Well the Dell disk won't work - it'll look at the BIOS and know it isn't a Dell motherboard and fail.
John W. Cook Director of Network Operations Partnership For Strong Families 5950 NW 1st Place Gainesville, Fl 32607 Office (352) 244-1610 Cell (352) 215-6944 MCSE, MCP+I, MCTS, CompTIA A+, N+, Security + VSP4, VTSP4 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ben Scott Sent: Monday, July 21, 2014 3:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NTSysADM] Win 8 OEM clean install - media, editions, activation I'm curious if others have experimented with this, before I start getting my hands dirty... Can any edition of Windows 8 be installed from any media, as Windows 7 often was able to do, or are there restrictions again? I'm working on a Toshiba laptop which shipped with Windows 8 Home edition[1]. The Toshiba restore media will only do a full restore to factory image, complete with all the OEM shovelware (games, invasive trials, useless "me too" apps, borderline adware/spyware, etc.). I also have various Windows 8 Pro media, including a clean OEM disc from Dell, and Volume License Media downloaded from Microsoft. I'm wondering if I can boot either of these and do a clean install of Windows Home (without all the OEM preload junk), despite the edition not matching. Windows 7 VLM could generally install any edition. It let you pick during install, and then checked the Product Key to make sure the license matched what you actually installed. Windows XP, used unique media for each edition and channel. I'm wondering if Windows 8 is more like 7 or XP in this regard. I also wonder about activation. With this laptop, there's no Product Key given to me. The activation is tied to some magic embedded in the firmware[2]. When restoring the factory image, the Windows install is happy with this. But if I install from different media, I'm not sure how it will react. Will media from any channel (FPP, OEM, VLM) recognize the firmware magic, or is it just OEM media? Or is it worse, and is the media specific to the OEM? -- Ben [1] I'm aware that officially, it's just "Windows 8", not "Windows 8 Home". Microsoft's failure to give their product an unambiguous name means one has to invent unofficial names. [2] OEM SLP (Original Equipment Manufacturer System Locked Pre-activation), in Microsoft terms. ________________________________ CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: The information transmitted, or contained or attached to or with this Notice is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain Protected Health Information (PHI), confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, transmission, dissemination, or other use of, and taking any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient without the express written consent of the sender are prohibited. This information may be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and other Federal and Florida laws. Improper or unauthorized use or disclosure of this information could result in civil and/or criminal penalties. Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
