi

Thank you for taking the time to look at this for me but your explanation is way above my fairly limited understanding, my problem not yours.

Could you please give a more simple explanation and step by step guide of what to do? Im lost with the jargon im afraid (mbr , gpt partition , efi boot-manager ,etc).

Thank you so much again for looking into this for me , any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Hello

Just an update , ive completely reformatted my new hard drive and fitted it back into my new lap top.Same problem on loading windows 8 from the DVD.It starts to load up and asks me to select the region,the DVD starts to load and i then get a message saying that the keys do not match, It doesn't even get to the stage where i can input my own key etc.It appears that the laptop interrogates the DVD for the key and then stops the install.

Again it lets me load Windows 7 with no problem?

 

I am not sure. Is this the entire "bios has the key" thing?

Maybe the asus efi-bios (this is just a sub-partition on a gpt-partition) is supposed to be used with that win8 version? That it needs an OEM key from a "secure boot" to even start? I'm never going to bother with Windows 8 - anyone else have any experience with this?

 

HI

Just to let you know that ive solved it.The laptop comes with Windows 8 pre-installed and the key and product id is stored in the Bios for Windows 8 only.

I have my own ]Windows 8 Pro which i was trying to do a fresh install with and the Laptop stops the install because the Windows 8 key held in the Bios is different to the Windows 8 pro key ?

Hope this makes sense and helps others

 

So, how did you solve it?

 

Hi

You can either install Windows 7 first and then use Windows 8 Pro to upgrade,which is what ive done.

Or install Windows 8 edition from a DVD or USB ( ill have to see if im able to purchase this edition) and the Bios in the laptop will automatically input the key

 

Thanks, but I thought that installing Windows 8 via USB key or DVD was what the problem was - it was saying the key was incorrect?

 

Hi

It was saying it was incorrect because the key on the laptop Bios is for Windows 8 only, and i was trying to do a completely fresh install of Windows 8 Pro. The keys for Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro must be different and this is why i was getting a message that the keys didn't match.

My mistake was that i hadn't realised that the Laptop only had Windows 8 pre-installed , i assumed it was Windows 8 Pro !

 

Okay, so you didn't really solve it then, correct? (Being able to install the version of Windows 8 that you want via a clean install).


You did use a workaround (but that is not one that I would have agreed to; doing an upgrade of Win7 to Win8... shudder, shudder).


Thank you for replying though.

I hope somebody has specific instructions on how to enable a clean install of Windows 8 when a previous edition of Windows 8 was already installed.

 

Hi

Thanks , the clean install of Windows 8 ok. Im struggling with a clean install of Windows 8 Pro when only Windows 8 is the operating system which is pre installed on the laptop. The laptop identifies that you are installing an upgrade when it only has a key for Windows 8 and not Windows 8 Pro.

Sorry for my poor explanation.

 

Yeah, there must be someway to delete or uninstall the key in the BIOS - otherwise, this is one more step to throw away systems (along with soldered RAM, glued-on batteries and proprietary storage solutions).


I guess that nobody else has tried this yet? (Myself; I upgraded most of my older platforms to Win8 so haven't seen this issue personally).