How To Skip Product Key When Installing Windows 8

31

One of the things I quite miss the old way in Windows 7 is to skip the product key input during the installation. I believe there are reasons why Microsoft has put a stop sign on this but there are also valid situations where skipping a product key during the installation also makes sense.

Basically, you will need to extract the files from Windows 8 ISO file, add a file named ei.cfg in sources folder, with the following content, and re-wrap up the ISO file. (click here to follow step-by-step how to modify ISO file)

[EditionID]
Core
[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

Edition ID can be Core, Professional, or Enterprise, depending on the ISO image file you have. And Channel can be Retail or OEM, while VL can be set to 1 for true or 0 for false.

But I found it will be a lot easier if you have created the bootable USB drive, since you can create and edit the ei.cfg file directly into the USB file system.

Once you have the media ready, you can boot off it to start the installation process again. All steps are the same, until you reach to the point where you put in the product key. Now, you will see there is a Skip button you used to see all the time back to Windows 7 time. Clicking that will lead you to finish up the installation without typing in a valid product key.

Windows 8 Skip Product Key thumb - How To Skip Product Key When Installing Windows 8

Sorry, couldn’t take a clearer shot but you get the idea.

While skipping a product key during the installation is nice, it won’t get you too far as it used to be. You will need your windows 8 activated before customizing your Windows, i.e. PC Settings.

Go to System window (type “system” in start screen), you will notice the message indicating that Windows is not activated at near the bottom of the window.

Windows 8 is not activated thumb - How To Skip Product Key When Installing Windows 8

To activate, you can click the link “View details in Windows Activation”.

Windows 8 Activation Window thumb - How To Skip Product Key When Installing Windows 8

Note that the error code under Activation details section indicates that you don’t have a valid product key to activate your Windows 8 at the moment.

Click on Activate with a new key button, and that’s where you will see the following screen we mentioned in our early post how to change product key and activate windows 8.

Windows 8 Activate Window thumb1 - How To Skip Product Key When Installing Windows 8

/updated on Aug. 11, 2014/

If you have a valid product key for the edition windows you are using, you can add it in the PID.txt file in the \source folder to skip the product key entry step all together.

[PID]
Value=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

You can reuse the product key in the product ID file for multiple installations. The product key in the product ID file is only used to install Windows. This key is not used to activate Windows.

31 COMMENTS

  1. This method does not work with Window 8 Pro. I keep getting a message that the key provided (which I haven’t yet) is not compatible with this version of Windows.

  2. Thanks, It works.

    I set VL to 1 and it automatically skipped the product key screen.

    “Pro” did not worked, so I used “core” instead.

    Maybe I sould have used “Professional” – Next time ill check…

  3. thanks,
    actually it only works for CORE edition, i changed it’s value to PRO and it didn’t work. i dunno the reason or anything 😀

    Cheers

  4. hi i have a problem if i use it on original 8.1 iso its worked

    [EditionID]
    Professional
    [Channel]
    Retail
    [VL]
    0

    but i capture a image install.wim when i use this ei.cfg it didnt work please help me

  5. Note: If you are doing this for a physical copy, copy the original Win8 files to a folder, and do it. After, you can burn those files to a disc.

  6. Every time we install windows, it always asks for a product key to process with the installation. Now we will try to use this method to make everything fine. Thank you.

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