November 15, 2013 at 20:44Features reinstalling preinstalled Windows 8
... or how to create a problem for yourself, and then heroically overcome it.
I want to share my experience so that you can avoid my mistakes and save yourself time, effort, and most importantly, nerves. Mass of nerves. They brought me an ultrabook of fresh series, a two-letter company, yesterday with a description of “terribly slow, browsers do not work” for maintenance. The initial inspection showed infection with a pair of Trojans, the inoperability of none of the four browsers installed by users in the system, the general systemclutter with utilities from the “put me in - increase yourself ” category
In total, we have an ultrabook with Windows 8, a working recovery partition and the absence of any disks in the package (this point is important). The beech has UEFI as start-up software, which, in principle, is logical for use with Windows 8, and it would even be convenient if it weren’t for one but - the key for installing the system is sewn into the ACPI data table, into the MSDM subtable. At that time, I still did not know this, and did not think that I would need it.
In general, I reboot it, get into the startup settings (if someone does not know how to do this on beeches with UEFI fresh series - press ESC right from the very beginning) and turn off Secure Boot (this is necessary to start the recovery system), I launch native system recovery system.As it turned out, I turned off Secure Boot and switched the system to Legacy Mode in vain - it was these actions that caused such a strange behavior of the native recovery system, about which more.I instruct you to restore the system to its original state with the deletion of all user data (the data was copied in advance). And here adventures begin. The recovery process, starting up, displays the first stage of execution - formatting the partition for Windows. The stage comes to the end, after which the recovery process stops, giving an unintelligible error with a digital code, and the ultrabook reboots only to give me a message that the system was not found on the disk. It’s logical, I think, we just cleared its partition, and again press the System Recovery key to try to continue the recovery process. And here the first surprise was waiting for me: I get the same message about the lack of a system. As it turned out,System Recovery self-destructed along with a stripped system . Now I was holding an ultrabook without a system, without a recovery image on my hard drive, and without recovery disks.
There was only one option - to reinstall the system from scratch. What would be the problem? Reinstall and that's it. However, do not rush, not everything is as simple as it seems. In order not to spend too much time later on upgrading the system to 8.1, I decided to immediately install a clean 8.1. No sooner said than done, download the latest Windows 8.1 image from MSDN, make a bootable USB flash drive using Windows 7 USB - DVD toolI start the installation. The first problem is that I still don’t know the key, and, as luck would have it, it is required to continue the installation. Why was this done, it’s not clear to me, Windows 7 allowed me to skip the key entry step. A short search on the Internet gives the answer - you need to use generic keys opened by Microsoft itself - they allow you to install the system, but not activate it; to activate, you need to replace this key after installation with a fully functional one. I enter the generic key, I continue the installation. I would stop at this moment (requesting a key) and think, but I missed this moment. The fact is that if the system key, wired in UEFI, is suitable for installing this version of Windows, then the system should not ask for it during installation. At all. She in this case uses it automatically. If you asked for a key, this is a sign that it is impossible to read the key from UEFI, or you are using the distribution version that is not suitable for the key. However, at that time I still did not know about it, so it did not cause me any questions. So, the system was installed and started. Now it was necessary to activate it, and for this - somehow remove the key from the UEFI. As it turned out, this is not a difficult task. You can use the PKeyUI utility for this.- you just need to run it and put a tick in the “MSDM” field - the utility will display the key stored in UEFI. If the “MSDM” field does not appear when the utility starts, then either there is no key in the firmware or it is not readable. So, I got the key. Next, I tried to activate the system with him, and then a problem was waiting for me too - the activation system stated that the key was not working. Recalling the Windows OEM distribution methodology, I decided that I probably needed a system image for OEM builders. Well, not a problem. After some searches, the distribution of the original system image for OEM suppliers of version 8.1 was found on torrent trackers. I downloaded, created the installation flash drive again, tried to install and activate again. However, he again received the same error. Searches for information on a topic gave a method (as it later turned out, not working) - it was necessary to use the slmgr script to remove the old key, install a new one and then activate the system normally. I tried it, however, when I tried to install the native system key, I always got an error:
0xC004F069
Which, normally, is associated with time out of sync between the target PC and the key server. Having hesitated a bit and having spent another half an hour looking for methods to fix this problem, I came to the conclusion that, perhaps, I should turn to the source, that is, to Microsoft Corporation. A call to tech support with a description of the problem clarified everything: it turns out that I made the main mistake when I tried to use the Windows 8.1 image! As it turned out, the Windows 8.1 image is categorically not suitable for a clean installation on PCs that came with Windows 8 preinstalled, and even bypassing the problem using the generic key will not work, because OEM keys from Windows 8 are not suitable for activating a clean installed Windows 8.1 OEMs, although valid. The only way to install version 8 on a PC with Windows 8 preinstalled. 1 is a system upgrade through the Microsoft Store - the only way. Thanking the support, I went to download a clean OEM version of Windows 8.
But this was not the end of my ordeals; everything turned out to be not so simple. The pure OEM version was categorically refused to be installed - immediately after clicking the "Install" button, it reported that the specified (in UEFI) key does not fit any of the detected images of the system. After a short googling, it turned out that, among other things, it was required to create marker files on the installation flash drive, with the correct version of the system and the key. Well, we go into the sources folder on the installation flash drive and create two files there: ei.cfg and pid.txt ei.cfg
contents:
[EditionID]
Core
[Channel]
OEM
[VL]
0
here
EditionID is the system edition, it can be Core or Professional ,
Channel is a distribution channel, sometimes OEM or Retail,
VL is a sign of corp. versions, it happens 0 or 1.
The above example is the norm for laptops, the basic OEM Windows, not corporate.
The contents of pid.txt:
[PID]
Value = XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
Instead of XXXXX, enter the key that was received through pkeyui. As a result of these actions, we get a bootable USB flash drive with which Windows 8 will still install. But my joy was premature - it was established somehow, but in some mysterious way I wrote down myself some completely outrageous key, which has nothing to do with what I forgot in pid.txt (the original one from UEFI). An attempt to change this left key to an adequate one failed, but when I tried to activate the system, I got the same notorious error that the key does not correspond to the system edition! It turned out that there is one more nuance - distributions, in addition to editions and the licensing method, are also divided by SKU, and laptop builders usually put it on CoreSingleLanguage or CoreCountrySpecific. And I needed a CoreSingleLanguage image, because for all types of SKU, the installation keys are different. Why in this case the system allows you to continue the installation, it is definitely not clear to me - it does not make any sense, since the key still does not work and I personally did not find a way to change the SKU of the already installed system. Quietly exhausted, I went looking for an OEM distribution with the CoreSingleLanguage SKU. And yet I found it in the end, it lies on many trackers, so as not to give links to potentially dangerous resources, I’ll just give the MD5 of the necessary distribution:
2F3EC4EA9F604DF608AC0B1EE4C53CF1
I processed the found distribution, created marker files and hoped that everything was resolved and after the 4th reinstallation, Windows 8 finally not only installed, but also allowed itself to be activated. There it was! After the “Install” button was pressed, the processed distribution gave me an error that I had already seen: that the specified (in UEFI) key does not match any of the detected system images! Cursing, I tried to simply delete the created ei.cfg and pid.txt files from the USB flash drive. I start from it and ... the system accepts the key and installs! After installation, the system status is activated!
Bingo! Then there remained the routine - upgrade to 8.1 via the Microsoft Store, installing the basic set of free software, etc.
Plus, throughout the process, I derived an algorithm which, it seems to me, should be followed during this procedure:
The result of all of the above are several rhetorical questions to the laptop manufacturer and to Microsoft. The main question for the manufacturer is why did the recovery system work as a self-destruction system? Khabrovites, has anyone else come across this? And to Microsoft - well, why such paranoid software protection measures? Why are they like that? Indeed, in this case, there was a completely legitimate process of the most banal reinstallation of a destroyed OS. In fact, we have a situation where a user whose OS has crashed cannot, in any way, be able to reinstall it on their own - this requires remarkable skills. All in all, to figure out this confusing installation system, I had to reinstall the system four times. Why create such difficulties? Indeed, in the end, if you count all the possible modifications of distributions with different types of licenses, it turns out that there are almost 30 of them. Is this such a specific additional protection against piracy? The rest is science: be careful and do not believe unfounded articles on the Internet. The very “working” way of installing clean Windows 8.1 with subsequent activation by the native key, which was widely excavated everywhere, turned out to be completely inoperative and took me about five hours of time, which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. such specific additional protection against piracy? The rest is science: be careful and do not believe unfounded articles on the Internet. The very “working” way of installing clean Windows 8.1 with subsequent activation by the native key, which was widely excavated everywhere, turned out to be completely inoperative and took me about five hours of time, which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. such specific additional protection against piracy? The rest is science: be careful and do not believe unfounded articles on the Internet. The very “working” way of installing clean Windows 8.1 with subsequent activation by the native key, which was widely excavated everywhere, turned out to be completely inoperative and took me about five hours of time, which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well.
I want to share my experience so that you can avoid my mistakes and save yourself time, effort, and most importantly, nerves. Mass of nerves. They brought me an ultrabook of fresh series, a two-letter company, yesterday with a description of “terribly slow, browsers do not work” for maintenance. The initial inspection showed infection with a pair of Trojans, the inoperability of none of the four browsers installed by users in the system, the general system
In total, we have an ultrabook with Windows 8, a working recovery partition and the absence of any disks in the package (this point is important). The beech has UEFI as start-up software, which, in principle, is logical for use with Windows 8, and it would even be convenient if it weren’t for one but - the key for installing the system is sewn into the ACPI data table, into the MSDM subtable. At that time, I still did not know this, and did not think that I would need it.
In general, I reboot it, get into the startup settings (if someone does not know how to do this on beeches with UEFI fresh series - press ESC right from the very beginning) and turn off Secure Boot (this is necessary to start the recovery system), I launch native system recovery system.As it turned out, I turned off Secure Boot and switched the system to Legacy Mode in vain - it was these actions that caused such a strange behavior of the native recovery system, about which more.I instruct you to restore the system to its original state with the deletion of all user data (the data was copied in advance). And here adventures begin. The recovery process, starting up, displays the first stage of execution - formatting the partition for Windows. The stage comes to the end, after which the recovery process stops, giving an unintelligible error with a digital code, and the ultrabook reboots only to give me a message that the system was not found on the disk. It’s logical, I think, we just cleared its partition, and again press the System Recovery key to try to continue the recovery process. And here the first surprise was waiting for me: I get the same message about the lack of a system. As it turned out,System Recovery self-destructed along with a stripped system . Now I was holding an ultrabook without a system, without a recovery image on my hard drive, and without recovery disks.
There was only one option - to reinstall the system from scratch. What would be the problem? Reinstall and that's it. However, do not rush, not everything is as simple as it seems. In order not to spend too much time later on upgrading the system to 8.1, I decided to immediately install a clean 8.1. No sooner said than done, download the latest Windows 8.1 image from MSDN, make a bootable USB flash drive using Windows 7 USB - DVD toolI start the installation. The first problem is that I still don’t know the key, and, as luck would have it, it is required to continue the installation. Why was this done, it’s not clear to me, Windows 7 allowed me to skip the key entry step. A short search on the Internet gives the answer - you need to use generic keys opened by Microsoft itself - they allow you to install the system, but not activate it; to activate, you need to replace this key after installation with a fully functional one. I enter the generic key, I continue the installation. I would stop at this moment (requesting a key) and think, but I missed this moment. The fact is that if the system key, wired in UEFI, is suitable for installing this version of Windows, then the system should not ask for it during installation. At all. She in this case uses it automatically. If you asked for a key, this is a sign that it is impossible to read the key from UEFI, or you are using the distribution version that is not suitable for the key. However, at that time I still did not know about it, so it did not cause me any questions. So, the system was installed and started. Now it was necessary to activate it, and for this - somehow remove the key from the UEFI. As it turned out, this is not a difficult task. You can use the PKeyUI utility for this.- you just need to run it and put a tick in the “MSDM” field - the utility will display the key stored in UEFI. If the “MSDM” field does not appear when the utility starts, then either there is no key in the firmware or it is not readable. So, I got the key. Next, I tried to activate the system with him, and then a problem was waiting for me too - the activation system stated that the key was not working. Recalling the Windows OEM distribution methodology, I decided that I probably needed a system image for OEM builders. Well, not a problem. After some searches, the distribution of the original system image for OEM suppliers of version 8.1 was found on torrent trackers. I downloaded, created the installation flash drive again, tried to install and activate again. However, he again received the same error. Searches for information on a topic gave a method (as it later turned out, not working) - it was necessary to use the slmgr script to remove the old key, install a new one and then activate the system normally. I tried it, however, when I tried to install the native system key, I always got an error:
0xC004F069
Which, normally, is associated with time out of sync between the target PC and the key server. Having hesitated a bit and having spent another half an hour looking for methods to fix this problem, I came to the conclusion that, perhaps, I should turn to the source, that is, to Microsoft Corporation. A call to tech support with a description of the problem clarified everything: it turns out that I made the main mistake when I tried to use the Windows 8.1 image! As it turned out, the Windows 8.1 image is categorically not suitable for a clean installation on PCs that came with Windows 8 preinstalled, and even bypassing the problem using the generic key will not work, because OEM keys from Windows 8 are not suitable for activating a clean installed Windows 8.1 OEMs, although valid. The only way to install version 8 on a PC with Windows 8 preinstalled. 1 is a system upgrade through the Microsoft Store - the only way. Thanking the support, I went to download a clean OEM version of Windows 8.
But this was not the end of my ordeals; everything turned out to be not so simple. The pure OEM version was categorically refused to be installed - immediately after clicking the "Install" button, it reported that the specified (in UEFI) key does not fit any of the detected images of the system. After a short googling, it turned out that, among other things, it was required to create marker files on the installation flash drive, with the correct version of the system and the key. Well, we go into the sources folder on the installation flash drive and create two files there: ei.cfg and pid.txt ei.cfg
contents:
[EditionID]
Core
[Channel]
OEM
[VL]
0
here
EditionID is the system edition, it can be Core or Professional ,
Channel is a distribution channel, sometimes OEM or Retail,
VL is a sign of corp. versions, it happens 0 or 1.
The above example is the norm for laptops, the basic OEM Windows, not corporate.
The contents of pid.txt:
[PID]
Value = XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
Instead of XXXXX, enter the key that was received through pkeyui. As a result of these actions, we get a bootable USB flash drive with which Windows 8 will still install. But my joy was premature - it was established somehow, but in some mysterious way I wrote down myself some completely outrageous key, which has nothing to do with what I forgot in pid.txt (the original one from UEFI). An attempt to change this left key to an adequate one failed, but when I tried to activate the system, I got the same notorious error that the key does not correspond to the system edition! It turned out that there is one more nuance - distributions, in addition to editions and the licensing method, are also divided by SKU, and laptop builders usually put it on CoreSingleLanguage or CoreCountrySpecific. And I needed a CoreSingleLanguage image, because for all types of SKU, the installation keys are different. Why in this case the system allows you to continue the installation, it is definitely not clear to me - it does not make any sense, since the key still does not work and I personally did not find a way to change the SKU of the already installed system. Quietly exhausted, I went looking for an OEM distribution with the CoreSingleLanguage SKU. And yet I found it in the end, it lies on many trackers, so as not to give links to potentially dangerous resources, I’ll just give the MD5 of the necessary distribution:
2F3EC4EA9F604DF608AC0B1EE4C53CF1
I processed the found distribution, created marker files and hoped that everything was resolved and after the 4th reinstallation, Windows 8 finally not only installed, but also allowed itself to be activated. There it was! After the “Install” button was pressed, the processed distribution gave me an error that I had already seen: that the specified (in UEFI) key does not match any of the detected system images! Cursing, I tried to simply delete the created ei.cfg and pid.txt files from the USB flash drive. I start from it and ... the system accepts the key and installs! After installation, the system status is activated!
Bingo! Then there remained the routine - upgrade to 8.1 via the Microsoft Store, installing the basic set of free software, etc.
Plus, throughout the process, I derived an algorithm which, it seems to me, should be followed during this procedure:
- If it was just Windows 8 on the laptop, then we just take Windows 8 and not Windows 8.1 - even if we install 8.1, we won’t be able to activate it!
- We find out the Windows key using the pkeyui utility - run it on a live system, put the MSDM daw and write the key.
- We call Microsoft technical support, briefly explain the situation and ask to check the validity and ownership of the extracted key. The techsupport guys will check the key without any problems and tell you which type of distribution it is suitable for - basic or professional, OEM or retail, and what its SKU is - CoreSingleLanguage or CoreCountrySpecific, or even another one.
- We are looking for and downloading a system image that strictly matches the key . If this is a laptop, then most likely you will need OEM and in most cases CoreSingleLanguage
- We download the disk image and make a bootable USB flash drive using the Windows 7 USB / DVD download tool (or manually like this - it doesn’t want to work with some Windows 7 USB / DVD download tool images). So far, after that, we are not doing anything extra with the flash drive. Alternatively, you can (and it will be even better) to make a bootable UEFI flash drive using Rufus .
- Reboot, immediately after the start, quickly press Esc. If the flash drive was made through the Windows 7 USB / DVD download tool, then select the BIOS Setup, in the boot settings in the BIOS, turn off Secure Boot and enable Legacy Boot - otherwise we will not boot from the flash drive. If you made a UEFI flash drive using Rufus, you should not do this. Now insert the flash drive.
- Reboot, immediately after the start, quickly press Esc. We select the choice of boot devices, select our flash drive and begin to install the system. If everything is done as it should - the system will be installed without asking for any keys at all.
- If it does not work out and the system either does not accept the key at all or is installed but then does not want to activate, we go into the sources folder on the installation flash drive and create two files there: ei.cfg and pid.txt, setting up their contents as described above. We are trying to install the system from a flash drive with the created marker files.
- After installation, we activate the system - if it is activated, then everything is fine, if not, you picked up the wrong distribution.
The result of all of the above are several rhetorical questions to the laptop manufacturer and to Microsoft. The main question for the manufacturer is why did the recovery system work as a self-destruction system? Khabrovites, has anyone else come across this? And to Microsoft - well, why such paranoid software protection measures? Why are they like that? Indeed, in this case, there was a completely legitimate process of the most banal reinstallation of a destroyed OS. In fact, we have a situation where a user whose OS has crashed cannot, in any way, be able to reinstall it on their own - this requires remarkable skills. All in all, to figure out this confusing installation system, I had to reinstall the system four times. Why create such difficulties? Indeed, in the end, if you count all the possible modifications of distributions with different types of licenses, it turns out that there are almost 30 of them. Is this such a specific additional protection against piracy? The rest is science: be careful and do not believe unfounded articles on the Internet. The very “working” way of installing clean Windows 8.1 with subsequent activation by the native key, which was widely excavated everywhere, turned out to be completely inoperative and took me about five hours of time, which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. such specific additional protection against piracy? The rest is science: be careful and do not believe unfounded articles on the Internet. The very “working” way of installing clean Windows 8.1 with subsequent activation by the native key, which was widely excavated everywhere, turned out to be completely inoperative and took me about five hours of time, which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. such specific additional protection against piracy? The rest is science: be careful and do not believe unfounded articles on the Internet. The very “working” way of installing clean Windows 8.1 with subsequent activation by the native key, which was widely excavated everywhere, turned out to be completely inoperative and took me about five hours of time, which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well. which could be spent with much greater benefit. Well, at least I now know almost all the features of licensing and activation of Win 8. I hope this story will be useful for you as well.