Dowgrade to windows 8 but no cd key

[NeXorek]

Hello

My dad brought his laptop some time ago now and it came pre-installed with Windows 8. Some time later Windows 10 came out and we decided to upgrade... for the better...

We've had a lot of problems since then but never had time to get around it and downgrade. Now that I decided to do that I found out that there is no Windows KEY on the bottom of the laptop and i'm almost certain that I need it to downgrade from 10 to 8/8.1

Is there a way to find the key so or is there a way to install the old OS without the key? 

Any help is appriciated!

[Geek26]

The Windows product key for Windows 8 PC's should be embedded on the computers motherboard meaning if you reinstall Windows 8 it should automatically detect the key. 

[CherylG · Accepted solution]

You might want to try HP Recovery Manager to reinstall Windows 8. You may not have all of the options after upgrading- for best results I recommend looking at the section "Recovery when Windows does not start correctly".

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03489643

[NeXorek]

Hello Geek26

Ah okay I've read that but wanted to make sure. Okay I'm making a bootable USB at the moment with windows. Does it matter if i install windows 8.1 or 8 as the computer came preinstalled with 8?

[CherylG]

Yes it does make a difference- Windows 8.1 usually won't accept the Windows 8 key. I suggest to first look at using Recovery Manager in my link above.

[NeXorek]

Hello CherylG

Thank you for that video it made things much easier and gave me a lot of help! I am now restoring factory settings, a bit diffrent on win 10 but manged to get there

Thanks for the help will update after the install it done!