My Win 8 got deactivated, how to reactivate...one more question..

[keysteele]

I had my laptop fixed and Win 7 was put back on by my OEM, I put Win 8 on it, and by playing with some applications while I was putting everything back on it it now says it's deactivated and when go to Windows activation click the activate button I get a error code: 0x8007232B and DNS name does not exist. I have a legit key so I don't quite understand.

And part 2 of my question, when I tried to a clean install of Win8 it wouldn't let me telling me that the primary partition couldn't be used. the only thing I could do was do a Win 7 to Win 8 upgrade. When I first got this machine in Oct of last year, I don't think it did that when I put Win 8 on it, I could be wrong, I can't remember. But I still want to do a clean install before I put too much stuff on it. Thanks in advance.

[redvamp128]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929826

If you really have legit key- then contact Microsoft-

I had that happen once with a Server 2008 machine and they talked me through resetting the activation.

[keysteele]

Thanks that worked....Can anyone help me with my other question?

[ESC@PE]

You'll need to reformat the partition when you're in the Windows 8 setup and it asks you which drive you wish to install on. I actually had to delete a partition I had, reformat the drive to be used for Windows 8 and it worked.

[Jose_49]

I'm going with este. As long as your upgrade key can let you go to the setup area, there will be no problems. Go ahead and give that drive a good format. It will make the PC feel fresh.

Also, remember to backup your files ;)

[keysteele]

My laptop is a Lenovo and they put 2 partitons on it, I was thinking of deleting them, and I guess reformat the whole thing.

[Arachno 1D]

The first partition may the the windows back up partition as most manufacturers no longer provide a CD due to license changes by MS.

[keysteele]

So should I back up that partition, I have an external harddrive.

[Jose_49]

So should I back up that partition, I have an external harddrive.

Do that in case you want to restore to Factory Defaults (In case something went really wrong)

[keysteele]

Can anyone explain why this keeps popping up?

[n_K]

You've got a 2nd hard drive or USB plugged in that isn't formatted.

[ESC@PE]

So should I back up that partition, I have an external harddrive.

I guess that's a personal preference thing. I don't particularly care about those built-in restore systems; I usually format the drive cleanly and just install the OS over it. I've never found those recovery systems to be worthwhile. (But that's just me, you should make a backup anyway just to feel safe)

As for your other screen shot there ^ I would just click OK for MBR, it should be fine.

[keysteele]

I can't delete this partition, when I right click on it the only option I get is Help.

[keysteele]

How do I delete this??? :s

[Radium]

Try to use DISKPART.

Open CMD as administrator and start Diskpart.

Type HELP for a list of commands.

LIST will help you list your disks, volumes etc.

There are some attributes that should protect from being deleted. If you can't delete a partition, then you could do a force deletion through DISKPART.

There are plenty of DISKPART examples on the web. The ATTRIBUTES command will allow you to read and write attributes.

I'm not familiar how the GUI version works. If a partitioning software complies with the standard then you'll have do a bit more to remove OEM partitions.

You could give DISKPART a chance. :)

[keysteele]

Thanks it worked out...now I want to do a clean install of Win 8 since this was a upgrade from OEM Win 7, now its telling me that I have to change from MBR to GPT. From what I've been reading I have to delete the volume I'm currently using? Then convert it to GPT. Now I know in my BOIS my boot is set to legacy boot currently, do i leave it that way? And I do see that there is a program that will convert MBR to GPT its Paragon, now if I use this would all I have to is reboot with the install disk and install Win 8?

[Radium]

I don't quite follow.

What's telling you that GPT is required?

If you're looking for UEFI support then legacy mode should be disabled. Doing so will remove the chance of booting the Windows 8 installation program with legacy boot loader.

DISKPART can convert from MBR to GPT.

Converting to GPT will clear the whole disk since the whole partition table is completely different and it has a copy of the table located at the end of the disc. So one bad sector will not screw your whole partition table.

So for simplicity and ease of use, conversion erases the whole disk.

If UEFI is fully supported, then you'll get UEFI boot loaders as boot options in your BIOS/UEFI menus.

If the Windows 8 installer is booted using the UEFI boot loader located on the installation medium and if you try to install Windows 8 on a GPT disk then it will create three partitions. MBR or legacy mode, will make it create just two partitions.

If you want to change from MBR to GPT without erasing Everything on that disk, then I can't help you.

I recommend that you start with an empty disk when you go from MBR to GPT and want to install Windows 8.

When I installed Windows 8 for the first time, then I converted my other disks to GPT as well.

[keysteele]

I don't quite follow.

What's telling you that GPT is required?

If you're looking for UEFI support then legacy mode should be disabled. Doing so will remove the chance of booting the Windows 8 installation program with legacy boot loader.

DISKPART can convert from MBR to GPT.

Converting to GPT will clear the whole disk since the whole partition table is completely different and it has a copy of the table located at the end of the disc. So one bad sector will not screw your whole partition table.

So for simplicity and ease of use, conversion erases the whole disk.

If UEFI is fully supported, then you'll get UEFI boot loaders as boot options in your BIOS/UEFI menus.

If the Windows 8 installer is booted using the UEFI boot loader located on the installation medium and if you try to install Windows 8 on a GPT disk then it will create three partitions. MBR or legacy mode, will make it create just two partitions.

If you want to change from MBR to GPT without erasing Everything on that disk, then I can't help you.

I recommend that you start with an empty disk when you go from MBR to GPT and want to install Windows 8.

When I installed Windows 8 for the first time, then I converted my other disks to GPT as well.

When I try to install Win 8, not a upgrade since I'm already using it, so when I go to pick the c: partition it says that i cannot install on that partition, because it has to be converted to GPT. So basically this disk gets wiped then? I have Lenovo Ideapad P580, got it last fall, it has 8gb of ram and is a i7....So is it nessary for me to change the boot loader or do I just leave it the way it is?

As for the conversion from MBR to GPT, I don't have a empty disk, I'll be using what I'm writing this right now, but Since I just got it back not too long ago, from being fixed, I don't really mind losing everything.

[Radium]

Copy all important files to a USB device or another PC via LAN.

That's the only advice I can give.

[keysteele]

Copy all important files to a USB device or another PC via LAN.

That's the only advice I can give.

Ok I just want to know if I even need to bother with the messing with the bootloader, switching from legacy to UEFI?

[Radium]

It's not a requirement.

But I would recommend it while you're at it.

It's a once and for all conversion. It's a new standard.

Skip it if you want.

[keysteele]

I haven't gotten around to changing it yet, but I'm going to do it now soo, I'm going to convert it using diskpart. I have a system drivers partition, bedsides my OS partition, when I went to delete that volume in diskpart it said that it the device is in use, does it really matter? Do I just override and delete? And when I do should I extend my OS volume to gobble it up? One last thing...when I am going to delete my OS volume and then convert to GPT will this all really take place after I reboot, I guess what I am saying is I can do all of that while I'm in the OS I'm deleting and converting to GPT?

[keysteele]

I need a little help here.