New HDD, which method to install win 8pro?

[Zorkel]

Hi!
So I have a retail copy of win 8 pro but it's an upgrade key I obtained during the promo launch.
And it needs win 7 in MBR to activate and becoming a "legal" copy.
I'm about to obtain a 240GB SSD which will be my new hard drive for win 8.
Here lies the question, can I in a few easy steps add a fake registry into MBR I have had a copy of win 7 installed? Or can I copy my current system HDD which is slightly bigger (500GB) to my new HDD? Either of these options would save me a lot of time rather then first install win 7 which I will promptly delete prior to install win 8.

Cheers
//Zorkel

 

[permanoob]

It doesn't require Win7 to be installed. It just requires a full copy of Win7 to be on hand or installed. So if you have your previous Win7 disc that will suffice. If it works like previous Windows Upgrade discs, you can start the Win8 install and it'll say it's an upgrade and ask you to put in the previous OS disc to verify you own the previous version. It'll say "Ok!" then ask you to put the Win8 one back in and install.

 

[Brunostako]

Make a system backup, put the new drive, install your backup (it should retain the original Key), then use your upgrade key.

 

[Zorkel]

When I did a previous clean install it never said anything about windows 7.
Never asked about it or anything, when I came into windows and tried to view the activation it failed.
Groped around and eventually found a method to activate that gave me error message "Does not support clean install".
But if I have win 7 installed and insert boot media from win 8 and go advanced and clean all partitions it's okey.
Can even delete all partitions afterwards and install once again without problems.
So I assume it looks if win7/vista exists somewhere in MBR.

And Bruno I think I will try your method of making a system backup and rewrite it to the new HDD.