Re:Before you Dual Boot – MS, OEMs and Linux
by yuhong on Sunday March 16, 2014 @02:53PM
(#7410649)
I think on a OEM Win8 system with an embedded product key, you are supposed to install Win8 Core first, then enter the Win8 Pro product key after setup. Do you mean that Win8 setup still prompted for a product key? I believe there are utilities to find the embedded ACPI MDSM key if you need to. On the solution you found, your computer comes with only Win8 Core right, so even if you used ei.cfg etc you'd get only Win8.1 Core, not Pro as your MSDNAA subscription allows.
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Problem is my installation was Windows 8: Single Language, not Core. I tried ei.cfg methods, not helpful. I found my key through a tool. But it does not even allow me to enter. With ei.cfg tricks I could enter but it did not accept. In Pro, it did not even ask for a key and said that I just can't install. Even supplying it with ei.cfg does not help.
Ah, I am not an expert on single language versions of Win8. It is not surprising that they won't let you install or activate any other version of Win8 using this key, but the installer just failing instead of prompting for a key looks like a bug. But as I said above the solution you found isn't too bad anyway.