Tiled Linux Distros
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As much as I disdain Windows 8, I have a niece who loves it.
Well she destroyed her windows partition, and oddly the system doesn't have a recovery partition built in. Anyhoo are there any linux distro's that mimic the Windows 8 theme that anyone is aware of?
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@DustinB3403 said:
As much as I disdain Windows 8, I have a niece who loves it.
Well she destroyed her windows partition, and oddly the system doesn't have a recovery partition built in. Anyhoo are there any linux distro's that mimic the Windows 8 theme that anyone is aware of?
Are you trying to force her to Linux? You can download the ISO from MS and reinstall Windows 8. It should activate via the key stored in the UEFI.
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I took a look around for the windows 8 ISO and couldn't find it. I'll take a look again, unless of course you have the link right there in front of you.
And Linux would probably be a lot better for what she uses the device for, Web surfing exclusively.
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Ubuntu's Unity is what a lot of Windows 8 was based on. I hate both so.... maybe she will like that?
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Yeah she said she liked Ubuntu design compared to a few others I showed her so I installed that. But if she really wants Windows 8 then I'll see what I can do, but the Make your own Media from Windows still requires a product key, it doesn't pull it in from BIOS.
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@DustinB3403 said:
Yeah she said she liked Ubuntu design compared to a few others I showed her so I installed that. But if she really wants Windows 8 then I'll see what I can do, but the Make your own Media from Windows still requires a product key, it doesn't pull it in from BIOS.
It does? I've been making Windows 10 media nearly daily this past week (I keep leaving the existing USB keys at home) and it never asks me for a key.
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This link might help you
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media -
I'm downloading an ISO now for Windows 8.1 and will try again when I get home this afternoon. But last night it asked for a product key, which sucks.
Of course she has no recovery media of her own.
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Yeah that's what I'm already using.
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No product key on the device in any way? I know that they have changed how this was handled but I thought that it was being stored in the BIOS when it is not on a sticker.
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It is stored in BIOS but I can't find the field as is its a hidden record using a special chip designed by microsoft for just this purpose.
Using a retail ISO or CD will never pull the BIOS OEM key.
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From Ubuntu run this command:
ls /sys/firmware/acpi/tables -
10 Last night, being as it's a free upgrade which also asked for a product key. Which is why it's likely that the downloader Microsoft has is providing the Retail Installer
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Scott I will try that tonight.
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During the install when Windows asks for the key, choose skip. Once you're inside Windows 8 go to the activation screen and see if you can activate it. It should read from the BIOS/UEFI and activate.
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@DustinB3403 said:
10 Last night, being as it's a free upgrade which also asked for a product key. Which is why it's likely that the downloader Microsoft has is providing the Retail Installer
You can't go directly to Windows 10 - you must upgrade from Windows 7/8 to Windows 10 first... then in the future you can install Windows 10 from scratch, and it will activate via the hardware key that MS will have stored for that machine.
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I'll download that same image and see if I can install it to my spare laptop sitting here allowing it to pull from the UEFI.
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LOL - as it just to happens, I'm doing something similar with Windows 10 right now.
Last night I upgraded a domain joined Volume License ISO KMS key deployed image. I was wondering if Windows 10 would activate from this. After the install Windows 10 indicated that it was indeed activated.
I'm presently installing Windows 10 from scratch on that same PC to see if it will activate automatically.
FYI I have not changed my local KMS server with a new key - but I'm not sure if one of the recently released patches would have solved that anyhow.
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Total drag - I downloaded the Windows 8 ISO from the above listed site and was stopped cold in my tracks. It demands a product key to continue - I thought MS had fixed that.
