There is no difference between student edition and the standard edition, except the price and the product key time period. As of the student edition usually has from 2 to 5 years before its expired, while you can use the standard product key as long as you have it with you.
Is the Windows compressed in EXE file ? or the company gives you an EXE file as gateway to download and install windows ?
both cases are different, because some companies force the users to download the files using some sort of gateway programs to secured their server contents.
(it's more like the most programs installer these days e.g Skype, Google Chrome..etc), so if is it a gateway EXE to download the Windows ISO, then you Have to get that ISO and burn it (On a DVD or USB). You can verify that by the file size (the original size of the Windows 8 will be more than 3GB), if is it less than 20MB, then it's a gateway.
If you confirmed that the EXE file is a FULL Windows 8 Installer, and it's bootable file (LIKE THE ISO BUT Different file source) THEN you just need to create bootable FreeDOS flash drive and run the file from it, and to do that JUST DO THE FOLLOWING :
[HOW TO] Create A Bootable FreeDOS USB Using Rufus :
[What you NEED]
- A copy of Rufus (CLICK HERE to download) [Freeware]
- A USB Flash Drive larger than 4 GB.
[Work Flow]
- Plugin your USB Flash Drive, then open Refus
- Open Refus
- On the Format Options section, tick on :
- Quick Format
- Create a bootable disk using (choose from the drop down menu FreeDOS).
See Picture :
![enter image description here](../../I/static/images/493a22feabd3a5b708b9b80f79f6de0390f1d2dbb00c4fa074499814a2f599ed.png)
- Click on Start and wait until it's finished.
After you're done from the above steps, your flash drive is ready for the next step.
Copy the Windows 8.1 Pro EXE file that you downloaded, then go to your bootable flash drive, you'll see some files inside the flash drive already there, just paste the EXE file in your flash drive root directory, and rename it to setup. Now, you're ready to use the flash drive to install Windows on the new laptop.
To install the Windows on the new laptop:
- Plugin the bootable flash drive that you've just created.
- Turn on your new laptop and press F12 until the boot menu options shows up.
- From the boot menu options, choose your USB flash drive and hit Enter.
- The FreeDOS should show up, and you'll able to type DOS commands on the screen.
- Type setup.exe then hit Enter.
- The Windows 8 installer will show up.
Now, you're inside the system installer, and you can just follow the installer screens to install it.
1I'll wait until I receive the laptop, because I already have a spare unused copy of Windows 8 (from a previous laptop). Otherwise I'll follow your instructions – Blackphoenix – 2014-10-07T12:18:20.963