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Reuse windows 8.0
I have an install of windows 8.0, which is on a hard disk here spread across 6 partitions with all the EFI stuff, and recovery bits.
Is there a way to archive and reinstall that anywhere? I don't have the install CD or key. There is the messing also that gpt enforces UEFI on this Samsung box. |
If that copy of Windows came with a system then it can't be legally used anywhere else. The OEM license limits it to that system. Now are they ever going to enforce/care for one license already sold. So it depends on how you feel about piracy, technically you paid for that copy of windows but its only licensed to the one system so if you put it on another it is, by the letter of the EULA, pirating.
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Well, I would not be breaking the EULA.
It came with a Samsung laptop. The idea was to install it on the same Samsung laptop as a VM. If I wanted to break EULAs, I would just install a cracked version of windows 7. |
The license is tied to the hardware which the OS would no longer be running on. It'd be running on virtual hardware, instead.
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Kind of hard to say. You can generally peek into those hidden partitions with a linux live boot. I'd then decide what to do. You can use a usb hard drive and maybe clonezilla to clone it all off. Acronis ought to work also. Even dd > gzip should work. Gparted might even be used to copy partitions.
Now as to being able to use it is a different issue. Some have suggested that you can legally transfer the OS to a VM. Well, you can try. Not sure what will happen. In most things that I've read, you have a OEM copy of windows. Microsoft doesn't support it because their agreement with the OEM states that they didn't sell it, the OEM has support. Now exactly who can fix the HAL or authenticate it to the OEM key is unknown. It may be possible to get recovery media for a small fee. |
OEM installations are tied to the hardware. Pull it off of the hardware (like in a VM) and it'll hit you with licensing errors. I'm about 99.999% sure you won't be able to get it to work, since OEM installations don't have an activation process and there is no key with which to activate it anyway.
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I've gotten OEM to run fine under vm's before, the issue is its no longer legal per the EULA.
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What media are you talking about? Are you saying that you have a pre-loaded Windows 8 and you were able to clone it to a VM? Or are you saying that you have a DVD of windows 8 that says OEM on it?
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Moderator Response
Moved: This thread is more suitable in <General> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.
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Quote:
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You can try to image it off using some clone or copy app if you have a free usb or networked location. That should be easy. Now as to being able to use it would be a different issue. On one of those partitions you should have some way to recover the system. Either a linux or microsoft way to boot up and copy back to OEM state. The actual install could be tried to be formed into a virtual hard drive or copied to a virtual hard drive but there is conflicting reports as to if you can get it to work on a VM even with Microsoft's help.
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Member Response
Hi,
Since the OP will have a product key in the BIOS then look at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/w...windows-8.aspx & http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1...n-windows.html Hope this helps. Have fun & enjoy! :hattip: |
The question I have is if the key is real. Most OEM keys are meaningless to Microsoft. They are generated by the OEM's.
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Member Response
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Thanks for those links guys. The idea was to archive off this windows, install Slackware & virtual box on the disk, and relegate windows to a VM. I do have a cracked windows 7 archive somewhere, but THAT would bebreaking some EULA somewhere. Probably not mine, but. . .
I will let you know how this works out. |
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