On Wed, 2015-01-07 at 12:39 -0500, Doug wrote: <snip>
You can install Windows 8.1 even if you don't have the system disk, _IF_ you have recorded the installation key. If you don't have the install key, I'm pretty sure you're out of luck, unless you can talk the dealer into giving you a disk with the proper key. </snip>
Small comment on that, Some months ago, I feared my daughter hosed her laptop (W7.1 & OS_13.1) I assumed I had to re-install the lot, but I could not find the original key. After some googling I learned that the keys are stored encrypted on the disk, and there are tools for finding the keys for 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1 and make them readable so you re-use them again Bad news however is that these are windows programs. It seems very unlikely you can run them under wine ... as for me, I remembered that before doing anything with that laptop, i booted 13.1 and did a "dd" from the entire hdd to an usb-drive, so i don't have personal experience with the key-finder-tool, but perhaps someone else on the list. hw -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org