How to find Win 8.1 key to use in VM in Win10?

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I’d like to use Office 2007 in a Virtual Machine running Windows 8.1 on a host running Windows10, but I need a product key to install the Win8.1.

I have a laptop which started life with an OEM Windows 8.1 installation. I have since upgraded it to Windows 10 Home, and it currently has version 1809.

I would like to continue to use MS Office 2007, which I have the CD and product key for, but a few months ago (before 1809) it stopped working. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it (as Administrator), but to no avail.

So I have started up a Virtual Machine, VMware Workstation 15 Player, and prepared to install Windows8.1 in it, using an ISO file on DVD, downloaded from the Windows Support website. That website tells me that since Win8, “Windows is activated with a digital licence”, and I should not need to provide a key, but  when I start to install Win8.1 on the VM, it demands a product key. I’ve tried using the one which Windows gives as a default for Win10 Home, Change Product Key (having done so on the host computer), but the guest VM installation for Win8.1 does not accept that.  How can I find the product key of my earlier Windows 8.1 to use in the VM?

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Did you try installing Office 2007 on the Win10 using compatibility mode (maybe Win7 or Win8.1)? It might work that way.

The Win8.1 product key may be on a sticker (depending on the age of the machine). I have found the stickers inside the case cover (bottom) sometimes on older laptops. On newer machines with UEFI Bios, the product key may be in the BIOS.

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Pool Lounger 2

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Thanks for the suggestions, PKCano – I did try using Compatibility settings, but to no avail. Office programs refused to start, even with Administrator privileges.

Unfortunately, no stickers available with a key on. I tried anonymous’ tip of using ShowKeyPlus, but it could only show me the Installed (Win10) key. According  to ShowKeyPlus, “If you upgraded Windows, the Original key will be the key installed prior to the upgrade. NB if you upgrade to Windows 10 for free, you’ll receive a unique ‘digital entitlement’ instead of a product key. The key displayed will be a generic key in that case.”  And I tried using that, but the VM told me it was not valid for Win8.x.

ShowKeyPlus also shows me the OEM Key, but that doesn’t work with the VM either, as it is also for Win10.

I think I’ll start a new thread with why won’t my Office 2007 work on Win10, and ditch the idea of using a VM.  Thanks to everybody for your ideas  – I’ll keep looking at this thread. OP.

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ShowKeyPlus will show you the key (if any) embedded in the UEFI/BIOS.  You may also need to tell VMWare Player to expose the UEFI/BIOS SLIC to the guest to get the guest os activated.  See here for an example.  Just a suggestion, I’m not a VMWare user and could be way off base.  Good luck.

 

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Pool Lounger 2

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Pool Lounger 2 wrote:

That website tells me that since Win8, “Windows is activated with a digital licence”, and I should not need to provide a key, but when I start to install Win8.1 on the VM, it demands a product key. I’ve tried using the one which Windows gives as a default for Win10 Home, Change Product Key (having done so on the host computer), but the guest VM installation for Win8.1 does not accept that. How can I find the product key of my earlier Windows 8.1 to use in the VM?

I can’t see how it’s going to work. Yes, 3rd-party utilities like ShowKeyPlus can retrieve the OEM product key embedded in the 8.x OEM device’s SLIC 3.0 BIOS/UEFI firmware. (These replaced the earlier combined COA/Product Key stickers of Windows 7.)

However, by upgrading your 8.1 OEM installation to 10, your usage rights of the original OEM digital license were automatically transferred to a Windows 10 digital license, also stored on MS’ activation servers. (The only difference is that MS knows it’s an upgrade from an earlier OEM version so assigns a generic Win 10 key.)

Why would MS let you re-use the original 8.1 OEM key to activate a new device knowing that it was already in use with Win 10? I could be wrong but I suspect you may need an 8.x retail product key.

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Rick Corbett wrote:

Why would MS let you re-use the original 8.1 OEM key to activate a new device knowing that it was already in use with Win 10? I could be wrong but I suspect you may need an 8.x retail product key.

Well… actually that *is* pretty much what they tell you to do on the server side when installing an older version in a VM when you, say, buy a stack of OEM Windows Server 2016/2019 licenses with one new server, and want to run one of the Hyper-V guest virtual server instances as something older using the downgrade right… during installation you need to have a key that’s for the older version, even if your actual usage rights even for that older version come from somewhere different.

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“However, by upgrading your 8.1 OEM installation to 10, your usage rights of the original OEM digital license were automatically transferred to a Windows 10 digital license, also stored on MS’ activation servers.”

I’ve often heard this, but I can find no place where I (or the OP) would’ve agreed to such a thing.  Nothing in the “click through” during an upgrade, nothing in the license terms available under C:\Windows\System32\en-US\Licenses, and nothing at aka.ms.

What am I missing?

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You had a license for one (8.1) operating system originally on your system. You upgraded it to W10, which is one operating system. The free upgrade did not entitle you to a second operating system, only a change from one older, to one newer OS. Microsoft never offered the W10 OS for free, only a free upgrade from an older, already purchased, OS to a newer one.

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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Pool Lounger 2

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License terms for Win10 (and many other, but not all, MS products) can be found here.   As far as I can tell (and IANAL) the license terms for Win10 say nothing whatever regarding the loss or invalidation of a previous license as the result of upgrading.

In any event, none of this is helping the OP solve his problem.

 

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The license key isn’t lost or invalidated. One can reinstall the original OS, instead of W10 with the original key. But whether for Windows 8.1 or W10 there is only one license key for one OS installed at a time, and the W10 would no longer be valid if Windows 8.1 was re-installed. The W10 upgrade key is not for an additional OS, but an upgrade change to the original OS.

If OP had bought a separate W10 OS and installed it, rather than upgrading, he would have two separate OS, and could have placed them in separate partitions or one in a VM (unless OEM, which is tied to the hardware).

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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Pool Lounger 2

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anonymous wrote:

I’ve often heard this, but I can find no place where I (or the OP) would’ve agreed to such a thing. Nothing in the “click through” during an upgrade, nothing in the license terms available under C:\Windows\System32\en-US\Licenses, and nothing at aka.ms. What am I missing?

As far as I can remember, Ed Bott did a run-through for ZDNet about the implications of the free upgrade to Win 10 at the time it was released… so the article’s now about 4 years old. Unfortunately I didn’t save a link at the time.

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If I’m not mistaken, there is nothing that says you can’t go back to the original Win8.1 on that computer. A lot of people made an image of the drive with Win7/8.1 on it and upgraded to Win10 just reserve a copy of FREE Win10, then reverted back to the old OS. So technically, both the key for the original Win8.1 and the key on the MS servers for Win10 for that PC (if not the same) should be valid.

But you have to use the same version of Windows. And I suspect what was downloaded was the retail version, and what was original was the OEM version, and the keys are not interchangeable. The OEM version is (supposedly) tied to the original hardware and the retail version can be moved from PC to PC. Technically, the upgraded Win10 is tied to the specific hardware it was upgraded on.

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mn– wrote:

Well… actually that *is* pretty much what they tell you to do on the server side when installing an older version in a VM when you, say, buy a stack of OEM Windows Server 2016/2019 licenses with one new server, and want to run one of the Hyper-V guest virtual server instances as something older using the downgrade right… during installation you need to have a key that’s for the older version, even if your actual usage rights even for that older version come from somewhere different.

Surely a different licensing channel?

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PKCano wrote:

If I’m not mistaken, there is nothing that says you can’t go back to the original Win8.1 on that computer. A lot of people made an image of the drive with Win7/8.1 on it and upgraded to Win10 just reserve a copy of FREE Win10, then reverted back to the old OS. So technically, both the key for the original Win8.1 and the key on the MS servers for Win10 for that PC (if not the same) should be valid.

I agree that you can go back. In effect the stored digital license allows one or the other… 8.x or 10 (or 7). But surely not two licensed installs on one OEM product key at the same time?

I can accept mistakes being made inadvertently by activation servers about the ‘multi-home packs’, i.e. 3 OS installs packaged under a single FPP (Full Packaged Product)… but not under an OEM license where the assumption (under 8.x) was that the product was pre-installed (following the end of the much-abused ‘OEM System Builder’ licenses… which, in many ways, directly led to the tightening up of Win 8.x licensing).

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Why not? W8.1 with a W10 VM or vice versa (both have a digital license for the same device)

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Microfix wrote:

Why not? W8.1 with a W10 VM or vice versa (both have a digital license for the same device)

Sorry but… in my experience MS EULAs make a clear distinction between physical and virtual devices.

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Yes:

2. d. (iv) Use in a virtualized environment. This license allows you to install only one instance of the software for use on one device, whether that device is physical or virtual. If you want to use the software on more than one virtual device, you must obtain a separate license for each instance.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/OEM/Windows/10/Useterms_OEM_Windows_10_English.htm

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Elly

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There is only one license, the one that was for Windows 8.1, that was upgraded to W10. W10 was not a separately purchased or ‘free’ operating system, installed on a separately purchased Windows 8.1, where two separate licenses would exist… only the upgrade of the one, single license was free.

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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Rick Corbett, b

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anonymous wrote:

In any event, none of this is helping the OP solve his problem.

And the problem is purely of a practical nature? Whilst there is a clear and obvious distinction between ‘activation’ vs ‘licensing’, I’ve never known AskWoody posts give advice about circumventing MS licensing… thus, in effect, I believe these discussions *are* helping the OP… if only to understand the differences.

MS licensing *is* arcane in many areas and many contributors will have different, possibly valuable, experiences. Surely discussion is helpful?

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If you can find your key, you can install with a generic key https://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/#Evaluation

After installation you can update the key with your legit key (may require phone activation)

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