How have back win 8.1 on factory downgraded.

[Madk71]

Hi, I got a some Hp, most of them, like my 280 G1, have the win 8.1 p logo, no COA, but on the factory label is clearly reported "OS: WIN 8.1 Pro downgraded to Win 7 Pro" and for this reason if I try to factory restore the pc, I get always win 7 pro.
I really need to uniform all of them to win 8.1 pro and have the chance, if I need to restore the pc, to have win 8.1 pro instead of win 7 pro.There is any way to obtain back the win 8.1 pro and the recovery partition with win 8.1 pro?

Thanks for the help
Kind Regards

[WAWood]

@Madk71

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

Most likely, there is no way to put Win8.1 on these PCs because they were downgraded at the factory and, as you indicated, the recovery function will only restore Win7.

You can check with HP Customer Support and see if they offer anything.

If you live in the US or Canada, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/phone-assist.html#section1

If you live elsewhere, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-contact-us.html

NOTE: After you get through, stay on the line until you are finally able to talk to some one -- it can take a while!

If you have trouble finding a phone number, then try: 1 (800) 474-6836

Good Luck

[Madk71]

Thank you for the answer. Just last thing, how can I do If the hd crash? I mean, I haven't the recovery dvd anymore(they are ureadable despite the fact I stored them carefully) and I can't make a second copy of the restore media. So without a COA on the pc case, what I suppose to do? It is strange that a company like HP create so much hassle with licence. At that time who bought the pc probably was afraid about windows 8.1 (and he was right), so why give me yhe right to downgrade and don't give me the rigth licence.
Thanks for you time.

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@Madk71

There is no COA on PCs that come with Win8 or newer preinstalled because the OEM embeds the product key in the UEFI firmware of the PC.  

When you do a system restore, using the OEM utility, it automatically retrieves that key from the firmware, so there is no need for you to enter it.

But COAs were included with Win7 and prior, and when Win7 was working, you could have downloaded and run a keyfinder utility that would have displayed that key and even created a file you could have printed.

So, while Win7 and Win7 BOTH work with UEFI, it's possible that the original Win8 product key is still embedded in the UEFI and, you might then be able to retrieve it -- using this tool:  http://www.tenforums.com/software-apps/2577-showkey.html

HOWEVER, OEM keys are Windows-OS-version specific, meaning a Win8 key will only work with Win8, and a Win7 key, with Win7.  So, if HP replaced the Win8 UEFI key with Win7, then you would not be able to use that key to activate Win7.

Also, those keys will only work with HP OEM versions fo Win8, although for Win8.1, I have read that the Windows version you can download from Microsoft WILL work with OEM keys.  You can download an image of Windows 8.1 using this tool:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

Good Luck

[Madk71]

Hi,

Thank you so much.