First post updated; added info about CoreConnectedSingleLanguage/Windows 8.1 Update 1 with Bing SL. Thanks to EFA11, Mr.X & PaulDesmond.
nooby question : msdn iso files are iso coming from ms developer network so we can assume are "original and valid"? sorry asking that XD but i spent some days trying to recover my laptop and i only want to be sure
Of course they are original and valid. Compare the hash from those on MSDN and those provided here and you'll see
Hi, Hope this finds you well... So let's talk about my situation. About a year ago I bought a Lenovo T440S ultrabook. It had Windows 7 Professional pre-installed on it, and also I have DVDs containing Application Recovery Disc and Operating System Recovery Disc for Windows 8.1. (Sorry, not sure about their correct name.), but at least I am sure it's for Windows 8.1, not Windows 8. Once I got the laptop, I immediately deleted all partitions and installed Windows 7 Ultimate and, of course, activated it!. (Thanks Daz for your solution!) Now my question is, if I ever decided to install Windows 8.1, can I find the correct product key? (if I need to find it) Do I need to extract the key from the UEFI BIOS before installing 8.1? Can I find the key in the DVDs? I tried looking inside them, but it seams Lenovo guys encrypted almost anything. Thanks so much!
Thanks for this helpful post. It's my 1st time migrating from laptop hdd to ssd so i was really apprehensive about this. Found out by reading your post that my oem windows is core edition. The downloads were all iso which is not a good choice for me because i don't have a dvd/cd drive on my laptop. Ended up making a usb installation from Microsoft creation tool since i gathered core edition = normal windows 8.1. It installed from the thumbdrive without me doing a single thing. Didn't even ask me to activate and it's activated when it finished installing.
Hi, I have laptop with preinstalled Win 8.1 x64. Product Description: Win 8.1 RTM Core OEMM Edition ID: Core Part Number: [Blue]X18-95433 So, for a clean install I can use from murphy78's Windows 8.1 / Server 2012r2 with Update MSDN iso files [FONT=&]File Name: en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_4065090.iso[/FONT] [FONT=&]Languages: English[/FONT] [FONT=&]SHA1: 4652DC6EBFEBE02C6A63E167C36E3FAEDFB93999[/FONT] or latest from Windows 8.1 / Server 2012 R2 Dec15-2014 MSDN ISO torrent (murphy78's) or from Paul's Magnetic MSDN Jukebox [FONT=&]File Name: en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_6051480.iso[/FONT] [FONT=&]Languages: English[/FONT] [FONT=&]SHA1: A8B5DF0B0816280AE18017BC4B119C77B6C6EB79[/FONT] [FONT=&]Correct?[/FONT] I don't have to remove ei.cfgunder sources folder, OEM key will be picked up automatically and activate Windows itself, later I can add other languages? Actually, I can start with any language file from MSDN Windows 8.1 with Update (multiple editions) (x64)? And backup non-MS drivers is usefull. [FONT=&] Happy new year to everyone.[/FONT]
Thank you for this post, cleared up a few things in my head I had the same situation as previously @armond mentioned - got a few brand new Lenovo T440s with purple Win8 sticker on the back and Win7 already preinstalled on it, with additional Lenovo recovery dvds that let you restore to factory Win8 that comes loaded with bloatware. I wanted to do a fresh Win8.1 Pro install, but couldn't find out why one older win8.1 dvd I had found here in repositories worked they I wanted it to (install windows, connect to internet and it activates automatically, no need to enter key myself) and none other did, not your suggested SKU Pro MSDN with update, nor murphy's "Windows 8.1 8in1 x64 en-US Feb2015". All the rest said I need to enter a correct key, which I could by viewing OEMM post-install, but that is far too much hassle once you experience auto-activation via internet Deleted EI.CFG from murphy's iso and now everything's great - I can install Win8.1 with latest updates and it activates automatically once I join it to my network