Need to Activate Windows 8.1? Use your Windows 8 Key

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
For all of you 'can’t stand to wait' early adopters out there, you may need to know how to activate your ‘legitimate’ leaked copy of Windows 8.1 RTM and it’s much simpler than you may think. Waiting until the official release date is also an option. ;)

We can almost guarantee that rumors will circulate soon that Microsoft is blacklisting any key that is used to activate Windows 8.1 as these rumors always make their way around the Internet, but this scenario seems rather unlikely.
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eh -- I have a copy of Win8 -- used it for a few weeks and then actually went back to Win7.

If I get bored I might reinstall a copy and fiddle with their updates. The one thing I really do miss is there snazzy copy/paste/move function. Very useful to me when I'm transferring 200GB around to be able to pause certian things to get better speed on priority files.
 
Well, since 8.1 is a "free upgrade" to 8, it makes perfect sense that the keys would activate the same.
 
Just tried this procedure on a i7 920 @ 3.3GHz with 6 GB of RAM, a 128 SSD and a single 580 GTX with 2 1920x1200 displays. Wow. Just so freeking fast.
 
cyclone3d said:
Well, since 8.1 is a "free upgrade" to 8, it makes perfect sense that the keys would activate the same.
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True. Overall Microsoft seems to have done a good job with the update concept. And the OS seems extremely stable where the support is there. It looks like Microsoft was willing to take a hit on developer support for now in exchange for driver and general support but not releasing the RTM to developers, at least not officially.
 
i can honestly say that i gave win8x64 a fighting chance. i took the many hours of personalization it takes on win8 to make it function how i want and to make my account a true administrator account with full control of system files. then i gave it two months or so. after that it just became a pain to deal with. i gave 8.1 about an hour. thats how long it took to peel back the layers and see that all the changes are just smoke and mirrors.

win7x64 is perfect for what i do and takes less than an hour to be fully personalized how i want it. it sucks knowing that i will never be a full time tablet carrying girly girl and it is these people that have changed the industry. i hate where this is going to end up. its all about $. the greedy companies want to platform everything. that way all tech will have to be replaced and not just upgraded.
 
>GSXR<mrbusa said:
i can honestly say that i gave win8x64 a fighting chance. i took the many hours of personalization it takes on win8 to make it function how i want and to make my account a true administrator account with full control of system files. then i gave it two months or so. after that it just became a pain to deal with. i gave 8.1 about an hour. thats how long it took to peel back the layers and see that all the changes are just smoke and mirrors.

win7x64 is perfect for what i do and takes less than an hour to be fully personalized how i want it. it sucks knowing that i will never be a full time tablet carrying girly girl and it is these people that have changed the industry. i hate where this is going to end up. its all about $. the greedy companies want to platform everything. that way all tech will have to be replaced and not just upgraded.
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Then I guess you don't care about any game improvements possible with DX 11.2
 
I'll try the 8.1 update, eventually, but am in no rush. My system is purring along nicely with 7 Ultimate. I never thought Win 8 was as bad as its detractors claimed, but it was troublesome enough to chase me back to 7.
 
>GSXR<mrbusa said:
win7x64 is perfect for what i do and takes less than an hour to be fully personalized how i want it. it sucks knowing that i will never be a full time tablet carrying girly girl and it is these people that have changed the industry. i hate where this is going to end up. its all about $. the greedy companies want to platform everything. that way all tech will have to be replaced and not just upgraded.
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When a zillion people say that you'll be broke, bankrupt and out business tomorrow then being greedy isn't a bad idea.
 
BBA said:
Then I guess you don't care about any game improvements possible with DX 11.2
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LMAO "what about the cupholders"

There's a stretch. Exactly what has even been announced for 11.2? Nothing. What has been announced for 11.1? Not very much - BF4 will supposedly have some minor CPU streamlining feature for 11.1.

Buying into MS trying to force upgrades with new DX revs they refuse to make available on their biggest platform Win7 is reason enough to boycott the damn practice, not embrace it.
 
BBA said:
Then I guess you don't care about any game improvements possible with DX 11.2
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as others have or will say......lol dx 11.2. there has never been a game to date that has ever came close to fully utilizing dx9 or dx10 capabilities because the game devs have to dumb down iq so people on lappys and 200.00 pos systems can play without whining. im supposed to worry about dx 11.2 when 99% of all games now and have been for awhile nothing but pos console ports?
 
I tried to upgrade to Windows 8.1 yesterday. I got it successfully activated by calling MS and getting an activation code based on my Win 8 product key. However, the SteelSeries Mouse/KB software and drivers (SteelSeries Engine) completely bricks Windows 8.1 and SteelSeries has no intention of updating the drivers until 8.1 is released to the public so it looks like I'll be on 8 until October. All my other drivers worked perfectly except for this one :(

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...s-driver/0e2058f6-818d-4e6c-9432-7cdfe0ce1aba

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-crashes/92c1f54c-718c-45e9-ad7d-04ba649d5569

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2342994
 
I was able to upgrade from Windows 8.1 preview with no need to re-install any software. I used the generic key for the install and then used the command line to re-input my authentic Win 8 pro key. Worked like a charm.

The command is:

slmgr.vbs -ipk AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE

where the A-B-C-D-E string is the product key you want to input.
 
Running windows with the defaulted disabled admin account is a bad idea. LOL, they got ride of that feature in windows 7 as well....takes the same amount of time to re-enable it... That is like running linux or mac os x as root the entire time.

>GSXR<mrbusa said:
i can honestly say that i gave win8x64 a fighting chance. i took the many hours of personalization it takes on win8 to make it function how i want and to make my account a true administrator account with full control of system files. then i gave it two months or so. after that it just became a pain to deal with. i gave 8.1 about an hour. thats how long it took to peel back the layers and see that all the changes are just smoke and mirrors.

win7x64 is perfect for what i do and takes less than an hour to be fully personalized how i want it. it sucks knowing that i will never be a full time tablet carrying girly girl and it is these people that have changed the industry. i hate where this is going to end up. its all about $. the greedy companies want to platform everything. that way all tech will have to be replaced and not just upgraded.
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hackztor said:
Running windows with the defaulted disabled admin account is a bad idea. LOL, they got ride of that feature in windows 7 as well....takes the same amount of time to re-enable it... That is like running linux or mac os x as root the entire time.
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Well ofc they got rid of true admin accounts except though cmd line usage because they got blasted in security with XP and that shit so with vista they bumped admin down to power user and admin became disabled by default. I think in true admin in windows 8 you can't even use any of the windows 8 apps as they refuse to run under that account.
BBA said:
Then I guess you don't care about any game improvements possible with DX 11.2
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I dont' think those improvements will be tangible for awhile, and with DX11.1 and 11.2 i'd mostly think the advantage goes to those who stream games.
 
I installed and got it activated too.

I seem to see this issue frequently, games will suddenly lock at 60 fps like Vsync is enabled when it's not. I'm using a 120hz LCD with 120hz refresh selected in the control panel. Doesn't make any sense why it would lock to 60 hz, probably shoddy vsync implementation within the game as it doesn't do this in every game. Crysis 3, Saints Row IV both do this for me in Windows 8 and in Windows 8.1. Using rig in my sig with latest drivers.
 
dnottis said:
I installed and got it activated too.

I seem to see this issue frequently, games will suddenly lock at 60 fps like Vsync is enabled when it's not. I'm using a 120hz LCD with 120hz refresh selected in the control panel. Doesn't make any sense why it would lock to 60 hz, probably shoddy vsync implementation within the game as it doesn't do this in every game. Crysis 3, Saints Row IV both do this for me in Windows 8 and in Windows 8.1. Using rig in my sig with latest drivers.
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Please PM me or something on how you did it, thanks. I do not need details, it is just that I did it but it will not except my Windows 8 Pro upgrade key afterwards. :(
 
ManofGod said:
Please PM me or something on how you did it, thanks. I do not need details, it is just that I did it but it will not except my Windows 8 Pro upgrade key afterwards. :(
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Oh, and I did it as an inplace upgrade.
 
ManofGod said:
Please PM me or something on how you did it, thanks. I do not need details, it is just that I did it but it will not except my Windows 8 Pro upgrade key afterwards. :(
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Install Windows 8.1 with the "default" Pro key - you can find that here (http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/47477-Windows-8-1-Activation-(Current-known-Methods))

Run CMD as admin and replacing the X's with your legit key enter the following to switch keys:

slmgr.vbs -ipk xxxx-xxxx-xxxx

then goto PC settings and activate
 
If you do the WMC trick with it, you wont be able to activate a pro key.... so you'll need to start over, install with default, change to your key, activate.
 
>GSXR<mrbusa said:
i can honestly say that i gave win8x64 a fighting chance. i took the many hours of personalization it takes on win8 to make it function how i want and to make my account a true administrator account with full control of system files. then i gave it two months or so. after that it just became a pain to deal with. i gave 8.1 about an hour. thats how long it took to peel back the layers and see that all the changes are just smoke and mirrors.

win7x64 is perfect for what i do and takes less than an hour to be fully personalized how i want it. it sucks knowing that i will never be a full time tablet carrying girly girl and it is these people that have changed the industry. i hate where this is going to end up. its all about $. the greedy companies want to platform everything. that way all tech will have to be replaced and not just upgraded.
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Win 7 for the win at work but I really like 8.1 for home use.
 
Let's suppose for a moment I really like win 8, and like it on the 4 computers I have it on, do I have to move to 8.1?
 
stealthy123 said:
Let's suppose for a moment I really like win 8, and like it on the 4 computers I have it on, do I have to move to 8.1?
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I would wait quite honestly, though Windows Update will probably end up trying to force it on you. It looks like it was pushed out the door too early because a lot of problem reports are cropping up on other forums with regard to new problems, driver issues, errors in event viewer even after a CLEAN install of 8.1 that weren't there or weren't an issue in 8.0

That and Microsoft has removed quite a few features in the move to 8.1 that people should educate themselves on first -- example if you liked the nice Windows Image backup/restore feature from Win7 that was carried forward to Win8, well its gone in 8.1

As well, a lot of the Metro apps can't be removed anymore as they once could - Skydrive and a few of the others as MS tries to force people to adopt their services.
 
Actually the backup and restore functionality is still there via command line. The gui for the backup and restore feature is gone, but one can still perform a backup from the command shell and restore with a recovery disc.

I thought it was gone too, but kept digging and now perform my backup via command line:

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet

That is an example that backs up the C drive to the E drive. Also, 8.1 is working quite well for me so far. Skype made it crash, but that is most likely due to my 5760x1080 resolution and Skype being poorly programmed at the moment for multi-monitor setups.
 
I have 8.1 installed on three machines now and the only big issue I'm having is lack of a solid driver for the HD 3000, but that's on Intel. nVidia's 8.1 drivers seem to solid on my old 580 GTX. Performance seems to have improved particularly in the loading speed of modern apps.
 
jlobue10 said:
Actually the backup and restore functionality is still there via command line. The gui for the backup and restore feature is gone, but one can still perform a backup from the command shell and restore with a recovery disc.

I thought it was gone too, but kept digging and now perform my backup via command line:

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet

That is an example that backs up the C drive to the E drive. Also, 8.1 is working quite well for me so far. Skype made it crash, but that is most likely due to my 5760x1080 resolution and Skype being poorly programmed at the moment for multi-monitor setups.
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I'm fully aware a capability still exists via powershell, that wasn't really the point. Average users that found the feature useful are getting screwed here. Let's face it, how many people are going to bother with powershell commands.
 
DPI said:
I'm fully aware a capability still exists via powershell, that wasn't really the point. Average users that found the feature useful are getting screwed here. Let's face it, how many people are going to bother with powershell commands.
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Because average users are so good at making backups.
 
dnottis said:
I installed and got it activated too.

I seem to see this issue frequently, games will suddenly lock at 60 fps like Vsync is enabled when it's not. I'm using a 120hz LCD with 120hz refresh selected in the control panel. Doesn't make any sense why it would lock to 60 hz, probably shoddy vsync implementation within the game as it doesn't do this in every game. Crysis 3, Saints Row IV both do this for me in Windows 8 and in Windows 8.1. Using rig in my sig with latest drivers.
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Microsoft really need to put more effort into their 120Hz monitor support, just look at IE not working with 120Hz.

Heck even Apple have good 120Hz support in OS X and they don't even have devices with 120Hz screens.
 
heatlesssun said:
Because average users are so good at making backups.
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"Average users dont make backups anyway" now there's a brain surgeon response to a feature being removed. I would've expected no less.

For the love people, please stop quoting him or the dumb oozes through my ignore filter.
 
DPI said:
"Average users dont make backups anyway" now there's a brain surgeon response to a feature being removed. I would've expected no less.

For the love people, please stop quoting him or the dumb oozes through my ignore filter.
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The truth is that very few people used this backup facility. The File History backup is much more user friendly and focused on user data which is probably more important to most people than image backups. Anyone smart enough to do their own image backups will figure out how to use this command line or use a 3rd party tool.
 
heatlesssun said:
The truth is that very few people used this backup facility. The File History backup is much more user friendly and focused on user data which is probably more important to most people than image backups. Anyone smart enough to do their own image backups will figure out how to use this command line or use a 3rd party tool.
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It took effort to remove the gui. It was deliberate to leave the functionality in. WTF was the point in making it harder to backup?
 
JayteeBates said:
It took effort to remove the gui. It was deliberate to leave the functionality in. WTF was the point in making it harder to backup?
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That's a good point. It's hard to know what Microsoft is thinking sometimes. I guess it would be easy enough to write a visual basic gui to replace the old one, but command line works fine for me. It's actually an opportunity for somebody to write a simple gui and sell it to those who might be interested.
 
It was a point in Windows favor in finally being able to do a native image backup. Just stupid decisions like this grate on me. I use 8 and after buying Window Blinds so it doesn't look like 90's AOL it is a good OS. Are they just trying to screw up windows? They have become to corporate - they need some of techie guys to keep them grounded. Not totally but somewhat grounded.

I bet some number crunching fool thought hey lets get rid of this backup thing so people use the cloud where we can charge them monthly! Then some techie guy fought tooth and nail and failed to keep the gui but got the functionality retained. So both were satisfied. That's the corporate way.
 
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