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I have a dell laptop that came with windows 8 (OEM) I upgraded to 8.1 and yesterday I had to reinstall the windows so I created a windows 8.1 usb using an iso from the internet (windows 8.1 pro 64 bits which is the same version that I had) but my windows 8.1 installation didn't recognize my windows 8 OEM key so I used the Windows 8.1 default key to complete my install, off course the default key is invalid but my windows 8.1 wont accept the OEM key that I found cracking my bios....

How can I make windows 8.1 accept my OEM key?

Pinte Laurentiu
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  • Possible duplicate of [Can I use an oem windows 8 key to activate windows 8.1?](http://superuser.com/questions/665215/can-i-use-an-oem-windows-8-key-to-activate-windows-8-1), [Windows 8.1 fresh install with Windows 8 licence](http://superuser.com/questions/661261/windows-8-1-fresh-install-with-windows-8-licence) and others. Win8.1's installer won't accept the 8.0 key and you'll have to use the generic one instead (like you did), but 8.1 should get activated later if you enter the 8.0 key. If you're facing problems just use phone activation. – Karan May 30 '15 at 07:16
  • The proposed duplicate is about a different situation and doesn't provide a solution for this question. – fixer1234 Jun 01 '15 at 00:48
  • The second duplicate (http://superuser.com/questions/697253/clean-install-windows-8-1-or-windows-8-from-oem-key) does provide a solution. Essentially you install as you have done using a generic key and then reactivate windows. – Mokubai Jun 01 '15 at 06:40

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Windows 8.1 is not Windows 8, and the license should not work. (generally)

What you would need to do is install Windows 8, reuse your license (OEM key) and then upgrade to 8.1 from there.

Although, there are various work-arounds that work at least sometimes.

Austin T French
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