Yesterday I wanted to delete everything on my PC so I put Windows 8.1 on a USB and started the recovery process. I read online that Windows would remember my product key in the bios but It's now asking for a product key. I got Windows pre installed so I don't have the key anymore. Can I get my key back from the bios somehow?
View 7 RepliesI originally installed Windows 8, then upgraded to 8.1. Two days ago I realized I had no DVD player, and purchased Media Player.
Now, everytime I start up - and occasionally while I'm working, I get a screen telling me to go to PC settings to activate windows. When I click on "PC Settings," It shows the last four digits of my product key, with a button to add another key, and says windows can not activate now, try again later.
1) Do I have to enter the product key for Media player
2) Why would it keep saying Windows can't activate?
I just bought a new Intel NUC which i installed a clean and fully updated Windows 8.1 Pro on. I want to create a networkshare on this machine, which everyone can just access (read permissions) to view the content of a folder or drive.
I am trying to access the drive on another (my own) installed Windows 8.1 Pro (also fully updated). Every time i try to access the machine through the Network explorer in Windows i will be prompted to enter credentials.
I have checked the network settings following this article (amongst others): Network Location - Set to Private or Public in Windows 8 on both machines.
I also checked all the sharing settings on both machines (private/home network, allow external connections, allow all types of connections, allow sharing without password etc. etc.).
I am a bit dazzled as to why the machine keeps asking me to enter credentials. This is standard protocol nowadays? (I wonder how that would work on a machine that has a local user without a password).
I pay a used laptop Sony Vaio SVF 143100c from china , they install windows 8 Enterbrise and no other software or drivers
when I check I found a recovery volume on the hard disk I assign this volume and copy all the recovery content to external Hard disk, size is 18 GB
and the product key is valid for Win 8 RTM CoreCountrySpecific OEMM,
I don't have a Recovery Media disk or usb to return to Factory condition, how to create a recovery disk to access tis image and re install tis laptop to Factory condition
If you have a recovery drive - that includes the recovery partition - made on one computer, but have a toshiba laptop with a bad drive (but the recovery partition is ok), can you replace/copy the partition on the recovery drive with the recovery partition from the bad laptop HD?
My friend's laptop would not boot, and would not factory recover, reset, or refresh. I tried to clone the hard drive before I started messing with the disc. It would not clone, but I was able to copy the recovery partition to a USB drive.
He never make recovery discs, so could not re-install, but I can borrow the recovery drive that my aunt made for her laptop.
I am trying to create recovery discs from "Dell backup and Recovery application" however when i was asked to insert the second DVD,the optical drive keeps rejecting the DVD. The application will not continue to burn the second DVD and appears to be frozen. I tried with different brands/makers of DVD and also -/+ R. Unfortunately .Issue remains. I was able to find this article 593906 Published on 2013-01-21 ( relative link [URL]... ).
Although i have done the updates ,i am still not able to create recovery discs !! Current Issue: after inserting the 3rd Disc application gives the following message "Dbr.exe -No disc found" and stays there and rejects the DVD. I spoke with Dell's Greek Support team. I was told that warranty does not cover sw support even if my unit is less than a week old. Furthermore i was informed that although "Dell backup and recovery" application says DELL is not actually a Dell product thus they can't support it. They suggested my to use windows 7 file recovery instead (which needs at least 8 DVDs !).
(Model : inspiron 15 3521) .
I need a recovery drive for windows 8 so that I can boot into advance settings via USB. I can't get my computer to start up anymore past the desktop screen, unfortunately that's where it just freezes on me.
View 3 Replies View Relatedmy problem is that my windows crashed last sunday morning and failed to boot up i ran the recovery with the original install disc witch worked fine, first i thought everything was ok but noticing that the 98 windows updates took forever to download app. 1gb took me 2 hours with a 100/100 fiberglas line after the updates i defragged my c: drive witch took 11 phases but was ok after that but not speeding up the pc at all the worst part i notice is the hard fps drop on games and the fluctuation of my inet speed
would you recommend a clean install from scratch?
My first look at Windows 8. I got a new notebook with Windows 8, no optical drive and no recovery partition. I created the recovery file on the hard drive.The file is around 13 GB. Windows wants a USB flash drive of 16 GB capacity to make a recovery drive.
I give it a 16 GB flash drive and Windows insists on formatting it to FAT32. A 13+ GB file won't write to a FAT32 drive so the operation fails in the end leaving 228 MB of data on the flash drive. What's up with this?
I have an Asus ux32a zenbook and basically, I was wanting to reinstall my windows 8 back to the factory settings. My recovery image I saved is deleted and I may have started formatting my hard drive but am not sure. I try the f9 at startup to access the asus recovery but nothing happens.
I have a copy of Windows 7 I was going to just install over it but when I go to the advanced set up where it asks where I want to install windows I get a long list of disk partitions that have OS, Data, Restore ect. already on it looks like , which makes me think I can still access windows 8 somewhere on my computer.
The problem is, when I boot my computer without an installation usb, it directly takes me to the bios and nothing else. My question is, is it possible to see if I can access my recovery partition, if there is one, just through bios, since that is my only option when I turn the computer on?
I upgraded to 8.1 a while back. I just tried to open File Recovery. The icon is blank and nothing opens when I click it. WTH? What happened to it and, more importantly, how do I get this program back?
View 2 Replies View RelatedI just bought Asus UX31A-R4005H (with Windows 8). Unfortunately Asus doesn't provide any application to restore Windows 8 back to factory conditions. So i need to recovery whole hard drive partitions back to factory settings.
Firstly i need to create a set of OEM factory recovery discs/usb flash.
1. I'm planning to create a system recovery drive (usb flash) with Windows 8 but i wonder if this usb flash will recover whole hdd back to factory conditions? If yes is it enough to use Windows 8 "create a recovery drive" option?
2. How could i create an original OEM factory recovery usb flash with 3rd party application?
I recently purchased a new Dell XPS laptop with SSD. The first thing I did after receiving it was to split the C drive into two using Easeus Partition Manager. Probably due to this, neither Windows nor the Dell Backup & Recovery software detect the recovery partition any more.
When I launch Windows built in recovery creator, it's 'Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive' option is grayed out. If I click next, it would say 'We can't create a recovery drive on this PC. Some required files are missing'.
Dell Backup and Recovery says 'Corrupted Environment. Dell Backup and Recovery has not been able to detect the Recovery Partition on this computer. It may be missing or corrupted." (see screenshots below).One thing I am 100% sure is that the recovery partition is present and is intact. I was able to create a bootable USB using Dell Backup and Recovery (this is different from a full recovery media in the sense that the laptop will boot from USB, and then recover from the recovery partition). Using this USB, I was able to restore the OS properly. Unfortunately, even after this factory restore, Windows doesn't detect the recovery partition.
1. Output of diskpart
Here, partition 4 and partition 9 both have WinRE.wim. Partition 4 also has Reagent.xml. Both have the GUID same, but offset is different.
2. Output of various commands
Code: reagentc /disable
successful
Code: reagentc /info & reagentc /enable
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation failed: 3
REAGENTC.EXE: An error has occurred.
Code: recimg /showcurrent The recovery image configuration cannot be found. The system cannot access the configuration file. Error Code - 0x80070002
3. I also tried modifying the c:WindowsSystem32ReAgent.xml file without success. Based on the output of 'diskpart detail partition' shown below, I updated the file.
Attempt 1:
Attempt 2:
Code: Here, 'WinRe.wim' is located in 'Partition 9WindowsRecovery'. That's why I used 'WindowsRecovery' as the 'WinreLocation path'.
Neither of these worked.
I have a full windows 8.1 tablet (not RT), original and comes with Office too, (got the keys). The internal eMMc is 32GB so I learnt from windows that the recovery partition can be copied to a USB. So I did and windows asked, do I want to delete the recovery partition, so I deleted it to create bigger space.
Now, I have some problem with my windows, virus and stuff, so I wanted to recover from USB. The problem is, how do I make full recover from the USB? Some sites say I cannot do it due to I've changed the partition? What?
I had a dual boot system (8/ubuntu 10.12) but my win8 got messed up. Wanted to do a fresh install from my recovery usb (I made the day I got the computer) but it won't load in UEFI mode. In CMS mode the recovery stops and tells me to go into UEFI. The error given is "disk error. gpt7 cannot be found"
After days of trying fixes I tried to do a format and clean install. Still the same problem.
If I enter through UEFI shell, I can go into the USB and start the bootx64.uefi, but I get the error once again. I can use a windows 7 recovery disk (not a full install though) to format my drive to gpt and create the partitions, but it doen't effect the USB not working. (Yes I checked it for being faulty already).
I have created a Windows 8 Recovery Drive from another machine. I have inserted it into the defective machine and have changed the BIOS to make the USB the first boot device. The machine just goes to a black screen and nothing happens.
View 5 Replies View RelatedWhen i try to install 2. OS on my PC , I deleted to win 8 and recovery partitions. How can i install new win 8 ?
I couldn't install because serial problem happen. Although i have a serial i can't enter. Win 8 use embedded serial and so I can't enter another serial. What can I do ?
Dual booting Win 7 and Win 8. Win 7 is C: Primary installed first, Win 8 is installed to a primary partition (25GB). I get the blue recovery screen after starting Win 8 from bootloader menu. Win 7 starts fine. I have installed Win 8 on another computer using the same flash so I know the flash is good. First I defraged and cleaned out C: then created the partition. I have installed it on the computer before (preview edition) then removed it(formated D: partition), this is the RTM 9200 build. Did I mention that on the other computer when installed it asked for Key which I temporarily skipped, on this computer however when installed it did not ask for the key. Before the install I ran bootrec /fixmbr, /fixboot and also /rebuildbcd from Win 7 install disk.
I don't think it's a problem with the Win 7 boot loader. My guess is some registry value or other setting or file in Win 7 is preventing normal startup of Win 8. I do believe it's not hardware related. Any thoughts on what could cause this? Could it be the Win 8 bootloader now causing problems and if so how would I fix this issue? Do I need to fix bootloader in Win 8 and should I run the bootrec cmd's from the Win 8 flash this time? Not sure which has taking over now! I have searched in these forums and online for a couple of day's to no avail though references have been made that the Win 8 bootloader has now taken over, if so were does the now functioning bootloader reside - C: or D: (partition) and which one is it Win 7 or Win 8 loader?
Im running windows 8.1 pro x64. I just did a clean install and very foolishly I let the file history back up my data instead of doing a manual backup like I usually do.
I tried to do a recovery and it didn't show any recovery dates other than yesterdays date which was when I did the clean install
My computer used to be named Desktop and it had my name as the User. After the during the install I decided to name computer Office with my name as the user instead. I figured maybe changing it back to desktop would do the trick but it didn't work. I even assigned the backup drive the same letter it was prior to clean install.
I can see all my data on external I wouldn't mind just manually moving it back but theres a couple problems with that. First of all every file has now the time stamp right into the file name which is annoying but also for some stuff theres multiple copies with different time stamps.
No matter what I try I cant get the recover files to recognize theres a back up there.
When I turned on computer it showed a message that system did not turn on properly. It gave me choices what to do:
-refresh PC
-reset PC
-advanced options
I've chosen system recovery in advanced options. Everything would be fine, if it would keep same settings before the problem occurred. I spent a lot of time getting settings right. And that would be okay, if it happened once. But it happened second time in period of two weeks. I don't want that error happens again.
My computer specifications:
-OS Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
-NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
-Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz
-120 GB SSD disc and 931 GB HDD.
I run 3 HDS. 1 SSD, and 2 normal drives.
I just clean formatted my SSD and installed Windows 8 on it, which I always put on that drive.
However I am seeing a bunch of partitions, 4 recovery partitions. Are these normal? If not, how would I get rid of them?
After upgrading from 8.0 Pro to 8.1 Pro, the "Windows 7 Recovery" desktop app had disappeared. How can I recreate the "Windows 7 Recovery" in 8.1 Pro?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI upgraded my new refurbished Dell 15 7000 from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. Now, my hidden recovery drives are showing on "My Computer". On Windows 8, they were hidden so the user, or softwares, can't access the partitioned recovery drives.
After upgrading to windows 8.1, they are all visible on "My Computer" and files are be written on them. How can I hide these drives? I am afraid of doing Windows Update or installing Office 365 since they extract the files on a different drive and move them back to C drive.
Dell 15 7000 specs
Windows 8.1 upgraded from Windows 8
Intel i7 4500u
Nvidia 750m GDDR5 2GB
8GB memory
1TB Western Digital HDD
4 USB 3.0 ports
I created a custom refresh image the day before upgrading to 8.1. I am having shut down and sleep issues with windows 8.1 that I don't have time to troubleshoot any longer and I wish to go back to win 8 for now. I went to check that my image was there and active and this is what i get:
It showed successful when I created it? I can find in in the location that is it supposed to be:
and:
Now I'm stuck. I don't want to use the factory image and reinstall everything, and I can't cope with the bsods and hangs when trying to sleep or shutdown ( I have tried every option in that massive thread about windows 8.1 not sleeping ) ...
I decided that I should, create a System Recovery DVD for my new computer. However when I try and do it I only get the option to create a recovery USB Drive.
I did that but I'd still like to make a DVD disk.
Ps. I see that my system recovery USB drive has an empty folder called Sources. If I was to place a backup of my C: drive in that folder would it be automatically accessible and usable from the DVD drive?
Hmmm, I can't seem to find a way to use Windows to create a backup of my C: drive either.
When I power on my computer (toshibba satellite) it comes to a screen that says RECOVERY: you need to use installation media. And I never thought of it to make a recovery disks. It is windows 8 and only a year old. Windows 8 actually cost more than this computer. Both toshiba and windows didn't know what it was doing. The screen has three options Press Enter for restart(tried it) Press F8 for boot options(didnt work) Press (I forget) for UEDI menu. (Something like that) I really need this computer because I edit videos and clips. I have a backup which is running windows xp but it's outdated and can't get Sony Vegas for it. I think on my broken computer a virus deleted my operating system.
View 4 Replies View Relatedhow do I boot a recovery drive usb on start up in windows 8 .1
How do I boot a recovery drive usb on start up in windows 8 .1 like I can do in win 7 with a repair disk DVD? I
followed the instructions and I cannot bring up the usb disk.
I have had problems with win 8.1 to the point that I got in but was frozen and had to start over. F2 does not work.
System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro, 64 bit
Processor: AMD E-300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, AMD64 Family 20 Model 2 Stepping 0
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 2666 Mb
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics, 384 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 281129 MB, Free - 233356 MB; D: Total - 19850 MB, Free - 2098 MB; E: Total - 4055 MB, Free - 935 MB;
Motherboard: Hewlett-Packard, 3577
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled
I am trying to build a recovery drive on a USB flash drive for Win 8.1. I have been unable to copy the Recovery Partition from the PC to the recovery drive. It appears to be disabled when I view it from the Recovery Drive. I have discovered that in Windows 8.1 the recovery partition is installed in a INSTALL.WIM file format. How do I locate the Windows 8.1 INSTALL.WIM file and how can I register the INSTALL.WIM file as the Recovery Image on my PC?
I downloaded the Windows 8.1 Enterprise evaluation kit and became totally lost.
I recently bought a Dell Windows 8 desktop. I upgraded the desktop to Windows 8.1. I want to create a recovery drive using a DVD rather than a flash drive. (I understand Microsoft wants you to create recovery onto a flash drive rather than a DVD. Not sure why.)
I found several places on the net which discuss just how create recover onto a DVD. They suggest that I do a search on "Windows 7 file" and this will display an option to click on "Windows 7 File Recovery" ... and that will lead me through the steps to create my recovery onto a DVD.
Problem is "Windows 7 File" is not found. How do I get this onto my Windows 8.1 system?
I have a new Windows 8.1 machine and I wish to encrypt the drive using Bitlocker. It gives me 4 options to save a recovery key
1. Save to your Microsoft account
2. Save to a USB flash drive
3. Save to a file
4. Print the recovery key
Option 1 isn't available as I'm logged on using a local account.
i. What is the difference between options 2 & 3? i.e. I could save to a file on a USB drive
ii. Does option 2 mean the USB flash drive cannot then be used for other purposes?
iii. Does option 2 also mean I could use a USB external hard drive, or does it have to be a flash drive?
iv. Once the recovery key has been created, can the key then be copied to other locations or is it only going to work where Bitlocker puts the key?
v. Just thinking about printing the recovery key - can this be used without a password to access the drive, how sensitive/important is the printed key?
if you've made a recovery image backup of Windows 8.1, can you use a Windows 8 recovery USB drive to restore it, or do you need to make a specific Windows 8.1 one?
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