How to get back Windows 8 on my laptop ?

kikloo

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Jan 22, 2014
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Hi,

I had bought Lenovo G510 which came with Windows 8 pre-installed. The sticker is there under my laptop. I gave it to someone for installing Ubuntu to dual boot but somehow they managed to wipe out all the harddrive including the recovery partition, windows 8 etc. Only Ubuntu was left installed and later I installed Windows 7 on it.

Now I need Windows 8 back on my lapotp and sadly I don't have any rescue disks etc. How do I get back Windows 8 on my laptop ? My laptop has UEFI and I believe it has the Windows 8 product key in it also.

Right now I am using un-genuine Windows 7 home, 64bit on my laptop and I need to get back to genuine Windows 8. Is there any way ? Can i get Windows 8 ISO from which I can make UEFI based installation disk which will pick product key from the bios itself ?

Also I have changed the bios setting to Legacy something instead of UEFI.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Solution
2 &3) seems the download link and your copy of windows 8 are both retails version, i would suggest try and find an OEM version of windows 8. i've been searching microsoft's site the the only available for download seems retail version.

xcrossroadsx

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Dec 13, 2011
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1
18,860
Your windows 8 key should be embedded in your UEFI if Lenovo did their job correctly (which 99% of the time they do). To get back to Windows 8, use the provided link above to get an iso, burn it to a disk, go into your bios settings and change back to UEFI from legacy (and make sure secure boot is enabled). Install Windows 8 and go into PC settings and hit activate. It should automatically activate, but if it doesn't there are tools online to view that key so you can copy and and manually activate it yourself.
 

kikloo

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Jan 22, 2014
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Hi,

Thanks for the replies but there are some issues that needs resolving:

1. I do not have the key. Its stored in UEFI, hence I am unable to download the ISO as suggested by @qazzi becuase its asking for a key.
2. I downloaded a Windows 8 ISO from somewhere else somehow and did as suggested by @xcrossroadsx but it said that key does not matches the images available.

What to do ?

Thanks.
 


if you read xcroosroadsx post he said "It should automatically activate, but if it doesn't there are tools online to view that key so you can copy and and manually activate it yourself." that means you can use the link that i provided then just enter the cd key that was embedded on the UEFI bios.
 

kikloo

Honorable
Jan 22, 2014
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Hi,

Now this is the situation:

1. I have the key with me its of OEM.
2. The link provided above says that I cannot download Retail Windows using the key I have (which is OEM).
3. I managed to some how get a copy of Windows but that also says that the product key cannot be used with the installation.

What to do ?

Thanks.
 
2 &3) seems the download link and your copy of windows 8 are both retails version, i would suggest try and find an OEM version of windows 8. i've been searching microsoft's site the the only available for download seems retail version.
 
Solution