Windows Tablet Licensing/Product Keys

[slyronit]

Hello,

I recently got an HP Omni 10 tablet. It came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 (I think its the base/core edition), as well as Office Home and Student.

Now, I am not much fond of manufacturer bloatware, so I would like to fresh install windows from scratch (Using a USB hub and mouse/keyboard during setup). The tablet came with a memory card, which doesn't have a Windows setup, but just re-images the system partition and applies the HP image. Assuming I have all the required drivers and I want to keep this all legal and use my existing licenses, my questions are

1. Is the Windows Core edition ISO available anywhere? I am OK downloading from torrent sites, it won't be illegal as I am using my valid license.
2. Will the Windows installer automatically get the product key from the EFI BIOS, or should I use a tool to get the Product key from registry? I don't see the product key mentioned anywhere on the Box or the tablet.
3. Is the Office Home and Student ISO/ installer available anywhere? I have the key for this.

 

[stephen_az]

Hello,

I recently got an HP Omni 10 tablet. It came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 (I think its the base/core edition), as well as Office Home and Student.

Now, I am not much fond of manufacturer bloatware, so I would like to fresh install windows from scratch (Using a USB hub and mouse/keyboard during setup). The tablet came with a memory card, which doesn't have a Windows setup, but just re-images the system partition and applies the HP image. Assuming I have all the required drivers and I want to keep this all legal and use my existing licenses, my questions are

1. Is the Windows Core edition ISO available anywhere? I am OK downloading from torrent sites, it won't be illegal as I am using my valid license.
2. Will the Windows installer automatically get the product key from the EFI BIOS, or should I use a tool to get the Product key from registry? I don't see the product key mentioned anywhere on the Box or the tablet.
3. Is the Office Home and Student ISO/ installer available anywhere? I have the key for this.

View attachment 90245

View attachment 90246

These are questions to direct to HP and Microsoft support. For the record though, torrent sites are illegal regardless of whether (or not) you have a license for the illegally hosted software. They are not authorized vendors or distributors; hence the fact there is a perpetual effort to shut some of them down when the opportunity arises. They also remain a great way of taking a clean machine and embedding viruses and malware. Other than Surface devices, I believe machines will not pick up the key from the BIOS and even in those cases it requires use of the system images downloadable from Microsoft. At least with the Dell Venue 11 Pro I configured for my office, the Office license seemed pretty closely tied to the OEM as well and could be quite the nuisance to get it reinstalled especially if it did not look like the same machine. That license is to the OEM and machine, not the user, even if it ties to your Microsoft account. Office 365 is available but Office 2013 (while really the same thing) is still technically tied to OEM keys, disks, pre-installers, and/or auto-configuration setups

BTW, don't bet on that USB hub with multiple devices attached being visible to the system prior to the OS boot, or being cleanly visible through an entire install. Personally, I am inclined to think that is its own disaster waiting to happen. No offense but this seems like quite a lot of trouble simply to remove stuff that can be deleted via the control panel. It will not be any cleaner one way or the other. Rationalizations about "I have a key" also do not make a torrent download any more legal. To each their own....

 

[slyronit]

Thanks for the lengthy tirade on torrents; you could have spent half the time and effort on suggesting a workaround, which I anyways found. MS has a tool which lets you download original ISOs. Other than bloatware, there are many other reasons to fo a clean install

1. The install media that came with the tablet has Windows 8.0. Each time I have an issue and want to restore my tablet, I might not want to restore to 8.0, then update to 8.1 Update manually.
2. The amount of free space available might not be enough to update to Windows 10, in which case, a clean install would be the only option available.

MS and HP would never answer these questions, as none of this would be supported by them, understandably so.

You calling a botched Windows installation a "disaster" is nothing short of gross exaggeration. You have clearly never fiddled/experimented with computers and OSes.

 

[xandros9]

I have no such qualms with the nature of torrents since its just another way to get files from point A to B like a direct download.
If you can get an ISO, it's not necessarily illegal, assuming you aren't going to crack it. (which is pointless since you have the key anyway.)
Only issue could be potential sketchiness, but there are some reputable uploaders.

I'd use this tool to retrieve the keys just in case. ProduKey - Recover lost product key (CD-Key) of Windows/MS-Office/SQL Server

1. I downloaded a multi-version 8.1 Update ISO before using Bittorrent. (I was nuking and starting fresh with my Dell Venue 8 Pro)
It was labeled as up to date through September 2014, so I was grateful for the guy who put it together.

2. There should have been something that includes the key, at least for Office, but oh well, yank it out with the above tool.
It will probably retrieve it, although I cant say for sure. Err on the safe side.

3. I'm sure its available, all else fails, I had a friend say he was retooling a Professional Plus installer for H&S using some MSFT tool two weeks ago.

And Stephen, this is a forum for questions and whatnot. And those torrent sites aren't clear cut illegal since they only connect people to content. (like Google)