Honestly, once the version check hits it's almost impossible to remove. I tried everything from deleting the boot folder and dropping in known good files, to BIOS flashing and everything in between.

It has something to do with how windows 8.1 runs permissions issues.

The only way I know how to get around it is to drop down to windows 7 or 8.0.

I know it doesn't help much, but hopefully this will save you some time and frustration.