Recovery of HP ElitePad 1000 G2 - Win 8.1 Pro OEM

[Anonymous]

Hey to all,

I have big trouble to bring back my Tablets to Win 8.1 Pro OEM. I have 3 tablets available with the same configuration. 2 of them were test devices and temporarily installed with Windows 8.1 Enterprise. Unfortunately my colleague deleted the whole hard disk. Now I'm trying to install Win 8.1 Pro and I would like to activate the Windows with the OEM Key from the UEFI BIOS. Please keep in mind, I have one working tablet, maybe I can use this tablet to restore the others.

These are the steps I tried (2 days of frustrating):

1. Install Windows 8.1 Pro and try to insert the OEM Key from UEFI BIOS => Windows doesn't accept the key

2. Copy the whole hard disk from the working tablet to another one with "Paragon Partition Manager". The Windows is working fine and the tablet is usable BUT the Windows is not activated of course. I tried to insert the OEM Key from UEFI Bios => Windows doesn't accept the key

3. Reset Windows: I used the built-in functionality from Windows to reset the whole environment (Remove everything and reinstall Windows) without success.

Any other ideas? Is there a recovery option with the "install.wim" in the recovery partition I can use?

Best regards and thank you in advance for your help,
Benni

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, Benni:

You would have to use an OEM W8.1 Pro installation disk or flash drive in order for the OEM key to work.

If you are using a retail installation disk or the W8.1 media you downloaded from Microsoft, those will not work.

I suggest you contact HP technical support for the country you live in, and order a set of HP W81. Pro OEM recovery disks for at least one of the machines.

Then you can use the set on the others.

You will need to have the serial number of the PC handy to give to the customer services rep.

[Anonymous]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your fast feedback. I will contact the HP Support, that's really annoying that I can't reinstall the Tablet by my own.

Best regards,

Benni

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Benni.

I agree.

I have no idea why we can't use the W8.1 file we can download.

It is useless without a product key so I don't understand why Microsoft makes things so difficult.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have received the recovery USB stick from hp now and the installation is done but still not activated. Is there something I can do to activate it ?

Best regards, Benni

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Benni:

Unfortunately, I don't know what you need to do in order to activate the installation.

Activation should not have been necessary.

Are you sure HP sent you the same version of W8.1 that the BIOS' product key is good for?

I suggest you contact HP support and explain the issue to them.

Best Regards,

Paul

[ThanhLuu]

I have the same problem. 

I received USB from hp but windows can not be actived.

[Anonymous]

Hi, the installation with the USB stick received by HP wasn't successful. I used the "OEM" Windows installation from a friend. Very complicated transfer from CD to USB but the OEM version worked for me with automatic activation.

Best regards,
Benni