How do I find the product key for Windows 8.1

If you upgraded to 8 then you would have been provided a key.

The original Vista installation would have included a tool to create recovery disks. Manufacturers do provide recovery disks at a cost but with the age of Vista may not be available.

Drivers can be downloaded from the manufacturer but apart from network drivers any other could be managed by Windows Update. If network is supported by Windows then it should work. Vista drivers would be of little use for Windows 8 but inbuilt support in Windows 8 is quite good.

Too late now but backups should always be a two stage process, do the backup then check that the recovery will work. Most recovery disk creators (above) are extremely slow because having written the disk it verifies each one.

Thanks for the Info.Now I know which way to deal with this.VLanza

If you upgraded to 8 then you would have been provided a key.

The original Vista installation would have included a tool to create recovery disks. Manufacturers do provide recovery disks at a cost but with the age of Vista may not be available.

Drivers can be downloaded from the manufacturer but apart from network drivers any other could be managed by Windows Update. If network is supported by Windows then it should work. Vista drivers would be of little use for Windows 8 but inbuilt support in Windows 8 is quite good.

Too late now but backups should always be a two stage process, do the backup then check that the recovery will work. Most recovery disk creators (above) are extremely slow because having written the disk it verifies each one.

What if you had a win Vista,that was upgraded to win8;and had to change out the hard drive? My backup disc won't  load Windows with Vista liscense. My drivers are probably  on the bckup disc too.What's the course  of action!

Other than trial versions which have limited life there are no "free" versions of Windows. The upgrade to 8.1 from 8 is free but you still need the original license.

As has already been said the upgrade to 8.1 DOES NOT GENERATE A NEW LICENSE KEY. The original license is in effect and you only have the 8 key.

There are workarounds to get Windows 8.1 installed using the Windows 8 key but there is no guarantee that Microsoft would not prevent them being used, this is always the problem with any unapproved "trick".

Officially the only way is to install 8.0 and then upgrade to 8.1. As Microsoft would have preferred all systems to have upgraded to 10 and so not have this problem they are unlikely to have any desire to make things easier for those that stayed with 8.

Which was answered 3 years ago.