Modify ACPI tables, remove/overwrite MSDM key

[Garacesh]

Got a HP Stream 11 I'm trying to install Windows 10 on, but for the life of me I can't get it to activate and my Google-Fu has lead me to believe it's to do with the key held in BIOS. Unfortunately the Windows that came with this was Windows 8.1 with Bing, which is only available to OEM's, so it looks like I need to dive into the BIOS and either remove the key (if that'll work) or replace it with our MAK.

 

I've checked what the key is (WMIC Path SoftwareLicensingService Get OA3xOriginalProductKey) and double-checked it matches what I've found in the MSDM section of the ACPI table (using RWEverything), so I know I have the right information.. But how do I actually modify it? Anyone done this kind of thing before?

[Arthur]

You could use the PID.txt method to force Windows 10 to use a different key than the one in your UEFI.

[Garacesh]

Yeah, I gave that a try.. I made a PID.txt and pasted our product key in, no dice. When I re-ran the setup it actually asked me for a key, rather than using the key from PID.txt, but that didn't work.

 

Maybe I did it wrong? It's just a text file with XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX called Pid.txt in /sources/?

[Ubiquitous]

The PID.txt file will need to be in the following format:

 

[PID]

Value=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

 

As per https://technet.microsoft.com/en-GB/library/hh824952.aspx

[Garacesh]

Oooooh my bad! I'll give that a try then. Thanks.