How to find MS Win 8 Product Key in UEFI?

By jimboh1
in Microsoft (Windows)

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jimboh1

Posted
Posted

Hi-

 

I have a PC running 8 64- bit (pre-loaded) on a UEFI MB; a few days ago I had to hard restart it after I let it sleep for a few hours and it wouldn't wake up.

 

At first there was no signs of life (other than power); wouldn't turn on the monitor.

 

I removed my aftermarket video card and tried again with the built- in graphics.

 

Win 8 tried "Automatic Repair" and said it couldn't, and that the logfile @ "c:\windows\system32\logfiles\srt\srttrail.txt" would be of help.

 

Through a command prompt I went there and got some info:

 

BOOT Manager failed to find OS Loader

 

Repair Action= File Repair

Error code= 0x4001

 

Repair Action= Boot Conf data store repair

Error code= 0x2

 

 

I've tried everything that I can think of to fix this with no success; can anyone tell me how to find my Product Key for Win 8, that I believe is baked into UEFI/ BIOS so that I can D/L or access the correct Win 8 .iso to try repairing this boot issue like that? Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

TIA,

 

Jim

 

 

Grand Master

Arachno 1D

Posted
Posted

Did the system come with a recovery partition or a DVD [or the option to buy]?

As for the registration serial its entered automatically from the bios provided the Windows version hasnt been upgraded.

Rising Star

jimboh1

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I booted to a Ubuntu live disk and believe that there is a recovery partition, but may be for Windows RE only- should I try going into that partition, and see what I can find in there as far as a Product Key goes? Is there a file on C:\ that lists the Product Key I wonder?

 

J

Grand Master

Arachno 1D

Posted
Posted

Have you followed the manufacturers details for recovering the system,be aware you may lose all personal data if you do a recovery?

The install key on windows 8 is different to that held in the bios and is normally encrypted.

Grand Master

Gotenks98

Posted
Posted

If you are using an iso to clean install it automatically picks it up during setup. No need to know it before hand. Now if you are going to install windows 8.1 you will need to use a generic product key to pass the installer and then you can activate if you know the key before hand. Lets say you are going to install windows 8.1 to a blank drive? Just install a program called rweverything . It allows you to see the settings in the bios/uefi for the product key.

Grand Master

Dane

Posted
Posted

If you are using an iso to clean install it automatically picks it up during setup. No need to know it before hand. Now if you are going to install windows 8.1 you will need to use a generic product key to pass the installer and then you can activate if you know the key before hand. Lets say you are going to install windows 8.1 to a blank drive? Just install a program called rweverything . It allows you to see the settings in the bios/uefi for the product key.

Have a link for that?

Grand Master

goretsky Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Hello,

Some articles about the process:

 

Windows 8 verification causing problems for PC makers?

 

Windows 8 OEM Activation 3.0 (OA 3.0)

 

Windows 8 to Feature New OEM Activation Method

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

  • 1 year later...
Neowinian

Kermit_70

Posted
Posted

Hi-

 

I have a PC running 8 64- bit (pre-loaded) on a UEFI MB; a few days ago I had to hard restart it after I let it sleep for a few hours and it wouldn't wake up.

 

At first there was no signs of life (other than power); wouldn't turn on the monitor.

 

I removed my aftermarket video card and tried again with the built- in graphics.

 

Win 8 tried "Automatic Repair" and said it couldn't, and that the logfile @ "c:\windows\system32\logfiles\srt\srttrail.txt" would be of help.

 

Through a command prompt I went there and got some info:

 

BOOT Manager failed to find OS Loader

 

Repair Action= File Repair

Error code= 0x4001

 

Repair Action= Boot Conf data store repair

Error code= 0x2

 

 

I've tried everything that I can think of to fix this with no success; can anyone tell me how to find my Product Key for Win 8, that I believe is baked into UEFI/ BIOS so that I can D/L or access the correct Win 8 .iso to try repairing this boot issue like that? Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

TIA,

 

Jim

Hi Jim,

I am having the same exact error codes.

Did you find a solution for you?

Could you please share your steps?

Thanks!

Neowinian

Kermit_70

Posted
Posted

Actually...

I was just wondering if anybody could suggest a way to fix the problem highlighted by 

 

BOOT Manager failed to find OS Loader

 

Repair Action= File Repair

Error code= 0x4001

 

Repair Action= Boot Conf data store repair

Error code= 0x2

 

But without necessarily re-install Windows.

Any suggestion or lead?

 

Thanks!

  • 4 months later...
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