Install windows 8 pro upgrade on new machine?

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devil_trigger

Gawd
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Jan 24, 2007
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Hey guys, I was wondering if you can use the $40 W8 Pro "upgrade" on a newly built rig. It seems that's the cheapest way to get ahold of W8 and I want it for my new HTPC. I think I found a tutorial about it and the way I took it it seems like its possible, I just want to make sure first.
 
Do you have a spare Win 7, Vista or XP key? That would be the easiest thing to do in my opinion because I am not sure you can use the upgrade without it. (Could be wrong though but either way, I think you have made a good choice.)
 
The windows 8 $40 "upgrade" is more than meets the eye. It is a full fledged version. You just need to make the media.
 
Sounds like what you're attempting to do is circumvent the EULA... not something I'd suggest doing.
 
I actually just realized I do have an old copy of XP that I don't use anymore, but thats 32-bit, and doesn't that mean if I use the upgrade on a 32-bit system it will detect that and not install the 64-bit version, which is what I want.
 
devil_trigger said:
I actually just realized I do have an old copy of XP that I don't use anymore, but thats 32-bit, and doesn't that mean if I use the upgrade on a 32-bit system it will detect that and not install the 64-bit version, which is what I want.
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If you do a base install of XP 32-bit, don't install anything else, boot off the Win8 64-bit disc, it should see the XP install and allow you to blitz the drive and install the Win8.

That is as far as I can understand/remember.
 
Well I was actually going to do the $40 upgrade download that doesn't come with a disc, would I still be able to get 64-bit that way?
 
download is 64-bit if u run the updater in a 64-bit os (or windows Preview release or cp 64bit)

other wise if u run the updater in vista 32 or xp 32 you'll get the 32bit download link u get in your email.

you ll know by the size 32 bit download is 2gb while the 64 bit w8 download is 3.4gb.

x.x so run it off w8 rp or cp 64 bit if u want the 64bit ... i know thats just stupid....
 
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Well the download was for the 32-bit version but its all good, its only an HTPC to play music and video and for $40 I can't complain. It was a real PITA to get it though. When I first installed XP it was the original disc so I didn't qualify until I had SP3. So I went to do the updates and I couldn't get any updates from MS, I kept getting an error in the update window. So I had to manually download the SP3 ISO on another computer and burn it and do the update that way, and then finally got it to accept the upgrade to win8. The machine only has 4 gigs of RAM so I'm only losing .6 GB I think so its not too bad.
 
You don't HAVE to install the 32 bit version, you can download the offiicial 64 bit ISO and use your key with that and it will activate just fine.
 
Oh really? I didn't see that mentioned anywhere, is it too late to try that or would it just be another run-of-the-mill reformat/reinstall with the 64-bit iso?
 
I just did on two computers and works flawlessly!! Even got WMC on both computers with Media Browser and I'm loving it. I suggest making a bootable usb and putting windows 8 on there and if you ever need to reformat, just use the stick. It's much quicker.
 
PornoSatan said:
You don't HAVE to install the 32 bit version, you can download the offiicial 64 bit ISO and use your key with that and it will activate just fine.
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This when I upgraded my desktop. I ran the upgrade tool got the key. Downloaded Win8 64 bit from Microsoft and installed it on a new hard drive and popped in the upgrade key and I was off to the races.

Just have to click I want to do a clean install option when you run the upgrade tool.

I need to get a few more upgrade keys before the promo runs out. Win8 is growing on me.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
If you do a base install of XP 32-bit, don't install anything else, boot off the Win8 64-bit disc, it should see the XP install and allow you to blitz the drive and install the Win8.

That is as far as I can understand/remember.
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Yeah for the install with a disk, that works. I had 32 bit XP and installed 64 bit Win 8 and it ran fine (blitzed basically everything in the past). The only thing is that even with a complete re-install using the above, Win 8 will store the old programs in a directory called Programs(old). So you end up with three directories of programs (Programs 64 bit, Programs(86) which is directories of 32 bit software (like Steam) and Program(old)). Its useful in case you want to retrieve something from the old program file but it eats a lot of disk space. So I had to go and delete a bunch of programs that I did not need to keep (no reason to have Skyrim in both the old directory and the Programs(86) directory for example). This was especially the case since I installed Win 8 in a new SSD and did not want dead weight programs.
 
Alright guys, well after finally running a test on my SSD it seems that I installed with SATA in IDE mode so my performance is poor, and it also seems out of alignment. So I need to do a full re-install and switch IDE to AHCI mode, but I don't know where/how to get a 64-bit ISO to make a bootable disc/USB. Any suggestions on what I should do from here?

Ok I found a way to get the 64-bit ISO and its dling now from the upgrade assistant on my win7 64-bit PC, now my question is how should I go about reinstalling it on the PC? Since I basically need to do a full reinstall because I have to switch from IDE to AHCI mode. I've heard some people have no problems formatting the drive and installing but others have problems with it activating if they format the drive first.
 
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devil_trigger said:
Alright guys, well after finally running a test on my SSD it seems that I installed with SATA in IDE mode so my performance is poor, and it also seems out of alignment. So I need to do a full re-install and switch IDE to AHCI mode, but I don't know where/how to get a 64-bit ISO to make a bootable disc/USB. Any suggestions on what I should do from here?

Ok I found a way to get the 64-bit ISO and its dling now from the upgrade assistant on my win7 64-bit PC, now my question is how should I go about reinstalling it on the PC? Since I basically need to do a full reinstall because I have to switch from IDE to AHCI mode. I've heard some people have no problems formatting the drive and installing but others have problems with it activating if they format the drive first.
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You should just be able to do a clean install the only people I know that are having problems are the people that started with OEM installs.
 
Ok sounds good, gonna try it in a few minutes, got the ISO burning now.

Well just got done doing the fresh install and it activated perfectly. :) And I also have 64-bit now as well so I'm happy. Only thing wrong is that I still don't have access to all 4 gb of my RAM. It says 3.89 gb usable, any idea why that is?
 
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Just and addition if anyone else needs help.
i did the upgrade and upgrade assistant says 2gb download either way.
iso file for 32bit is 2.1gb while 64 bit is 2.8gb so my above was incorrect , my bad.
 
devil_trigger said:
Ok sounds good, gonna try it in a few minutes, got the ISO burning now.

Well just got done doing the fresh install and it activated perfectly. :) And I also have 64-bit now as well so I'm happy. Only thing wrong is that I still don't have access to all 4 gb of my RAM. It says 3.89 gb usable, any idea why that is?
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Is it the i3 rig? In that case, the motherboard is probably setting aside some memory for the iGPU.
 
Tsumi said:
Is it the i3 rig? In that case, the motherboard is probably setting aside some memory for the iGPU.
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I never realized you replied to this thread tsumi, sorry about that. Now that you mention it it is for the i3 rig and that makes sense. I was hoping it wasn't a glitch in the OS or something. Thanks again!

Now that I think about it, you've actually helped me quite a bit, I remember you helping me a bunch when I was building my i5 rig with my first time WCing.
 
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