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[pxystus545]

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[The_AgedKid]

Im preety sure what you call the "CD-Key" is not stored in the motherboard. Anything stored in the motherboard would only be like the BIOS. So i dont think it will cause any trouble.

[pxystus545]

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[The_AgedKid]

I thought the CD-Key was stored IN the BIOS.

 

No I dont believe so. That wouldnt work because then for example, a motherboard that i bought and manually instally windows isnt effected by some key in the motherboard. Furthermore, i dual booted it with ubuntu. In the end, what im trying to say is that I think the CD-Key is not stored in the BIOS.... But just because im starting to doubt myself i recommend waiting for somebody else to pop in.

[pxystus545]

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[Opask]

No it definitely is not stored in the bios. The CD-key should be on a sticker on your original case. The one your motherboard came with. Without the key you wont be able to activate windows.

 

Edit: If you bought a windows 8 installer CD it will be on the box the CD is in.

 

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[pxystus545]

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[Opask]

Hi. My old case (the one the motherboard came in) doesn't have a key on it, but I used a program a couple of months or so back to retrieve my key. What you're saying is when I get the new copy of windows it will ask me for a key, and I use the old one? I'm assuming this will allow windows to work on the old motherboard.

 

Yes. Use the same product key.

[Jarsky]

Nothing from Windows is stored on your motherboards BIOS.

When you activate an OEM copy of Windows it gets the UEID (hardware id) of your motherboard and uses that as part of the activation code together with your license key to create the activation string that allows it to show as registered.

 

You can always double check the CD key as well by using a cd key reader (theres a software called Microsoft Toolkit) which can read it from Windows itself, so you can verify that is the correct CD key before reimaging.