My father has a 7 year old laptop with Windows 8. I want to set up the laptop from scratch because it has become terribly slow. Windows 8 was already preinstalled at that time. So I don't have a key or anything. How can I now activate Windows 8 after the installation?
You don't need a key if windows 8 was already on.
Yes, but I don't have a cd with Window 8. Or can I just install it like Windows 7 using a USB stick?
Yes. Windows 8 has expired, so get at least 8.1
You probably have a recovery partition on your hard drive on which your Win8 is on.
Yes, you can also use the stick.
Ok then I'll try it that way.
But I wanted to run dban over the entire disk. How then does Windows 8 know that it was already activated? Or do you no longer have to activate it?
Usually, all information required to restore the delivery status is stored on the recovery partition. You can also read out the key beforehand with a tool… For safety's sake
With a Win 8 Key you could also install Windows 10 right away. That would be a better idea. With many Win 8 devices, a key is also stored in the BIOS, so that you don't have to enter any more.
And what tool would that be?
