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Recently bought a Lenovo X1 Carbon (1st Gen), which has Windows 8 Pro OEM installed on it.

I want to wipe the SSD and put Linux on it, but I'd like to know I can always restore the original Windows 8 operating system just in case I need that.

Given that my Windows 8 Pro is an OEM version, from Lenovo, I understand that my Windows 8 product key will NOT work on a downloaded retail ISO of Windows 8 Pro - such as is offered by the download utilities available on the Microsoft website.

I've read around a fair bit, and it seems that to get reinstallation media, you need to ask Lenovo for the OEM version of Windows 8 - which my OEM key WOULD work on.

However, my last laptop was also a Lenovo - a Lenovo Edge model. It came with Windows 7 preinstalled, but the box included DVD media of Windows 8 Pro OEM in order to give customers the option of upgrading to Windows 8 if they wanted.

I dug the old DVDs up. Two discs - both have "Operating System Recovery Disc - Windows 8 Pro (OEM Activation 3.0 Required)" printed on them. Both also have "For use with a licensed Lenovo PC."

This seems promising to me. What I want to know is, is this recovery disc a generic one for all Lenovo PCs which come with OEM Windows 8 installed, or is there a custom Windows 8 Pro OEM Recovery Disc for each different model?

Will these DVDs - which came with my Thinkpad Edge, also work on my X1?

If, after months using Linux, I decided to install Windows 8 on my X1 using these DVDs, would it work, and would the OEM product key in my present installation of Windows 8 Pro successfully activate that installation of Windows 8 Pro?

fixer1234
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breakingbits
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  • Why are you going to use an OEM disk when Microsoft offers the installation disk [here](http://superuser.com/questions/78761/where-can-i-download-windows-7-legally-from-microsoft/1046062#1046062) – Ramhound Mar 05 '16 at 17:46
  • Factory recovery disks are usually locked to a certain small set of hardware profiles, I doubt they will work on that system. – Moab Mar 05 '16 at 17:47
  • @Ramhound I didn't know about that, but it also looks like it's not really "offered" but a hack. – breakingbits Mar 05 '16 at 17:57
  • Whats the difference. Its directly from Microsoft – Ramhound Mar 05 '16 at 22:40
  • @Moab See answer. It actually worked. – breakingbits Mar 06 '16 at 01:55
  • @Ramhound The difference is, your solution may run foul of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. – breakingbits Mar 06 '16 at 01:55
  • @breakingbits - How? Microsoft provides .ISO files for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 for free. The act you "quoted" is with regards to government systems. You clearly don't understand that act. – Ramhound Mar 06 '16 at 02:53
  • It doesn't just apply to government systems. It famously applies extremely broadly. Hence, Aaron Swartz was charged with the CFAA for downloading from JSTOR, and Weev was charged for taking advantage of borked user account control access to ipad accounts. You clearly don't understand that act. – breakingbits Mar 06 '16 at 04:04

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Answer: yes.

I decided to try it out, based on this answer, which seemed to suggest it would work ok.

As it turns out, it worked. I didn't even have to enter the product key - Windows 8 seems to have read it from my BIOS. So I was able to reinstall Windows 8 Pro on an X1 using the OEM discs from an Edge E545. According to the linked answer, Lenovo OEM discs are fairly lenient on this point. YMMV.

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breakingbits
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  • Then Lenovo changed their recovery discs, this did not work for Windows 7 recovery media, I tried it on a X201 using media from a different model. – Moab Mar 06 '16 at 13:19
  • Important to point out that I can only vouch for these specific models - an E545 and an X1 Carbon circa 2012. Also, the E545 had been a Windows 7 machine - but the supplier included the Windows 8 OEM discs as an optional upgrade, so this may mean they were atypical installation media. Footnote: it even allowed me to update to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 8. I'm now installing Linux. :) – breakingbits Mar 06 '16 at 14:22