AndyCan Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 I've been deploying a Windows 8 disk image to my desktops this week using Acronis. I sysprep the image and tick Generalize when i sysprep. So when i come to install the image on my desktops, it asks for a Windows key. However when i deploy the image to some of my Win7 desktops which came with a Win 8 Pro license built in to the bios, i get prompted for a Windows key and if i choose skip and go into 'change key' it shows as trying to use the key i used on the desktop i used to create the image. I noticed that if i run the Windows upgrade assistant on these Win8 bios machines that it automatically picks up the key from bios and installs fine. Is there a way that i can install Win8 from an image but force it to check the bios for a key??
SYNACK Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 When it runs via WDS/MDT it calls the full installer to copy the image over so should grab the key then, having a quick look I have not been able to find a way to trigger this while using a third party imaging system. Is there a way you could script the upgrade assistant to run silently to make it pick up the keys. I'm guessing you are using Pro rather than enterprise hence no KMS key? Do be aware that lots of the management stuff does not exist in Pro anymore as they have limited this to Enterprise, stuff like start screen customisation via GPO.
free780 Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Also your image should just have the kms key in it.
sted Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Also your image should just have the kms key in it. no it shouldnt you image should have no key in it if you put your kms key in every pc you deploy will try to become a kms server to to op ive found some win 8 pcs dont contain a slic bios that the kms server can understand so it cant find a license to upgrade from so you have to use a mak key
william_tropico Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Hello, Do you have a KMS activation server? If so then you need to specify a GVLK key Appendix A: KMS Client Setup Keys on the machine. Not sure how imaging works if you plan on using the Key pre installed on the laptop
free780 Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 I meant the client key, which is the default.
AndyCan Posted February 12, 2014 Author Posted February 12, 2014 ive found an answer. Someone scripted an exe that basically pulls the key from UEFI and prints it to a text file. For anyone interested it can be found here: UPLOAD.EE - ReadKeyFromUEFI.zip - Download 2
timbo343 Posted March 31, 2014 Posted March 31, 2014 There is also an explaination here along with another ultility Retrieve Windows 8 License Key from BIOS - Sherr Technologies
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