Windows 8 Activiaton

[Chardor42]

I have a gateway dx 4885-ub3a with windows 8 installed, once i bought the pc i upgraded to windows 8.1.
i want to do a clean install of the os because of some issues, i was wondering if i install a new windows 8.1 will it carry my product key over to the new windows 8.1 or will i have to buy a new key?

my desktop came with no cd, no product key written anywhere, thanks for the help in advanced

 

[VanillaSprinkles]

You can just to a system reset.
Here's how you do it: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

 

[blockhead78]

the way activation works since win 7 I believe, is that is recognises your hardware that was originally activated

if you really want or have to do a clean install you will temporarily lose your activation, but when you try and activate there is an option to activate via phone

it gives you a specific number to call and displays a long installation ID number

you type that number in over the phone and the automated service reads out your activation key

I had to do those exact steps after re-installing my win 8.1 and it activated fine, so I'm guessing MS must recognise that my hardware had already been activated previously with the same version of windows

just in case though, you can use belarc to find out what your current activation key is

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/windows-8-product-key.htm

 

[Chardor42]

the way activation works since win 7 I believe, is that is recognises your hardware that was originally activated

if you really want or have to do a clean install you will temporarily lose your activation, but when you try and activate there is an option to activate via phone

it gives you a specific number to call and displays a long installation ID number

you type that number in over the phone and the automated service reads out your activation key

I had to do those exact steps after re-installing my win 8.1 and it activated fine, so I'm guessing MS must recognise that my hardware had already been activated previously with the same version of windows

just in case though, you can use belarc to find out what your current activation key is

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/windows-8-product-key.htm

Thank you for the knowledge, I had heard something about possibly having to call, thank you for verifying that.

 

[Chardor42]

You can just to a system reset.
Here's how you do it: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

I was trying to avoid the reset option. My plans were to install a vanilla windows 8 so that I wouldn't get all the bloatware that comes with gateway. Sorry for not clarifying that and thanks for you response.