Didn't backup...Op system corrupt...now what???

My bad, I know, we should have backed it up on the first day, but my 12 year old son shut down his computer during updates and from what I figured out, corrupted the operating system. Seems he's now killed it! It's at the computer repair shop and they've put a new hard drive in it, now I've been told if I don't have the disc (I told them before they started that I didn't have a disc) then it's going to be "pricey" to purchase Windows 8 to put back in there.
Since asking the repair people to suggest easy solutions puts me at their mercy I thought I would ask here. I live in a somewhat isolated region and my options are limited. The computer is a 2.5 hour drive from here waiting for my reply.
Is there a way to use a disc from another computer? Is there a simpler or cheaper way to do this or am I at the mercy of whatever the tech guy tells me?

Thanks a bunch
K

 

You can't use a disc from another PC. While it might install, you wont be able to activate it. According to Microsoft, Windows 8.1 costs $119.99.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compare

And you can install it yourself. Here's all the info you need.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...ws-vista-xp-tutorial?WT.mc_id=WIN_81_Vista_XP

The only other (free) option is to install a Linux distro like Ubuntu, Mint, etc.

 

Powering off during installation of updates will not of itself kill a hard disk, and as for fitting a new one without your permission and without having an OS to install on it raises a big question about the competence or honesty of the repairer. If they cannot give you a proper explanation as to why they did this you should ask them to refit the original drive and return the machine to you.

Win 8/8.1 will normally attempt to repair itself when it cannot boot, and this should be attempted three times before giving up and reinstalling afresh.

 

As the OP doesn't have a disk there's also the probability of the machine having a recovery partition, in which case I really do hope we are not too late.

@ newfiekelly - if you are still with us let us know the make and model. We can then tell you how to recover any important documents and set it back to its 'as delivered' state. Vital to get the original disk reinstalled first of course.

 

Isn't the Product Key embedded in the UEFI now? I worked on a Dell laptop a little while back and the only Windows sticker on the Win 8 machine was a small one that looks like the blue Windows logo that appears when you first start up a Win 8/8.1/10 OS. There was no Product Key sticker.

I've read that there's a way to see the Product Key in UEFI but, I don't remember the instructions for how to do so.

 

Thanks so much, this helped me ask the right questions and say the right things. The guy is going to put the old hard drive back in and I'm going to bring it back where I bought it. He said the issue is definitely the hard drive and the store I bought it from has to send it away for me as per the warranty. He's also going to put a note in the box for me saying what he did to find out it was the hard drive.
Thanks a bunch,
K

 

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe 12 yr old wasn't to blame after all, just got unlucky

 

It is. When you run the install, Windows will check for an embedded key and use it if found.

 

Windows 8 works like the old SLP keys did back in the day which were embedded in the BIOS.

If you haven't done so, request media from your PC manufacturer. Unless things have changed you can't use a retail key to download the OEM .iso image which is available from Microsoft. MS will tell you to contact your PC manufacturer for media even if you connected the drive externally to another machine and recovered the license key with a program like RecoverKeys.

This geek still thinks it's a stupid idea not to ship a PC with an OS DVD.

As far as recovering any data you can connect the drive to a desktop and use the functioning OS to transfer the data to other media such as a flash drive, external hard drive, or disc media.