Recovery media creation after upgrade to Windows 8.1

[sandnurse]

My computer is a year old and came with Windows 8 Pro 64 bit. I made my Recovery Media.  Then, they offered an upgrade to a free 8.1 Pro 64 bit.  I took that.  You cannot use the HP recovery media App again to make an 8.1 disk.  I went online to try to do it and could have done it, but I only have my OEM # to put in and that does not work.  No new Product Key # came with the 8.1 version free download.  I tried using the Product Key that came with the computer Windows 8 and it did not work.   How can one now create Recovery Media for the free Windows 8.1 which has no new product key?  I can only recover to Windows 8.  How worthless is that?

[Dragon-Fur]

SandNurse,

Welcome to the HP Forum.

I may be missing the point; please bear with me.

You can make one set of Recovery Media - and you have a set to install Windows 8.

That may be enough since you may never need to use it anyway.

Standard Refresh - Windows Repair

Refresh Your PC to Resolve Problems (Windows 😎

You might take a look at the following method to to create a Custom Refresh Image.  This Image does not include your User (personal file) data; the Image does include the Windows Operating System and your installed program set.   It is like a "Windows Repair Image" with Benefits.

Custom Refresh -- How to reinstall Windows 8 without losing your files and programs

I can post example folder setup and commands, if you like.

Create the Image on the main disk and then store it on an external drive or NAS for safe keeping. 

You can create as many updated Images as you like, each in it's own folder. 

Do remember: you must keep separate backups of your User (personal) data (File History), plus an extra USB stick copy of the "real important stuff" that you cannot live without.

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The full disk Image is still around, too. 

For Windows 8.1, Image creation has been moved out of the oddly named "Windows 7 File Recovery" (Windows 😎 and into the File History Menu (lower left of page).

You can update the Image as desired, although old data may be overwritten.

Click the Kudos Thumbs-Up!

It is a nice way to say “Thank You" for the help.

Although I strive to reflect HP's best practices, I do not work for HP. 

[sandnurse]

Thank you. If I needed,  a disk to restart my computer I would have to use the Windows 8 disk created when I got the computer in the past year.  You can only do that once, which is fine.  I want to do 8.1 now.  I keep my important docs and pics etc backed up on Flash Drives, DVD's and in the cloud.  I was thinking that there would be a situation where you would need a start up disk.  This happened to me once when I installed a new Roxio program and it knocked ntldr off my Compaq Evo computer and I could not get on it.  They acknowledged later that was the issue.  I did not have a start up disk since it went out the door with my tech apparently.  I guess I could start it with the Windows 8 disk maybe.  I envision that there is or will be a virus that will not allow you to start your computer without a start up disk.

Windows does have a site for you to create recovery media for 8.1, but you have to have  an 8.1 product ID number to make the Windows 8.1 disk.  My product ID is still the OEM ID that came with my new Windows 8 computer; so, that gets you nowhere.  Others are concerned that no product Id came with the free download for 8.1 that was being pushed heavily by Microsoft.  I think they would like to forget about Windows 8 and move on.

[sandnurse]

I did do a File HIstory Back up to another drive, but don't keep it on.  It did copy a lot of files.  Would that be useable to start the computer if I could not get up and running?  It was not clear to me if operating system files were on the backup.

[Dragon-Fur]

SandNurse,

File History is a "user" backup service for files includes in your "Libraries".  You can change what is backed up in File History by adding (or excluding) folders and files to Libraries.

NOTES:

• File History can only include One Drive folders that are set to "Available Off line".  This is an essential change in the manner in which OneDrive (previously SkyDrive) manages folders and files for 8.1.
• File History is not intended to back up or restore the Operating System.
• You can add C:\SWSetup to your Libraries as a means to back up your Updates and patches.

File History is a daily backup that can be set to automatically set to back up what ever files have been modified since the last backup.    The time between backups can be set between 10 minutes to daily.

Click the Kudos Thumbs-Up!

It is a nice way to say “Thank You" for the help.

Although I strive to reflect HP's best practices, I do not work for HP. 

[sandnurse]

Thank you. I think I understand file history . Also, I only have one hard drive and I have not created any partitions, but apparently the operating system creates one for itself.  When you cannot access your OS on a failed start-up, you would need a disk to start the computer. Perhaps the Windows 8 disk would work.  Microsoft and HP seem to discourage ordering a start-up disk that was not created on your computer. It is a conundrum.  When they gave us the free 8.1, they should have allowed our Windows 8 Product ID to work.  If you purchased 8.1 on your computer or bought it, you can make Recovery Media/start-up disk.

[Zaurhp]

Hi.I wrote Windows 8.1 pro,but I couldnt find product id on disc.Only was written here like that.What can I do right now?I have only disc.

DVD kIT 748765-k21

DVD 748766-K21

[Nuccii]

You can create a bootable USB drive by going to Action Center, Recovery, Create recovery drive.  This must be done on a USB Flash Drive.  You can boot from this flash dlrive to repairs, Refresh or Reset your computer.

To find your embedded Windows Key, download and run Belarc Advisor.  It will give you all sorts of info about your computer including the Windows Key.  Do it now!

What you received from from Microsoft Win 8 Pro to Win 8.1 Pro was an update and not an upgrade.

Another suggestion that saves a lot of headaches should anything go wrong is to download and Macrium Reflect (Free).  With this you can create an image of your hard drive to an external hard drive.  Your can restore your computer to what it was when you created the image file even if you change the hard drive  Don't forget to create a Macrium Rescue Disk to boot from.  Create a new image every week or so.  In otherwords, it creates an exact duplicate of your hard drive to restore.

[sandnurse]

Thank you.  I did make a windows 8 disc as soon as my computer arrived a year and a half ago.  You can only make one.  When they offered the free upgrade, I did not get a new serial number for Windows 8.1.  According to what I have read, if you use the Windows 8 disc, it takes your computer back to Windows 8.  I guess then you would have to go buy Windows 8.1 if you wanted it or just wait for Windows 9.

[Nuccii]

Windows 8.1 is a free update from Windows 8.   It will use the same key that is embedded in your BIOS

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/update-from-windows-8-tutorial

The last part of my post suggested to use Macrium Reflect (Free).  It saves a lot of time rather than playing around with reinstalling Windows and going through all thos updates again.