Hi there

I have a laptop that was pre-installed with win8. (its not mine)
No recovery CD's or backups were made , they drives were wiped by the owner (fiddling with things)
I have have re-installed it with a retail copy of Win8
It seems to have picked the Product key embedded in the bios , but that key doesnt seem to be compatable
It wont activate

So, Im just after some clarification on Win8 laptops with keys embedded in the bios

- is the embedded key on compatable with the Manufacturers special install version of Win8 ?
- can it be reinstalled & ACTIVATED with a retail (or retail OEM) install DVD
- do I actually need the restore CD's, needing to be obtained from the laptop manuafacturer ??
It wasnt purchased in NZ, just making things even harder :-(
Im seeing alot of FUD & conflicting info out there when googling for answers re bios embed install keys

Cheers