Can Windows 8 key be extracted from UEFI BIOS in case of hard drive failure?

[c627627]

If a laptop hard drive fails completely and there is no Windows 8 sticker on the back of it, can Windows 8 key be extracted from UEFI BIOS?


EDIT: PLEASE NO LINKS TO GOOGLE or links you copy-pasted from a search engine.

Please post if you have actually done this before.


EDIT#2: Viewing key to already running Windows does not help because those viewers do not help when hard drive with Windows is missing.
This thread is about retrieving keys stored in UEFI BIOS, not keys stored on hard drives (Windows itself.)

 

[EarthDog]

Choose your poison!

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...UTF-8#q=Extract+windows+key+from+bios&es_th=1

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Is it UEFI?
If so, it's possible.

 

[c627627]

If a laptop hard drive fails completely and there is no Windows 8 sticker on the back of it, can Windows 8 key be extracted from
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> UEFI BIOS <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<?

 

[EarthDog]

I never did it before. Try one of the processes I linked and let us know how it worked.

 

[Dlaw]

Yes, I've done it. I used this. It works, but I wouldn't use it on a system that you intend to keep running, your AV will probably go nuts.

However, you don't really need to worry about that. Just make sure you reinstall with the correct media (if your laptop came with Windows 8, don't reinstall with a Windows 8.1 disk) and it will automatically pull the key from UEFI, regardless if it's a different drive or not.

 

[c627627]

To be clear, this is a complete hard drive failure/missing situation.

I know how to view a key on a running Windows OS.


Can Windows key be extracted from UEFI without Windows running?
If not - if I put in another hard drive from another computer which has ITS OWN key which I know what it is, then can I extract the Windows key from UEFI that belonged to the failed/missing hard drive and NOT the currently temporarily installed hard drive with windows on it which would be installed JUST TO EXTRACT the old key from UEFI?

 

[Toraidhe]

You can try this.

http://superuser.com/questions/5383...on-a-windows-8-based-system-with-embedded-key

 

[wagex]

http://www.intowindows.com/windows-8-product-key-viewer/

 

[c627627]

Toraidhe's post essentially suggests this:
http://rweverything.com/download/
It may be a UEFI BIOS key reader...

wagex's post appears to be about already running windows key viewers. If that is the case then that would not help with reading the key stored in UEFI BIOS, only keys in already running Windows.


I will wait for more posts and thank you forum members for helping me.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Some of the in-Windows readers actually pull the key from the UEFI instead of from Windows.

 

[c627627]

Those are the ones I need. The ones I used in the past, which have been linked to in this thread and I recognize, display one single key - the one current Windows is running on.

That does not help in crashed/missing hard drive situations.


Let me know if you know of one that pulls the key from the UEFI.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You already linked it yourself...

 

[Toraidhe]

Those are the ones I need. The ones I used in the past, which have been linked to in this thread and I recognize, display one single key - the one current Windows is running on.

That does not help in crashed/missing hard drive situations.


Let me know if you know of one that pulls the key from the UEFI.

you could try making a Live cd for Windows, then use those tools.

http://windowsmatters.com/2013/04/3...with-explorer-shell-and-all-my-favorite-apps/

 

[Toraidhe]

I will wait for more posts and thank you forum members for helping me.

So, you are going to wait for everyone else to do your research for you?

People have made suggestions. You will need to reinstall windows to get the key. You can reinstall windows unregistered then install the tools needed to get the key, then register your copy of windows.

 

[c627627]

You misunderstood.
I am getting a laptop with no hard drive on it later this week.
I was going to test ALL suggestions just for the sake of experimenting.

I actually already have an image made for the exact same model of the laptop and I CAN boot in with that image into Windows 8, and I know what the key is for that image too, so I am in a good position to test all suggestions...

As was pointed out earlier, this is a sensitive virus-alarm setting off procedure, I am interested in testing multiple suggestions.
I have no doubt that with just a Google search I could resolve this issue without making this thread.

But this issue is important and useful to know and have experience with first hand and I wanted to get ocforums members input.

 

[c627627]

www.ebay.com/itm/201430575572

 

[wagex]

install from your windows 8 image, then just hit activate, if its an OEM key it will magically change the install to what ever key it reads. so dont worry about it just install to a new hdd when you get one.
atleast that has been my experience.

EG i had a win8 pro disk, computer has win8 starter, install from win8 pro disk hit activate boom it reboots and becomes windows 8 starter

 

[c627627]

I actually already have two of these laptops and I do a single image then change the key manually when transferring images.
In other words, unless I manually change the key - both laptops would be using the same key (the one on the drive image).


Additionally, on this very laptop I have tested Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder to display a wrong key unless I use the very latest version of Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder.
Unless you actually check and download the very latest version, older Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder program version would display a key and it would be a wrong key for this laptop model (!)


This is why I wanted multiple suggestions, to replicate the same key using multiple extraction methods. Other programs could display a wrong key because they have not been updated... just like Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder old versions cannot display the correct key... I don't know why. But the newest version can and it displays the version of the key used on the image, not the UEFI.

So I will test everything suggested to confirm first hand which method displays the UEFI key.

 

[wagex]

then load up the image, delte the key that is stored in windows, here's how to do that, then activate and it will pull the key from bios