Merry Christmas to All! For years people have been telling me – Use fewer words and get to your point. So, I’ll do that then ramble. When Microsoft had Windows 8 Pro on sale I bought 2 copies. Recently I noticed that you could get a free upgrade to 8.1 So I modified ei.config on the downloaded disk to bypass asking for the key. (I believed I screwed up and purchased the 32 bit version…and wanted to see.) Question: Expected a grace period like some of the other disks I’ve tinkered with J Usually you get 3, 10, 30, 90 or 180 days. Can you alter the grace period? If you can, why not be content with extending the period to say 365 days? Now the rambling. I have no problem paying for software I use. Microsoft spends extravagant amounts of money in R&D andDevelopment to produce a product. If you use it, buy it. Your car needs tires; you buy them…You don’t expect to get them for free… Experimenting and learning are commendable personality attributes. Strive to be better and push yourself to be the best you and be J And as to why my windows 8 disk box still has the shrinkwrap on it? Windows XP and 7 are so good I have had no reason to use Windows 8 other than experimenting. And I have a set of Diamond 750HD PCIE Tuners that refuse towork in Windows 8 WMC. Cheers and Thanks, Mitch
As long as you think 8 does not worth using it.Why are you asking about extending grace period,though it's actually near permanent.8 is great OS.I don't use x box or the store at all ,only for updates.Other MS OS are great too.Just sick to what ever you like.Myself,I don't like 8.1 and happy with 8 & 7 on the same machine.
Mycomputer at home is mostly used as a media center and DVR. I didn’t sayI don’t like windows 8, it won’t work with my tuners. I’m a field service technician and have to be familiarwith different O.S. when I go to customer sites. Software is sort of like a necessary evil to me. Muchmore comfortable working on hardware. One day I’ll get an email from our I.T.people saying "we will be installing windows 8 on your laptop". They did it withXP and it will happen to W 7 too. Microsoft has already pulled support from XP and I’m sureif I looked around I would find the date they plan to moth ball W7. Asking about extending the grace periodbecause it’s frustrating trying to work on a system when it shuts down on youwhile you are in the middle of doing something. Diamond just released the drivers for the tuners and it’sthe second or third time I’ve booted into windows 8 since I installed it last December. (Unfortunately, they don't seem to work) Looked at windows 8.1 rtm for a while and I liked it better than 8. That's why I want to get the upgrades while they are free before someone at Microsoft decides to charge for the upgrade. Thanks for the reply. Mitch
Microsoft doesn't plan on charging for the upgrade from 8 to 8.1, it's thought of as more of a Service Pack than anything.
There is no grace period in any Windows 8.x, that whole concept has been ditched. There is nothing to extend. However, Win8 can be activated by KMS. Real KMS servers activate PRO and ENTERPRISE only, while KMS emulators activate CORE and PROWMC, too, although for shorter periods of time (30/45 days vs. 180 days).