Serial No. = Windows Activation Key?

Speccy
1

I have two laptops with two different Windows operating systems installed. I have Speccy and Belarc Advisor installed on both systems.

I installed Windows 7 Professional SP 1 64 bit from DVD and used the Activation Key from the packaging. On this system, what Speccy displays as the Serial Number is an exact match for what Belarc Advisor displays as the Windows Activation Key.

On my Windows 8 system, pre-installed by HP (OEM), what Speccy displays as the Serial Number is entirely different from what Belarc Advisor displays as the Windows Activation Key. Is Speccy correct, or Belarc, or neither?

I'm asking this because I'm considering a clean installation using a Windows 8 .iso file. This way I can avoid having all of the HP bloatware included in the installation and am free to install only the applications I want to use. So it's important that I have the correct activation key before I begin.

2

I don't know about the key issue as to which is correct.

This way I can avoid having all of the HP bloatware included in the installation...

There's PC Decrapifier. I've never used it, however it may help avoid the re-install of Windows.

3

In my experience, only Belarc has given me the correct product key.

4

Perhaps try a few here Derek and compare keys.

http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-retrieve-windows-8-oem-product-key-from-bios/

5

good heads-up Hazel.

ProduKey from Nirsoft also works for me, and it's portable, 1 file at 77KB.

6

or you can use this http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/30363-Windows-9-Product-Key-Viewer

just backup and restore acvtivation

7

Hello to all - I'd like to thank everyone for their responses on this. I downloaded ProduKey from Nirsoft and Windows 9 Product Key Viewer from the mydigitallife forum, and their results are both in agreement with Belarc Advisor as to the Windows 8 Activation Key. So it looks like Speccy works with Windows 7 but fails with Windows 8 in this regard.

Yesterday I rounded up all the hardware drivers needed and some of the HP applications I want to retain, and copied them to a USB flash drive.

I've decided to try something a bit different from my original plan. Instead of using a Windows 8 .iso, I'm going to try using a Windows 8.1 .iso and see if the Windows 8 Activation Key works. This will save me from upgrading to 8.1 via the Store after installing. I'm thinking that if Microsoft allows you to upgrade from 8 to 8.1 via the Store for free, then the same key should work for both versions, at least on an OEM machine where the key is somehow "embedded" into the machine's BIOS to allow for hands-off activation after re-installing Windows. I'll report back if I succeed with this.

8

I will be interested in your results Derek.

9

I'm happy to report that it worked! When I performed the installation I deliberately did not make an internet connection during the process. Here's a screenshot that I made immediately afterwards, please note it shows Windows 8.1 is installed and it is not yet activated :

post-67110-0-95072400-1416167544_thumb.png

After taking the above screenshot, I made my internet connection and Windows 8.1 was immediately activated with no other input on my part:

post-67110-0-74564900-1416167567_thumb.png

As a test, I clicked "Change Product Key" and entered the key that was shown in Belarc Advisor and ProduKey and the results were unchanged, Windows 8.1 was still shown as being activated. So this shows two things: 1.) Both Belarc Advisor and ProduKey display the correct Windows 8/8.1 Activation Key. 2.) On a machine that has an OEM installation of Windows 8, the Windows 8 Activation Key works when installing Windows 8.1 from scratch using an .iso file.

10

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together. :)

Just a pity we remember all the other times they didn't work !