Upgrade the Win8 system Chinese version of the computer

Now go to the electronics store and you will find that many brand machines are pre-installed with the latest Win8 operating system. In China, most of the OEM brand new machines on the market are pre-installed with "Windows8 Chinese version" operating system. Check the computer properties as shown below:

If the computer you purchased is pre-installed with "Windows 8 Chinese" operating system, the easiest way to upgrade it to Win8 Normal or Professional is to Click on the "More functions of the new version of Windows" in the figure, and then enter the Win8 regular or professional version of the purchased genuine key to complete the system upgrade as prompted. The whole process takes only about 10 minutes.

However, when you want to install Win8 Normal Edition or Professional Edition completely, whether you use the image downloaded through Win8 Upgrade Assistant or the Win8 Normal Edition and Professional Edition 2-in-1 image obtained through MSDN subscription channel, The following prompts are encountered during the installation to force the installation process to terminate. Hint: “The product key entered does not match any available Windows image for installation. Please enter a different product key. & rdquo;

This is because the Windows 8 OEM activation mechanism has undergone major changes. Win8 OEM adopts the activation mode of one machine and one network. For details, see "Win8 OEM new activation mode: the key of each computer is unique". The Key used to activate the pre-installed system when the computer leaves the factory is built into the Bios of the computer. After the user purchases the computer, it needs to be networked to complete the system activation.

When a user attempts to install a new system, the installer first automatically detects the built-in Key of the computer and then matches the Key with the version of the system included in the image being used. If the match is successful, the installer will automatically select the matching version to install. After the installation, the network will automatically activate. If the match is not successful, the prompt in the figure will appear. Here is a solution to this problem:

Create a new txt file, copy and paste the following lines of characters, save, and modify the file name to ei.cfg (along with the suffix name). Then add this file to the sources folder in the image. If you want to save as an ISO image, you need to add this file using the ISO editing software. If it is through the U disk, the hard disk is installed, and it can be added after making the U disk boot disk or decompressing.

[EditionID]

[Channel]

Retail

[VL]

0

Note: EditionID You can specify the version of the system to install. For example: Core or Professional. When it is empty, the list of operating systems included in the image is displayed for selection.

It should be noted that adding this file will cancel the process of the installer automatically detecting the built-in Key of the computer. If this file is added, even if the built-in Key of the computer matches a version in the image, it will not be activated automatically after installation. For example, I made a Win8 all-in-one version image (including the ei.cfg file), and the computer is pre-installed with Win8 Professional. After installing the professional version using this image (note that the retail version needs to be installed), it is not possible to automatically activate the network. of. In this case, you need to manually enter the built-in Key of the computer to activate the system.