Setup Installation :: Error 0xc0000021a - Want To Reset But Product Key Invalid
Aug 17, 2014
I' am currently using a custom made laptop which I had to repair due to an hardware failure. After I got the PC back I reinstalled Windows but the product key I had wasn't working properly any more. Knowing that after an hardware change this is not an uncommon problem, I just used the option "Activate by phone" and everything went fine.
Unfortunately the last day I got the blue screen with the error 0xc0000021a, which I know is caused by misconfigured system files in the computer. Moreover this error is really similar to the error I got prior the hardware failure (0xc00000e). So I figured that maybe the Windows 8 installation I have (I purchased before Windows 8.1) has some problems, and maybe I can solve them by reinstalling directly Windows 8.1, instead of reinstalling Windows 8 and then upgrading it from the store.
The problem is that when I launch the Windows 8.1 set-up program to create a media for recovery, when asked for the product key mine doesn't work. I think this has something to do with the hardware change and with the fact that I used the "activate by phone" option, but my Windows version is legit and I paid for it, and therefore I want to be able to reset my computer if I need to (like now).
I'm using DISM to create a custom image, we use a vlk licence key to install but this isn't being accepted on the answer file. Its definatly a valid key and being entered correctly). I'm just getting the error 'The unattended answer file contains an invalid product key' Is there anything i can do to get around this?
I recently purchased a MSI GT70 laptop that came preinstalled with Windows 8. Rather than try and uninstall all the bloatware, I was planning on just doing a clean install. Little did I know that Microsoft had changed the game when it comes to authentication on Windows 8 with the bios linked product keys.
The Windows 8 usb drive that I used previously to install Windows 8 on other computers does not work, I believe that is due to it recognizing it as a RETAIL version trying to be installed on an OEM system. Searching around, it seemed other people had success with using an .ISO from TechNet or MSDN and the installation automatically pulling the product key information. The .iso I used was sourced from the Microsoft store download.
After booting to the disk, I received this error: The product key entered does not match any of the Windows images available for installation. Enter a different product key.
I tried manually adding the PID.txt file with the product key I pulled from pkeyui (cross checked with showkey.vbs and RWEverything) but that resulted in the same error. For this notebook, the product key and MSDM are identical, whereas I read other people were finding two different product keys. One nestled deep in the bios and the other being what you see when you run Belarc Advisor etc.
Burning the .iso to a DVD and then starting the setup inside a session of Windows 8 resulted in a different error: this product key cannot be used to install a retail version
So once again back to the issue of using a retail .iso with an OEM product key to try and do a clean install. As far as I know you can't download an "oem .iso" but I'm not sure how to get the retail .iso to play nicely with the product key I have.
So exactly how does one do a clean install of an OEM windows 8 build on a laptop that comes preinstalled with windows 8? If I can't sort this out, I may be stuck with rooting out the bloatware.
I bought 8 Toshiba Laptops for my company on 3rd Feb 2013 from Dubai . The laptops details as follows
Model: Thoshiba Laptop SC850 B560 i3 OS: Windows 8 single language
No DVD's and product key given at the time of purchase so how to get windows 8 single language software to re-install and the key for the same. As the OS were pre installed. This is to avoid future issues that may come up like software failure etc.
[ I need to download Windows 8 single language OS, product key for the same OS which is preinstalled- I can provide serial number if needed]
I already have a Windows 8 Pro USB installer setup but I don't think it can be used to do a repair install for my Windows 8.1 Pro upgrade. So I'm trying to create a new USB installer setup specifically for Win 8.1 Pro. However, the Windows 8.1 setup window is not accepting the 8.1 Product Key that I extracted from Belarc, ProduKey and WPkey. Is there a way to get around that issue so that I can create the Win 8.1 USB installer?
My company gave me a Windows 8 Enterprise product key, which I'm trying to use to upgrade a version of Windows I'm running. I visited this link -- Upgrade Windows with only a product key - Microsoft Windows Support, clicked the "Install Windows 8" button, ran the setup file that downloaded, and when prompted for the product key, entered it, only to see the message.
The product key cannot be used to install a retail version of Windows 8.
Is there another ISO I should be using? Ultimately I'm trying to get an ISO for use with my VMWare Fusion 6 install running on my Mac (10.9.1). I'm confident the product key given to me by my company is legit, but it obviously isn't a retail product key, probably some kind of corporate key or the equivalent.
I've bought Windows 8 when it was first released, but reinstalled Windows 7 again. Now I want to install Windows 8.1, but I get an error saying my product key is invalid. I've tried multiple product keys (We own multiple computers, two of which have Windows 8 installed), but I get the same error with all of them.
Edit: Because none of my product keys don't work, I can't install Windows 8 to further install Windows 8.1.
At the beginning, when I have started to setup windows 8 ,everything goes okay until the product key, I get an error message saying 'We couldn't verify the product key. Check the installation media'
And I had tried to install windows 8 on another PC with having same product key then I have noticed the product key has worked on that Pc! and not working on my PC.
So I have tried several times to enter lots of keys. why my PC is not verify any product keys?
So, I have purchased some computers from Dell and they have Windows 8.0 Professional from the OEM. So, it was very easy for me to use my MSDN media, reinstall Windows 8.0, and it simply detected and used my Windows 8 embedded BIOS key. From there, I would make any adjustments needed, run sysprep, and grab an image. This allowed me to use that image on any of the Dell's that I purchased with Windows 8 and all was great.
Then, along comes the free upgrade to Windows 8.1. I took one of my Dell's, and laid down a clean windows 8.0 image. Then I ran the Store "free" upgrade to Windows 8.1. All was well. I then cleaned up the temporary files and whatnot and tried to run Sysprep only to be greeted with an error that said, "I cannot validate your OS installation". Did some research and found that you aren't supposed to run Sysprep on a machine that you ran an "upgrade". Instead, you are supposed to install from scratch.
Ok, let's do that. Grabbed the 8.1 ISO from MSDN, put it onto an installable USB key, started the install and it now prompts me for a key. It won't detect or use the embedded 8.0 key that is on the box. So, I cannot actually clean install Windows 8.1 with the embedded OEM key, even though I can freely upgrade to 8.1.
I'm not going to take my new Dell computers, lay down the clean 8.0 image and then upgrade each of them manually via the store to Windows 8.1. This takes way too long.
I'm not going to use my MSDN keys to install onto these machines, because I don't want them to activate these keys. They aren't the legit keys for these machines. These machines have legit OEM Windows 8 keys and 8.1 is a free upgrade to 8.0, so it seems like these legit keys would work. I paid dell to have a valid OEM license on the computer, that is what I want to use.
Any way to get 8.1 Pro to install clean, on a machine with an embedded 8.0 Pro key.
Ive used pirated bootables with preinstalled product keys in the past but am now on the straight and narrow, wanting to add my product key to my legitimate copy of windows 8. This way I wont have to worry about having it written down, losing it or entering it incorrectly, since it will be automatically entered for me. How I can add the product key to my bootable image?
I tried to reinstall windows on a second hard drive, but it won't accept my product key, assumedly because I am already using it for the current windows installation on the first hard drive.
How do I transfer my license to allow a reinstallation on the second hard drive? That's the best option, so I can go back to the first drive if I want to.
Second option: If I wipe the current windows partition clean, will that enable me to reinstall on the second hard drive?
When I try to use the tutorial,I get as far as the Product Key entry.
The install was an original 8 I downloaded when it first came out.
I then installed 8.1, probably from the Store.
I recently downloaded and install 8.1 Media Center Pack.
Had a real problem with activation.MS Support finally had me go to where there was a long activation string and then he gave me a new Product Key, which is now on the machine and Activated.
When I get to the "Product Key" page and enter the Media Pack key, "This product key didn't work. ....."
So I installed Windows 8 whenever it came out and then updated to 8.1 last fall. Since then my computer has become bogged down and running really bad. It's time just start fresh but when I go in to the PC settings to restore it, it says I don't have the necessary files and that I need to insert a disc. Since I installed 8.1 from the store I have no disc to restore it from.
I saw some tutorials on activating 8.1 from 8 but I don't even know if I'm following the right ones or not. This was much easier to do in Windows 7. But anyways, how I can restore my computer.
I have just successfully installed Windows 8 (upgrade from windows xp).
Although I recall selecting the option for clean install the set up progressed on an upgrade basis. I must assume that I failed to accurately select the clean install option.
The Windows 8 upgrade to my five year old PC was successful. However, I was disappointed not to have done a clean install and wanted to remove unnecessary files including the Windows.old folder.
I decided to try out Windows 8 reset option in order to reinstall on a clean basis. After some hours it reached 98% and declared it was unable to complete. It offered to restart - not surprisingly message "no operating system on drive".
I wondered if I could load the Windows 8 pro upgrade DVD back in but was not sure that would work as windows Reset had reformatted my drive?
Fortunately, I created a rescue disk with Macrium Reflect immediately after my successful windows 8 upgrade so this got me back to a position just prior to selecting Reset.
Everything seems to be working fine but I am wondering how robust the Reset function is in Windows 8 and why it failed. Do I have some unknown hardware problem. I did wonder about running Chkdsk but I gather this is automatic at startup in windows 8. There are no messages to indicate anything wrong. Is there anything I should check?
My intention was to get familiar with windows 8 and then immediately upgrade to 8.1. Will I get an option to do clean install when doing an upgrade from windows 8 to 8.1? If I do a clean install of 8.1 is it probable I will get same problem as in Reset or is that an entirely different process?
Details:Dell Vostro 1710 (5yrsold) was running windows XP now upgraded to windows 8 pro
I recently installed linux on my Surface Pro, but decided to go back to Windows 8 since wifi doesn't work properly yet. I thought, restoring shouldn't be a big deal, just insert the recovery USB you made and factory reset it. Boy, was I wrong. Any time I try a factory reset, it fails around 97%-99%. Windows won't even start booting. I kept trying it until I decided to try installing Ubuntu on it then trying to reset it again, hoping that would fix something.
The reset still fails at the same point, but now instead of not booting, it says "Recovery: Your PC needs to be repaired." At first it was because an EFI file was missing, so I booted into the recovery drive again and tried an auto-recovery. It fixed the EFI issue, but it's still at the same screen with WindowsSystem32configsystem missing. How to get my Surface Pro working again?
I am unable to install the drivers for my NIC's getting the error 'Invalid data as shown in the images below'.
It has previously been working fine on all adapters but I needed to uninstall the network cards as HyperV was throwing up an error when creating virtual switches which may have caused this?
PS C:UsersJGAdmin> get-netadapter
Name InterfaceDescription ifIndex Status MacAddress LinkSpeed ---- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------- --------- Ethernet 40 Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Netwo... 117 Not Present 0 bps Ethernet 39 Broadcom BCM5709C NetXtreme II Gig...#2 132 Not Present 0 bps Ethernet 38 Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Net...#2 131 Not Present 0 bps Ethernet 37 Broadcom BCM5709C NetXtreme II Gi...#50 130 00-26-55-1A-A8-4A 0 bps Ethernet 34 Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Net...#3 127 00-1F-29-56-C2-51 0 bps Ethernet 33 Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Net...#4 126 00-1F-29-56-C2-50 0 bps vEthernet (VLAN3 (Desk... Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #3 71 Not Present 00-1F-29-56-C2-51 0 bps vEthernet (VLAN2 (Serv... Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #2 64 Up E8-39-35-14-23-2C 10 Gbps
I have tried numerous drivers with no luck all getting the same error.
The box has alot of data on it so I would rather not have to do a clean install.
i installed monitoring and filtering software on the computer. my kids just restarted the computer and choose refresh and it was gone. in win 7 i set a new restore point and deleted the previous ones solving that problem. i know that there is a way to not allow using the system refresh with group policy and regedit hacks but i would not like to have to go down that road.
how can i control what the restore and refresh settings do?
New Windows 8 Pro with WMC install to a new Intel SSD on an old Dell Inspiron 530. I got everything activated and working fine, and then I swapped the SSD for the old HDD to finish getting all my data. But when I swapped the SSD back in, I can no longer get Windows 8 to boot--it goes into automatic repair, but none of the options are available to me. Refresh won't work, reset won't work, I can't even get system restore to work (it shows me two restore points available, but it won't let me select them.)
This was a clean install, so it has the 350MB recovery partition. I believe the RAID is set properly (I have no straight up AHCI option in BIOS, but I installed Windows 8 under RAID [it shows "AHCI Bios enabled!" during POST], and remembered to change to IDE mode to boot the HDD, and back to RAID before trying to boot the SSD).
I've always been able to troubleshoot these sorts of problems under XP or 7, but I'm just not familiar with these Windows 8 processes (or SSDs/AHCI/RAID stuff) yet. I've got all the linux tools, Hirens, etc. available, and can verify that the files on the SSD appear to be fine. I could reinstall if necessary, but really don't want to have to deal with the upgrade and re-activating--and even if I do have to reinstall.
I have a Dell inspirion 15 laptop running Windows 8.1. A while ago I decided to try Ubuntu out. I installed it alongside Windows 8.1 in dual boot configuration with its own separate hard drive partitions. This means that when I powered on my laptop a GRUB menu (Linux boot manager) would come up allowing me to choose between Windows and Ubuntu. However, Ubuntu was more pain than it was worth so I decided to uninstall it. I did this by deleting the hard drive partitions that Ubuntu was installed on using Windows Disk Management. Now when I power on my laptop the GRUB menu still comes up but there are no options to choose from, only a command line interface. I now have to type Code: exit
which exits GRUB and takes me to my BIOS Boot Manager which looks like this:
Boot mode is set to: UEFI; Secure boot: OFF
UEFI BOOT ubuntu (ST500LM012 HN-M500MBB) UEFI Onboard LAN IPv6 UEFI Onboard LAN IPv4 Ubuntu (ST500LM012 HN-M500MBB) Windows Boot Manager (ST500LM012 HN-M500MBB)
I then have to select Windows Boot Manager to boot into windows.
Why GRUB is still there even though I have deleted the Linux hard drive partitions? Also, why is Ubuntu still listed on the BIOS Boot options? And why is it listed twice?
Recently my computer has been encountering problems involving speed and whatnot, and I have found no method of fixing them. I have been looking to reset my PC, and went to do so through the built-in tool that is supplied on my ASUS laptop, by pressing F9 at startup. I chose to reset my PC, but it returned an error saying the recovery partition couldn't be found. So I went to do so through the PC settings, and it rebooted my computer and told me the reset failed. I checked and found the recovery partition using MiniTool Partition Wizard, so it still exists.
Apparently this is an error other ASUS users have found after updating to Windows 8.1. I don't know how to solve this problem, and figured I may as well reinstall a fresh copy of Windows 8 without all the ASUS bloatware and garbage. So I hunted for a Windows 8 ISO file, and failed. I've tried multiple methods. One involving using a product key to download Windows 8 to an ISO file through Microsoft's Windows 8 Setup, and that failed because the product key was OEM BIOS-based, and not retail.
I can either try and do a factory reset by somehow fixing the recovery partition through some miracle, or;With extreme luck find a Windows 8 Core ISO setup, and install that and refind the drivers for my PC.
Got a mates computer that would not boot normally, so button mashed f8 to bring up safe mode, uninstalled the crap, ran an antivirus and checked for registry errors with an outdated reg cleaner, there were heaps of errors which I could do nothing about as I had no internet at the time, so I decided to do a complete reset of the PC through the f8 boot menu.
It went fine until I woke up the next morning to find that when it boots all I get is the error message at the toshiba boot screen saying "Windows could not complete the installation. To install windows on this computer, restart the installation" there is no mouse pointer so I smash enter, it restarts and does exactly the same thing on next startup. I can't seem to get f8 to work after the reset and I'm stuck!
I know that by using recimg, you can make a custom refresh image. And I hear that you cannot use it to reset Windows to factory state. is that so? if so, how do I do that?
Also, is it possible to store the recovery image in a hidden partition. hidden in the sense, the drive letter is not automatically assigned when you refresh/reset Windows, nor can you do it from Disk Management. only from diskpart. however, if i can still use reset while keeping the recovery image in a hidden folder in C: drive, that is still fine i guess.
The thing is, the recovery partition of my Dell Latitude 10 tablet is destroyed (it's Dell's fault though) and even though i can easily recover Windows as I have an iso image and can use the USB to reinstall windows like we normally do on our desktops, i want to sell the tablet and i want to make it recoverable via the recovery features in Windows 8. without the ability to recover, the value of the tablet will be pretty low. if all else fails, i will have to buy a cheap USB flash drive, make it a recovery drive and give it with the tablet. sucks!
It is fine if i have to update to Windows 8.1, if it makes it possible in Windows 8.1 even though it was not in Windows 8.
I have a HP Envy x2, with Windows 8 pre-installed. After I upgraded to Windows 8.1, I started to notice many problems such as; the tablet wouldn't start all the time, the secure boot was disabled (but I fixed that), the app store doesn't work all the time, and Windows Update can't check for updates. The HP did not come with a recovery thumb drive or DVD. And I need "recovery media" to be able to refresh/reset my PC. I have tried multiple times to create a recovery drive, but my "Key" for Windows 8.1 is not valid and I do not know where my Windows 8 "Key" is.
