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UEFI Bypassing OEM Key Durining Windows 8 Pro Installation

We (Kanzen Solutions and I) ran into an issue with a new laptop the other day.   When trying to install Windows 8  Pro (OEM) onto a laptop which used OEM Activation, the Windows 8 Pro installer pulled the key from the BIOS and once installed was activated as Windows 8 and not Windows 8 Pro.

To get around this issue, you need to create a text file called “PID.TXT” which need to be put into the router of the Sources folder.   To this you will need to created a bootable Windows 8 Pro USB Key, and create the “PID.TXT” onto the key within the Sources folder.

The PID file is formatted like so:

[PID] Value=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Where the value is the Product Key for your version of windows you are installing.

UPDATE:  You can extract the PID from the BIOS using a tool, located here.

SOURCE: IT Pro Guru, Microsoft Technet

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