thnx for the method! since KMS servers are offline and you can backup activation files, and working after reinstalling them in their place, can someone share these files? will it work?
I want to ask about the expiry date of Windows 8 activation, after it is restored. Suppose that I activate Windows today (9 August 2012) via KMS. Thus, Windows 8 should stay activated till 5 February 2013. I shall backup the activation files the store folder in C:\Windows\System32\spp\. Let's assume that 1 month has passed and today is 8 September 2012. I shall restore the activation files that was previously created on 9 August 2012 to the store folder, without making another newer KMS activation. My question is what its expiry date of Windows activation would be. Would it be: a. 7 March 2013 (180 days after the day of restoring activation), or, b. still 5 February 2013 (180 days after the day of original activation, regardless of the day of restoring activation) ? Thank you for the information.
I backup up my SPP folder and reinstalled Windows 8. After reinstall, I tried copying back but it won't let me. I typed in net stop sppsvc before hand. Looks like this method does not work at all.
If you followed the instructions it should work just fine. I've lost track of how many times I have done this already. Believe me it does work, I took a huge risk the first time I tried this out and I wouldn't be here posting a guide if it didn't work.
Ok, here don´t work too, i make a refresch an nothing, i have a whatermark, in system say "iD product not found".
If you make a image bacckup after activating, it can be restored and you will be still activated. (within the six month period) Restoring an image is much faster than reinstalling windows.
That's true, but if something really happens and you absolutely have to reinstall Windows it's good to know that there is an working solution to back up the activation nevertheless. And since I'm an reinstall Windows man rather then making images this is a given solution. It's just a matter of personal preference.
It doesn't work at all, I've tried it, I have done step by step, but I'm still at notification mode. :\
Well if you were one of the lucky few people that captured the moment activating Windows 8 and made a backup of the store folder in C:\Windows\System32\spp before you reinstalled you should be good to go. You did activate right?
OK and you're sure you have followed the procedure correctly? Basically when you have replaced the folder in Safe mode and restarted in Normal boot mode again you should be able to tell if it worked or not by using the various slmgr commands and the watermarks should be gone. Try restarting and see if the status changes.
I did restart, and I still got the watermarks and I used the commands and I'm still at notification mode, perhaps it is because my version is PRO, and you have tried it only at Enterprise?.
Yes I only have the Enterprise Edition at hand. But it should be possible doing this with Pro also. What contents does your store folder contain? My store folder contains these files and folders: 1 file named data.dat which is hidden 1 file named tokens.dat which is visible 1 folder named cache containing a cache.dat file If you have these files and replaced the backup store folder with the one after reinstalling and you haven't changed OS edition or hardware it should work.
data.dat is missing, and It wasn't there even when my windows was activated, I've checked, I'm guessing Enterprise and Pro are different.
That's strange man. It should be possible to do this with any edition basically just like with Vista and 7. My data.dat is 11kb and 26 minutes older then my tokens.dat from that day when I activated. I have litterally no idea what it does and why you're missing it. Can anyone else with Pro confirm that this solution works or is it a no go?
Are you installing with the VL key you used with the KMS activation? The key has to be the same. Or try slmgr -upk and then boot to safe mode and apply the filles. If it still isn't working then your backup might be wrong somehow, but it should be working.
I'm not brave enough to test this yet, but reading this thread made me use Windows 8's create image backup tool for the first time .Also noticed there is a new utility that's similar to the Mac's time machine. Different from system restore since it saves copies of everything- files, etc.
I have an activated copy of Enterprise x64 and the data.dat is not present on my machine either, I do not have system files hidden either. EDIT: I was wrong, I ticked the wrong option and my hidden files were still hidden.. I can see it now