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    Windows8 and SLIC bios... where's the key?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by davidkwan, Apr 2, 2013.

  1. davidkwan

    davidkwan Notebook Consultant

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    Hello there, I'm researching about the laptop for gaming recently and struggle between using Win7 or Win8....

    I'm using Windows7 now on my Asus laptop, i'm not sure if I can easily adapt to the metroUI of win8 on my next PC and downgrade back to win7...

    After doing some research from web, lots of thread talking about there won't have (or not available) a barcode key for win8 user since the key is hardware burned into the BIOS (???) with SLIC function..... and lots of people seeking solution that extract the key from BIOS ... sounds pretty painful to do that if going downgrade or re-upgrade in future. Unfortunately, I can't find a detail articles about what's going on and what precaution we should take before do that...

    Can anyone tell me what the story is behind?


    Thank you very much!
     
    davidkwan, Apr 2, 2013
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  2. Teerex

    Teerex Notebook Geek

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    The key is in the BIOS, just as it was on Windows 7 PCs. What's the difference?

    On Windows 7 it was a key given to the OEM to use to activate Windows on a large number of devices. Now on Windows 8, the key stored in the BIOS is unique for each device.
     
    Teerex, Apr 3, 2013
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  3. Prostar Computer

    Prostar Computer Company Representative

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    The difference is Windows 8 machines use OA 3.0, where as previous machines used SLIC 2.1 and prior.

    @OP: I don't know of any way to "extract" the key from the firmware. You used to be able to easily access the key used for Windows installation using a key finder program; all it did was pull it from the registry. But OEMs use an en masse image and key for installation, so I don't think that will work for Windows 8 machines. This is Microsoft trying to circumvent piracy and hotloading.
     
    Prostar Computer, Apr 3, 2013
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  4. mikeyhd

    mikeyhd Notebook Consultant

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    mikeyhd, Apr 3, 2013
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  5. davidkwan

    davidkwan Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for reply!

    So does it mean I don't have to care much actually, just uninstall and reinstall win8 freely if necessary and I don't have to deal with any key issue?
     
    davidkwan, Apr 3, 2013
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  6. Prostar Computer

    Prostar Computer Company Representative

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    That's the idea. Some might like to tout the fact that now you can't "lose" your key, since there's no OA sticker to be lost or key to be rubbed off. However you see it, you don't need to know what the key is to reinstall the same version of Windows 8. :)
     
    Prostar Computer, Apr 4, 2013
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