GUIDE: How to backup and restore Windows 8 activation

I followed the guide, but made a simple mistake:
when I wanted to replace the "store" folder, I deleted the old one and put a new one, and this damaged the whole sppsvc and activation process, with too many errors and too many reboots.

The solution was to edit the Security properties of the "store", by adding full read/write permission to "Network Services" user.

and it worked just fine, now my Windows 8 is back activated with the free Media Center Edition.

 

Hi everyone....
Thank you for this great guide...
i have a little confusion here. i change my 60gb ssd to 128gb ssd do the windows restore with no success then i decide to do fresh install and restore store folder good news my win8 ent x64 is now activated, but i found out that when i'm online it's says that i'm not activated... and when i disconnect and wait for several time it's says activated again. i'm so confuse is there anyone experience this. as long as i'm offline it's stay activated. the strange thing is no matter what (offline or online) my office is still activated.
btw thank you for any reply or help......

 

Any hardware changes may leads to immediate de-activation

better you can do a fresh install re-activate it by using a MAk key using phone activation ...then backup the Activation for future

 

and while i'm starting to love you baby "8" you disappoint me on the very right moment.....

btw thank's i'll leave it as is for the moment since this rig is my gaming pc and i don't use it to often in online mode so it won't hurt me that much.... and i change a lot so no way i contact them.....

 

Thanks for the instructions. I was in a rush when backing up the files and didn't realize that data.dat hadn't been backed up, is there anyway to extract my product key from either the tokens.dat or the cache.dat? I understand that I wont be able to automatically activate my system, because I'm missing the data.dat, but If I have the product key back, I can activate by phone.

Thanks
Alex

 

As licensed Windows owner who planning to perform clean system reinstall i'm really on this solution!
It's "easy, but very usefull"! Fabulous thread, topicstarter!

 

I failed man, any suggestion?
I have Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, non-KMS activated.
I backed up the store before I reinstalled it. and when I completed the instructions above my Windows isn't activated yet. View attachment 22831
Should I install all drivers from the time that I backed up the store?

 

Oh, looks like I misread the statement I was referring to. Thanks for the help, I guess I'm waiting for a server to show up.

 

I'm installing a SSD tomorrow. This method isn't gonna work for me, is it? Other options?

 

I've the same problem...

 

If your activation is genuine, call Microsoft and tell them what you're doing and they will reactivate it for you. That's what I did and they were more than happy to help.

 

Deleted ---

 

Ok I have finally found a way to create an iso that installs with my current activation - tested on VMware and 100% working....

Code:

From within Windows 8.1

Created a new folder

f:\wmc
within this folder i created a further folder called "MOUNT"
copied the install.wim file into the f:\wmc folder

I then mounted the original windows 8.1 iso 

To h: (virtual drive)

Then i Opened a command prompt (admin)

copied and paste this command to mount the image:

DISM /Mount-Wim /WimFile:f:\WMC\install.wim /index:1 /MountDir:f:\WMC\mount

Copied and paste this command to enable netframework 3.5:

Dism /image:f:\wmc\mount /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /Source:h:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess  

Copied and paste this command to enable Windows Media Centre:

Dism /Image:f:\wmc\mount /Get-TargetEditions
Dism /Image:f:\wmc\mount /Set-Edition:ProfessionalWMC

Manually copied my tokens.dat & data.dat files to:

F:\WMC\mount\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0 

copy and paste this command to injecy my Free WMC key:

Dism /image:f:\wmc\mount /set-productkey:*****-*****-*****-*****-*****

nb *** replace with your key.

Copy and Paste this command to commit the changes made:

Dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:f:\wmc\mount /commit

I then changed directory to rename the image:
f:
cd wmc
imagex.exe /flags "ProfessionalWMC" /info F:\WMC\install.wim 1 "Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center" "Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center"

I then copied back the new install.wim into the original iso and installed it from VMware.....

Working activated on start!

sorry yes i forgot to mention you need to create and add the ei file...

Code:

[EditionID]
ProfessionalWMC

[Channel]
Retail

[VL]
0

 

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Is it possible to get this working on Enterprise properbly not but asking

 

I try this and these doesn't work, and now my folder wmc/mount refuse to deleted with access denied in the recycle bin. How annoyed.

 

You can try this command : Dism /Cleanup-Mountpoints

 

Had this too, not annoying it´s normal as the WIM is still mounted, you need to discard it first.

To check for mounted WIM in system:

Code:

dism /get-MountedWimInfo

Discard the mounted image (This will delete the content of the mount folder):

Code:

Dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:"C:\win8\mount" /discard

Note: adapt the path to actual mount folder.

 

Just tested on my PC and this worked well.

 

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