Windows 8.1 Question?

The link does not work again Phillip, it takes me to a 404 error page. Send it to me again. What is a OEM license? Sorry about the n00b question.

Since you are not totally sure. I will go to the official Windows forum and ask and hopefully you can test the other scenarios soon. I would like to know if it does work or not before downloading this.

The link does not work again Phillip, it takes me to a 404 error page. Send it to me again. What is a OEM license? Sorry about the n00b question. Since you are not totally sure. I will go to the official Windows forum and ask and hopefully you can test the other scenarios soon. I would like to know if it does work or not before downloading this.

As this download link is new I doubt they have done such testing on the Windows forum yet either but its worthwhile asking. We are usually better at trying things with OEM licenses on the Dell and HP Forums as most these systems have OEM licenses.

The OEM license is the Original Equipment Manufacturer license. It is the license which comes with Windows systems sold tied with hardware e.g. the Windows license which accompanies a Dell computer. The Dell Windows license is an OEM license. This differs from the retail license sold directly by Microsoft in that the product key is hidden within the system BIOS and that support for the product comes from Dell and not Microsoft (although you can ask for free support on either Dell or Microsoft forums). It comes with the additional limitation that it cannot be transferred from one computer to another.

The Windows 8.0/8.1 downloader was awful because it required input of a product key and rejected the OEM product keys. The Windows 8.1 downloader also rejected the Windows 8.0 product key. There was also the problem that one could not select to download 64 Bit or 32 Bit Windows or language. There were frequent badly worded errors. The newer downloader allows for select of language, version of Windows and architecture and requires no product key. The .iso accepts both 8.0 and 8.1 retail keys during installation but I have not got to test an OEM license yet.

Thanks for the explanation Phillip. It's pretty clear that my product key is an OEM license, which still makes things unclear if this will work or not since you said you have not tested it yet. Any chance you can test it Phillip?

Also, it is clear that this thing is an installation iso of Windows 8.1, but I only need something like this so I can access the "remove everything and reinstall windows" function, are you saying with this (If it works) I will be able to access this function with this particular iso??

With so many unclear answers as of now, I am not gonna take action just yet. It's better to actually know if something like this will work before doing anything... and who's to say that Windows may do another update at some point and we are back on the same boat once again.

I also have another question. Are you able to do this download on any computer? It's just incase "if" my computer ended up breaking down, I could do this download on another computer.

Unfortunately I am abroad now in the US and don't have much Dell hardware to test with. I only have my Dell Venue 8 Pro with an OEM license at present and an older D series Latitude system with a retail license. I don't have a micro USB to USB cable to interface my USB to test an install on the Venue 8 Pro. I have posted on the Rockstar board, hopefully someone else will test. In any case some users have told me they are going to test. I may also buy a new system if I see a good deal in best buy for an XPS or Latitude laptop.

The new downloader should work on any Windows computer.

That's fair enough. I can always ask other people about this anyway. I have another question Phillip. When you are setting up the ISO on a USB Drive you said on a certain section about your BIOS being set to UEFI and all that stuff. What do I need to choose? My settings on my computer are set to:

Secure Boot: Disabled

Boot Mode: UEFI

Several people have reported and reported success. See here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/f/4677/p/19538385/20696934#20696934

I would use UEFI and Secure Boot unless you have issues.

Hey Phillip. I am also seeing negative reports about it too, but I know it's still an early stage. I am just hoping there will be a reliable solution to this problem.

Of course I have not done anything as of yet as my computer is fine, I am just really worried about having something to restore my computer to factory settings if there was ever anything to go wrong with it.
 I just like to be prepared.

You said to use UEFI & Secure Boot. My Secure Boot is off. Are you saying I should turn Secure Boot "On" before going through with this solution that you are talking about?

P.S. I seen that you linked to one of my guides on EightForums, I advise you edit your post there and remove the link to my guide. SevenForums/EightForums has a wealth of knowledge and are useful forums, so I wouldn't want you getting banned from it.

They don't like my guides on SevenForums/EightForums and banned me twice for linking to my own guides. This is despite at one point their guides linked to a page of mine on the Dell Community Forums for installation media where my guides filled in some major gap present in all other guides and had better answers to users questions at the time especially on the case of installation media as I find it the most important section of a Windows Reinstallation Guide. I guess the MVPs there seen my guides as competition for their own guides opposed to a compliment so be careful linking to them if you don't want banned.

UEFI and SecureBoot are newer security protocols and they also speed up the boot time of a Windows 8.1 system. In general they should be enabled; some people have had issues when they are enabled however which is partly why there is an option to disable them. I would recommend having them both set to enabled unless you experience an issue. Anyway if you download the .iso you can use the Rufus program to select between the two options of MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI Computers or GPT partition scheme for UEFI computer. Most computers sold with Windows 8.0/8.1 support the newer GPT partition scheme, which has some advantages mainly for large > 2 TB hard drives.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/10/08/gpt-in-windows.aspx

The newer installation media seems to be working well according to the feedback I've got. Most the problems with it can be resolved by inputting the generic product key and using RWEverything to open up ACPI tables and the MSDM tab and then using change key although this step seems unnecessary in most cases.

In your case it shouldn't matter as your drive is not over 3 TB  (this is where GPT is needed). There are some advantages with the GPT partition scheme however it can be more problematic for installation purposes in some cases.

The good news is that more and more people have posted success on my guide. I have added a poll for the other scenarios.

I have also decided to purchase a Dell Inspiron 5537 with Windows 8.1 taking advantage in some black Friday deals so will get down to some through testing of my own when it ships to me.

Thanks Phillip. I have a few more questions.

First and foremost, I am actually not trying to reinstall Windows 8.1, I am simply trying to use the "remove everything and reinstall windows" function as it is saying to me that some media files are missing after I updated. If I follow this guide and make the USB, will that function work when the USB is connected to my computer?

I also see you can put the ISO onto a DVD, is that not the easier option as with a USB, there seems to be a lot you have to do?

On the Eight Forums, someone posted me another guide on how to create the installation media and on the guide it had a completely different way of doing things. I am just wondering what is the right way as there is 2 different opinions now lol?

Here is the link to the other guide - www.eightforums.com/.../18309-windows-8-windows-8-1-iso-download-create.html

Let me know if you got that Inspiron and if so, how did the tests come along?? Any updates?

Its a bad question to ask me since I wrote my guide the way I like it and had a negative experience on eightforums, I'm naturally biased towards my guide... I recommend USB and Rufus as it helps with secureboot and uefi. If these security settings are enabled then you may not be able to boot from DVD. There's usually more burning errors to DVD. The USB is also faster to install from.

I never got the Inspiron, I had issues ordering with a UK card in the US. I'll wait till I'm back till I order so I can use my UK card and get a UK keyboard. I've got alot of feedback of success though. The .iso should make a bootable USB for a refresh.