Windows 8.1 Skip Product Key in Setup

[horses.1079]

View attachment 10114
Windows 8.1 setup has an annoying feature: you are forced to enter a prod key right after you boot from USB/CD/DVD. Does anyone knows how to disable this screen and take me to the "Edition Select" screen?

Note: There's an easter egg in the screenshot.

 

[garlin]

The trick is don't use autounattend.xml, because providing a generic install key will force the image selection.

1. Create a new file, sources\EI.cfg in the ISO folder:

[EditionID]

[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

2. Now make a new ISO. You don't need to load any images for this step.

View attachment 10118

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PS - You got the wrong key: WHATC-HATAL-K1NGA-B0UTW-1LL1S
[This is a TV meme for those outside the US or Canada.]

 

[horses.1079]

my "easter egg" key means: "i dont wanna enter it lol help".

 

[garlin]

You didn't read my Easter Egg.

 

[aviv00]

use windows 10 setup files like 1809

 

[garlin]

use windows 10 setup files like 1809

What he means is if you take any W10 ISO, and replace 10's install.wim with a 8.1 version -- it will be installed.

W10's Setup doesn't ask for any product keys before starting. But you got to keep two ISO's around (8.1 & 10). W10 includes newer drivers, so booting off the W10 ISO may hide the fact that the boot image works fine -- but your install image may be missing required drivers.