#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS HOW TO#
#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS INSTALL#
#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS WINDOWS 10#
#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS SOFTWARE#
#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS WINDOWS 8.1#

#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS INSTALL#

It just installs the OS without a product key, and then you have to activate it later either by entering a product key at that point, logging into a Microsoft account that has an assigned license, etc.īut if you're trying to install regular Windows 8.0 even though your system came with 8.1, then that's your issue. Skipping product key entry does not skip the entire OS installation.

#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS WINDOWS 8.1#

As I said, original Windows 8 might not support that, although the installer for Windows 8.1 definitely does. Please rely If you don't see a an 'I don't have a product key' link underneath the product key field, then you're trying to install a Windows version that was created before that capability was introduced.

#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS WINDOWS 10#

If I do get past initial installation, how do I do anything without an OS installed? I also upgraded to Windows 10 when they released the free upgrade.Īgain, I so appreciate your help.

#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS HOW TO#

'Another thing you may want to try is starting with Windows 8.1, which you can download directly from Microsoft here.' According to the invoice, my computer came with Windows 8.1, but I don't know how to bypass the screen asking for the product key.

'If you haven't already, try skipping the product key during initial installation.' I can find NO why to skip past the product key at initial installation.When it won't accept my product key, it just sits at that screen and tells me to try again. And I don't understand how/why it disappeared from my motherboard if it did. So I don't understand how replacing only the hard drive would affect acceptance of the product key. '.if you've replaced your hard drive 3 times, that may be why the key won't activate anymore.' If I understand correctly, the original product key is stored on the motherboard exactly for the purpose of re installation. That would involve buying a license, but Windows 8.x is pretty old at this point and was never particularly well received, so if you plan to use this PC for a few more years, the cost of a Windows 10 license might be worth it. The last possibility you may want to consider is simply upgrading to Windows 10.

#MACBOOK HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT WITH IOS SOFTWARE#

Microsoft doesn't provide the precise details on what changes will or won't affect activation since that would help software pirates. You can change certain components a certain number of times and you will still be able to reactivate that key on that system despite the slightly different hardware, but if you make too many changes, sometimes that stops working. When a key is initially activated, a 'fingerprint' of the system's hardware is stored with Microsoft so that it will be recognized if Windows ever has to be reinstalled on that system.

If on the other hand you're getting stuck at online activation rather than installation (or you find you have trouble there too), then if you've replaced your hard drive 3 times, that may be why the key won't activate anymore. That definitely supports installing without providing a product key (though you'll still need one to activate it later), and since updating to Windows 8.1 is the first thing a Windows 8 installation would want to do anyway, you may as well start there. Another thing you may want to try is starting with Windows 8.1, which you can download directly from Microsoft here. You should have an 'I don't have a product key' option in Windows Setup that allows you to skip that, although that might not have existed for Windows 8 I can't remember anymore. If you haven't already, try skipping the product key during initial installation and just try to activate it later, since it's possible that online activation will work even if the installer won't accept the key for some reason.

There's nothing Dell can do about that, and in fact if you're seeing this problem during Windows Setup as opposed to when trying to activate online, then nobody is blocking anything because your system isn't even trying to perform an online activation during installation, which means it wouldn't have any way of knowing if a key had been 'blocked'. I'm not sure what whoever you talked to at Microsoft meant by saying Dell had to 'unblock' your key. Dell is correct that they don't control Microsoft's product key activation.

Macbook hard drive replacement with ios