SRL Archive - NOTA

TLDR at the end..

So.. here's my stupid story on re-activating my OEM Windows and my frustration with the Microsoft employees.

When you upgrade from Windows 8 (OEM) to 8.1, you can no longer use your recovery drive. You actually have to do a clean install. So I decided to backup everything and just reinstall from scratch.. then upgrade after. It turns out that you cannot use your OEM key to reinstall Windows 8 OR 8.1 with a retail ISO.. In fact, your OEM key is pretty much useless.

I kept getting the error "The product image does not match" or something stupid like that. Now last year, I purchased Windows 8.1 pro key from the MSStore for 20$. Lucky me (it's $299 for one now). Installed Pro with media center just fine.

Now when reinstalling Windows, I used the ISO that I got from their website using the key I purchased from them which I cannot use to do a fresh install -_- I decided to give them a call.. oh boy..

It basically went like this: Call technical support -> Transfer to store support -> transfer to tech support -> transfer to store support and like that for 3 hours. Every single employee had a very very thick accent! (out-sourced jobs ftl) They had no idea which section should handle "key mangagement" issues. None of their employees can figure out why my purchased key does not work. Mind you, this new key I purchased is embedded into my BIOS (which is why I never bothered to keep the email or order number) now so I no longer have my OEM key.

So now I'm asked to provide credentials. The email used to purchase the key, and the exact order number. Well.. I don't have the email from a year and a half ago and I don't have the order number. I have my transaction number from a bank statement.

"Sir we do not store information on transactions. We can only verify you by your email and order number".. Who really keeps a receipt from a year and a half ago.. Not me. What company doesn't keep a record of their transactions? Microsoft.. So I gave them the fake email I used as well as the password.

"Sir your account was deleted". Really? What do you mean it was deleted. I tried logging into it.. Turns out it actually "no longer exists". I've used that email ONCE to purchase the product -_-. How could it not exist anymore..

So now they decide to give me a new key to use for installation to "override" my BIOS key.. NOT "overwrite" it according to the employee.. They also said "When you install it, it will use your BIOS key to activate after".

Sounds great! Installed it using their key.. Now I'm back on Windows 8. But guess what? I cannot activate using my bios key because:


Ahaha.. So I check the BIOS key now to see why.. turns out, their crappy key "over-wrote" my BIOS key and now I'm stuck with their temporary key. I'm told I wouldn't have been able to activate 8 with an 8.1 pro key either.. So a backup would have been useless because you cannot upgrade without an activation anyway. Not only did I lose the pro key that I purchased; I lost my OEM key as well and would have to call Asus to get it back (it will no longer be "pro").. and my two fake emails ={

Decided just to activate it with KMS hosting but now cannot upgrade to 8.1 because of a volume license.. Gahhhh. Gotta now download an 8.1 ISO and crack that -___-

And that was my last 24 hours with Microsoft. 4 of which was on the phone. ={


TLDR: Backup your OEM key, MSDM key and IE key before ever doing a fresh install over an OEM installation. Tried hard to avoid pirating it but there's no way around it anymore.. A new key costs $299.

Wow that is horrible customer service.

From: weequ
Wow that is horrible customer service.

Lol yes it ={ The most horrible part is that for every time they transferred my call to another department, I had to explain to that new employee the problem all over again from scratch. Felt like just recording it and playing it back to them. Ahaha. They don't pass on the information to the next person at all.

Turns out I'm not the only one that they (Microsoft) cannot find my key for either: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_update/windows-key-lost-windows-8-1499-upgrade-offer/5ee2d53c-04b4-46c8-ad37-39c9fb84a84c

Lol..

thats bad, really bad.

Only read the tl;dr as I'm quite literally walking out the door

Why not just pirate it in the first place? If it's music or something I could understand trying not to (I personally pirate all my music, purchase it on iTunes, then never touch the purchased songs again lol) but Microsoft is not going to go underwater if one more person cracks their OS

This has been a problem since Win 7. The keys they sell to laptop/desktop retailers aren't real keys. There is no way to get a real key either, unless the company paid for one(and if they did its usually on a sticker somewhere on the product). I went through a similar ordeal with Lenovo, ended up pirating it.

I guess u face the same problem as mine https://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110290&p=1309443#post1309443
The path to restore partition in Asus breaks when u upgrade to 8.1 / repartition with 3rd party program…
Luckily for me my warranty isnt over yet so i took it to the Asus customer service centre and they fixed it for me (by manually inserting back the factory default) and advised me not to upgrade to 8.1 as well.

Have u tried the Asus Backtracker or a workaround posted here http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/39197-unable-use-built-asus-recovery-partition-6.html#post331119? The contents inside the restore partition are actually still intact (could view and copy them with a 3rd party partition manager)
Both didnt work for me though (Asus Backtracker is only for when you upgrade to 8.1, not when u broke it with partitioning, and i got errors using SIW2's tool that i didn't know how to fix :x)

From: riwu
…

Flashed my bios to 209 for the S56CM with K56CM mobo ultra book..

Made a custom windows 8.1 ISO. Embedded a PID.txt with a fake key. Added an EI.cfg to install pro detail instead of volume edition.

Used Mac-OSX disk utility to mount the recovery partition. Copied OEM drivers to ISO. Downloaded drivers from the manufacturer website and placed them in an upgrade folder on the ISO.

Burned all 4GB of it to a Fat32 USB and booted into that. Installed windows with that. Wiped literally all partitions except the recovery/restore.

Installed the OEM drivers. On top of that, I upgraded all drivers to the manufacturer ones. I did this because installing the manufacturer ones directly and not upgrading gives a huge kernel panic.. BSOD (power state failure bs)..

After that, I made sure NOT to install the power4gear and instant on. Cracked it with KMS on local host..

As for why I didn't want to pirate it.. I don't know.. The key was only 14.99$ + tax at the time. I don't usually pirate often. I used to a lot!