Requesting a Windows 8 Reinstallation DVD or Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD [Downgrade Rights]

Thanks for setting this up - I just was going through the same problem. All I want is the ability to reinstall from scratch - I normally do this on receiving a new machine and I certainly want to have the option in case something goes wrong.

I agree that we should have the ability outside of the US to order a reinstallation disc when we order our pcs.

I take a backup on day one of my machine, but it would be much nicer to have a hardcopy disc.

I voted. :)

I think it's unfair that I bought my laptop under the impression I was able to downgrade to WIndows 7, then back up to Windows 8 free of cost... only to be told that my computer is compatible with Windows 7 and that I need to buy it.

And even if I do buy Windows 7, I have to buy WIndows 8 AGAIN to go back up when the games/programs I use are able to run on Windows 8.

It's really frustrating.

I filled out the Win 7 reinstallation disk order form (USA) last Friday immediately upon opening the box and retrieving the service tag on the new system and I explained I wished to do a clean install of Win 8 Pro on my new XPS 8500. I got an email earlier this week from Dell saying that because I CHOSE to order a system without Reinstallation media that I would have to pay for the disk. (Of course, I did not choose to order a system without the disk...Dell forces you to do this in the configurator).   I called the number in the email and was routed to Sm/Medium Business Expired Warranty. The tech said that was because the phone system had only seen my older Dell which has an expired warranty. He looked up the information on my new system and said that Microsoft is not allowing OEMs to provide Reinstallaton media for Win 8. He said Microsoft has provided a "new" way to do a clean install and he transferred me to Employee Software Support Program to be walked through how to do it (the stimated wait time was very long as it was after Texas business hours so I have to call again during their business hours). I asked the Expired Small/Medium Business Warranty tech about how I go about exercising my downgrade rights. He said I would be walked through that also by Employee Software Support Program and there would be NO charge to me for me to exercise those rights.   Thanksgiving got in the way of my calling during Texas business hours which are bad for me in my time zone but I will call soon. If I cannot easily do a clean install of Win 8 Pro, or easily exercise my downgrade rights, I will be sending this new computer back to Dell.  I wanted to do the clean install IMMEDIATELY upon receiving the computer and could not. After using Win 8 for six days now,  I cannot abide by it. I must be able to downgrade until Microsoft makes Win 8 more compatible with desktop systems.

Thanks for this information, I am going to badger all my Dell contacts and ask for more information so that I can at least understand how to do it and write some documentation. I also expressed the same sentiments "If I cannot easily do a clean install of Win 8 Pro, or easily exercise my downgrade rights, I will be sending this new computer back to Dell."

Wait for a bit. I have had no sleep all night and it is 7:20AM here now. I am waiting on a Dell Supervisor to call me with the results of his conference with his team and Dell management in regard to my reasonable request for (1) a Win 8 Pro reinstallation disk and (2) a Win 7 Pro Reinstallation disk so that I can exercise my Microsoft downgrade rights.

I stayed up until 4AM my time to call the Employee Software Support Program (that would be 8AM Texas time).  The Dell phone system sent me instead to the special XPS hardware support queue in India. The tech insisted he was trained to help me with software support also and that I did not need to call the Employee Software Support Program.

He proceeded to first tell me that I cannot get a Win 8 Reinstallation disk but also said there is no "new way" to do a clean install of Win 8.  I told him if that was the case then I will return this machine immediately. He tried to convince me to do a factory restore. I said no, the first thing a knowledgeable user does when they get a new machine is a clean install  of Windows. I said I am already irritated with Dell because you gave me no way to order a reinstallation disk when I configured this machine. I had to wait until the machine came to get the service tag number so I could fill out the Windows 7 request form on Dell's support site which meant days wasted before I would have the disk and now you tell me I can't get the disk at all.  I mentioned this forum, and your Wiki, and posts about your difficulty in getting clear answers from Dell regarding Win 8 reinstallation disks.

He then backtracked and said he could send me a reinstallation disk. I told him I wanted to exercise my downgrade rights to Win 7 Pro and thus needed that disk also. He said I would have to purchase Win 7 Pro at a cost of $100!  I told him that I believed Dell was in violation of its agreement with Microsoft which gives me the right to downgrade to Win 7 Pro if I find Win 8 to be too difficult to work with at this time and that I purchased Win 8 Pro instead of Win 8 Home expressly to get these Microsoft downgrade rights.

He said he could send a Win 7 Pro disk but not also a Win 8 disk and that if I downgraded that I would have to remain with Win 7 forever! Plus, I would have to pay for the Win 7 disk.  I protested, he put me on hold and spoke to his supervisor and eventually got his supervisor out of a meeting to talk to me. The upshot is that the supervisor said he needed two hours to check with his team and Dell management regarding downgrade rights which he claims I don't have but Dell would send me a Win 7 disk if I insisted.  I asked him how could Dell say that I have no right to upgrade back to Win 8 Pro at a future date as Microsoft says I have that right. He had no answer to this question.

I told him that he had better get his facts entirely straight before calling me back because I was going to post any Dell reply on this issue here and on other forums.  Plus, I made it very clear that although I like this new machine (the hardware is not the issue), that I would be returning it if Dell will not send me a Win 8 reinstallation disk and also honor my downgrade rights.

Well, it has been three hours now and I am very sleepy so I am off to sleep and I don' know when I'll hear from him.  I will post when (if) I do. I told him that Dell should do a better job of reading its forums as they would know others are upset about these two related issues.  I hope the Supervisor did not just do a blow off of me. I will be very angry if that is the case and I don't hear back from him.  I've had experience with Dell Hell in the past and if this turns out to be a blow off  well....

That is pathetic. I had a feeling phone support would be like that. I am trying to ask for some more information.

I have not heard back from the supervisor, Raul, but I did get an email at 10:20 AM (when I was finally sleeping) from the original tech in India. (Raul had said he would get back to me no later than 8AM my time if I could manage to stay awake that long but he did not call me back by 8:30AM when I finally went to sleep).

The email is an AUTOMATED response. At least it gives me a Service Request number but other than that it is worthless. It says:

We are in the process of resolving the issue you are currently facing. However, if you still require assistance with Service Request Number 867812745, please forward this email to US_CTS_XPS_Support@dell.com and include the following information in the body of the email:

1. Any new symptom you have noticed other than what was discussed in our previous interaction
2. Best time to call you when you will be at your system and available to troubleshoot with the technician
3. Phone number(s) where you can be reached
4. Service Request Number (or) your System Service Tag

Your satisfaction is very important to us. "

The first two sentences contradict each other, thus, making no sense.

I don't need to troubleshoot anything. Nor do I need to be at my system when the technician calls. I simply need the two reinstallation disks. The supervisor, Raul, should have sent me an email. Rather telling that all I got was an AUTOMATED response from the original tech not from Supervisor Raul. And this was after asking me to remain awake for two more hours while he solved the issue and called me back. Appears to be a skillful blow off...but I hope I am wrong.

I am standing on the doorstep of Dell Hell. I will NOT enter this very stressful, long, long time to resolve satisfactorily, horrible place again with Dell. Last time, seven years ago, I was in Dell Hell for 5 months (this was after a year of repeated various hardware failures on a one year old Dimension XPS machine that had 3 year extended warranty).  After the hardware problems were not resolved, I was sent to Small/Medium Business Resolution Expert Center in Round Rock.  It took five months to get satisfaction out of Dell and that was with dealing with supervisors in the USA. 

I really like the machine (it's a Spec Ed XPS 8500 with the 256GB SSD) but I am not entering Dell Hell again. I will forward the email, but it is not easy for me to say exactly when I will be at the system, and unnecessary, as all I need are the disks.  If Dell is hoping to stall resolution of this issue until it is too late to return the system that is not going to work.  I want to keep the computer but I require that Dell honor my request for a reinstallation disk AND honor my Microsoft downgrade rights and do so SOON as I face a deadline for returning this machine.

Well, I had a lengthy post regard this and some moderator deleted it referencing the TOU. I still cannot figure out why since there was nothing in there that was in violation. I'm actively working on this and I'll update when I get more information.

Ted

thanks for the links, Philip. I'm working through this right now with my Dell Rep. I'll post when I get the answer.

It would be great if my last post that had relevant information was not deleted by a moderator.

Ted

Looking around I got this information:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/windows-8-product-key/d4c5c0c1-825d-47f2-9bed-d9625c7e68ff

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/no-coa-included-with-pre-built-pc-does-it-matter/3f3868a2-1e0c-4429-9a69-2986e5f33fc4

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/39551-No-way-to-do-a-clean-install-on-an-OEM-computer 

From Andre Da Costas reply:

How to reinstall Windows 8

You have a couple options:

If you would like to reinstall Windows 8, which means removing apps and personal files and settings, you can use reset and refresh. This is equivalent to a clean install.

To do it, do the following:

· Press Windows key + i on your keyboard to show the Charms bar (If you are using a touchscreen: Touch the right edge of your screen and swipe your finger to the left)

· Click Settings

· Click Change PC settings

· Click General in the left column

· Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, click Get started

Then follow the instructions that will be provided on the screen to reinstall Windows on your PC.

Option 2:

If you create a installation DVD or Bootable thumbdrive, you can use that to reinstall Windows. First, you will need to reinstall the qualifying license, then start the upgrade again to Windows 8. Qualifying license means you will either need to reinstall Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7.

Option 3:

A workaround for this situation is to create a system image of Windows 8 just after you have upgraded. So if your drive does crash, you can simply restore the image on a new hard disk or restore the image on the same drive if you just want to reinstall Windos 8.

See the following for instructions about how to create a system image of your Windows 8 installation:

http://www.notebooks.com/2009/10/24/how-to-backup-your-installation-of-windows-7/

(references Windows 7, but the same principles apply to Windows 8).

Not sure if it works, I tried it with the Developer preview and it told me to insert the installation media... I don't have a new computer with Windows 8 OEM so can't test it out further.

my original post below from yesterday with what were likely the objectionable parts removed.

Ted

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I've been wresting with this since nov-15 when we received our win8 systems. After leaving 5-6 vmails and sending 2 emails to my Dell rep over 3 days with no reply at all, I ended up calling Customer Care . I could easily go on for pages how bad that 58 minute experience of incorrect information, no help, and the often repeated canned text phrase apologizing for the inconvenience. However, if you're readying this thread, you probably already know.

Prior to purchasing the systems I verified with Dell that I could indeed by Win8 Pro and downgrade to Win7 pro. It's important to note that both my Account Rep and the first Dell licensing person that he contacted both gave me a lot of bad and incorrect information regarding the downgrade. After sighting Microsoft's website, online articles and previous downgrade history correcting them, they eventually they got a hold of an onsite Microsoft licensing person. He did verify that we can purchase Win8 Pro and downgrade to Win7 Pro (without addition cost). If you run into this I think it's best to get them to get someone else on the phone or check with someone. My helpdesk person tried a few different people to see if he could get a more informed person to no avail.

The biggest problem here is the Win8 key is stored on the BIOS. Most of the people you talk to at Dell are basing their win8 info on prior history and will give you instructions to use the key from the sticker on the case. There is no sticker with a product key. It's stored on the PC itself.

Supposedly the solution to this is a Dell Win7 Pro Disk that will grab the Win8 key from the bios and inject it into the Win7 license. This could be complete wrong, but I was given such repeatedly bad info up to that point and this was the only solution that sounded possible, so I went with it. I could easily see a little app that access the bios and grabs the key for you. Is it right? I don't know yet. Still trying to work this out.

I have this supposed Win7 CD\DVD being delivered. I also finally got a hold of my Dell rep today (and he was not out on vacation all last week for Thanksgiving and had no reason for not calling me back). He's checking with the Microsoft licensing person to see what I need to do.

I'll update when I have more info.

A big thanks to Philip for the info and for starting this thread. When I purchased the PCs on nov-5 there was 0 info out there regarding Dell and win8 licensing.
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OK I thought I would have an answer to post here today, but so far I don't. The Sales Rep got a hold of some licensing folks and I spoke with him just a bit ago. They said the Windows 8 Product Key should be saved in the BIOS and I would just need to copy that down and then enter it into the Win7 install. We just combed through it. It isn't there.

Back to the Dell Drawing board. I'll update when I know more.

Ted

For WIndows 7, the Dell Reinstallation should automatically activate and you shouldn't require to input a product key however you require a Dell Reinstalaltion DVD for this. The problem is getting one from Dell as you know.

For Windows 8, you can try running Belarc Advisor to see if it gives you the product key. The problem is can you do anything with this product key if Belarc Advisor does anything? One thing to try would be to download the Windows 8 setup files from here and try and input the product key you get from the Belarc Advisor to see if you can get the setup files relevant to your product key. I think it will say invalid key however. If it does allow you to get the setup files then you may be able to perfom A Clean Install. I would make the recovery media by Dell DataSafe and kepe it safe just in case it lets you download media and then later doesn't work.

Either way you need to get a Windows 7 Professional 64 bit with Service Pack 1 Reinstallation DVD from Dell to perform the downgrade. If possibile get a WIndows 8 one also.