Installing and Activating Windows after accidentally deleting it while Installing Ubuntu

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A week ago, I bought a Lenovo IdeaPad Z510 laptop with pre-installed Windows 8.1. Recently, I tried to install Ubuntu and while doing so I accidentally installed Ubuntu by replacing Windows. That is, I formatted the entire hard disk and only Ubuntu is available now (No Windows or Lenovo drivers). Is there any way to get the working Windows back?

I thought of this work around: I can take back up from my friend who also bought the exact same laptop and I can load that in my computer (Does this work?). But the problem is I don't have the product key and hence I don't know how to activate even if I restore using my friend's Windows backup. So, is there any way I can get the license keys? Note that, I bought the original licensed version of Windows and they din't provide any CD as it is pre-installed.

By making little research, I found that activation is linked with BIOS. See this link http://www.cnet.com/news/windows-8-moves-to-bios-based-product-keys/.

If it is true, then is it possible for me to use the above work around to get back my Windows (licensed) and other drivers?

sabari

Posted 2014-08-02T12:41:00.123

Reputation: 1

OEM product keys can usually be found on a sticker affixed to the computer. If you bought a non-OEM copy of Windows, you should have received a product key with the purchase. – a CVn – 2014-08-02T13:50:20.267

Answers

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You need to simply get yourself a Windows 8 installation disk (note it must be W8, not W8Pro). Your Windows 8 license key is stored in UEFI BIOS and in most cases you can even browse BIOS to check it out.

A pretty good walkaround would be to make a copy of your friends disk or use Lenovo tools (from what I recall it was called One Key Recovery) to make a backup of OS from your friend's laptop to external storage (several DVDs, external HDD and so on).

You can then recover OS on your Z510. Windows should auto-authenticate itself using BIOS-stored license key.

mwilczynski

Posted 2014-08-02T12:41:00.123

Reputation: 661

From what I searched online, the recovery disk created using One Key Recovery can only be used to reset or refresh Windows (with the help of recovery partition) but cannot be used for reinstalling Windows. I think this is not possible in my case as I formatted the hard disk which deletes the recovery partition. So, is it possible to create "Installation Media" (not recovery media) using my friends Windows 8.1 ? – sabari – 2014-08-07T10:20:49.440

Asked: 2014-08-02T12:41:00.123

Viewed: 1 439 times

Active: 2016-02-23T19:26:06.983