GUIDE: How to backup and restore Windows 8 activation

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by JaguarXJ12, Aug 8, 2012.

  1. mickyjim

    mickyjim MDL Novice

    Aug 18, 2009
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    Hi Guys and Gals,
    if its not broke dont fix it!!!! having managed to get my installation activated by KMS server a couple of days a go, i had a day off today so decided to do a bit of tweaking, after updating Audio driver i fell into the trap of modifying the hardware and Windows decided it as not activated, luckily i had made a backup of the SPP store folder with tokens.dat, data.dat and cache folder. to my horror when i went to restore these files the cache folder for some reason was empty. after several hours of using different file recovery software and failing to retrieve the file i decided to do a new install then replaced the just the tokens.dat and data.dat restarted and Bingo i am activated again so by learning the hard way the cache folder doesnt hold any information needed for a new install but is required in an existing install, so just make sure and triple check your backed up activation and check the contents are present in the Cache folder. My restore files are now in my dropbox !!!
     
  2. doggod

    doggod MDL Novice

    Aug 8, 2009
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    Managed after a couple of attempts to restore activation on my machine.

    The problem I had on the first 2 attempts was that I tried to do a clean install (ie boot with win8 usb and format c drive) where as the original kms activated
    version was done by running the running the installer in windows 7 and setting it to keep nothing.

    Anyway redid the install using the original method and copied back the store folder and all is activated again.

    Going to do a disc image now to be safe :)

    Question - Could things like having a different Computer name break activation ? or
    other small things apart from device drivers and hardware changes

    Another question - Can windows old be deleted - takes up 10+gigs of space
     
  3. Mrx47

    Mrx47 MDL Addicted

    Apr 6, 2011
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    Normally not.

    Yes, it is a backup of the old System before the reinstall.
     
  4. doggod

    doggod MDL Novice

    Aug 8, 2009
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    Thanks for the info Mrx47
    dumped around 18gigs of data using disk cleanup (cleanmgr in charms) to get rid of windows.old (approx13gigs) and temp win8 install files (approx 5 gigs)

    Booting with trueimage and doing a disc backup is not working for me, it says its done it and that it has validated it but no
    backup file is there when I reboot. maybe my version dosent do that or an issue with Win8. Testing Paragon Image Backup for Windows 8 now
    which says it completed successfully, but as I am activated I am hesitant to test it
     
  5. robalm

    robalm MDL Senior Member

    Oct 21, 2009
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    This question has certainly been before, sorry for that.

    But can I use my "KMS license backup" that i made from the "Wzor windows 8 pro -64" disk, to "windows 8 pro -64 swedish" disk from MSDN?

    Edit: all hardware etc is the same.
     
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  6. dimbohda6

    dimbohda6 MDL Novice

    Mar 14, 2012
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    yes you can :)
     
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  7. robalm

    robalm MDL Senior Member

    Oct 21, 2009
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    Thank you :)
     
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  8. Osso117

    Osso117 MDL Novice

    Aug 13, 2012
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    Hi and a big thanks for this guide.

    I have a stupid question,and sorry for this:can i use my backup activation for install WIN8 in another PC?

    Thanks in advance.
     
  9. dimbohda6

    dimbohda6 MDL Novice

    Mar 14, 2012
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    no you can't
     
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  10. Osso117

    Osso117 MDL Novice

    Aug 13, 2012
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    OK,is only for one installation.
     
  11. craig62

    craig62 MDL Novice

    Jul 26, 2012
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    Installing and using the backup Activiation over to another machine, correct you can't. But I did successfully Swap that HDD from one machine to another
    and was surpised to see it boot (initially just after post bios) it had the screen telling me it was Installing Devices -100% and rebooted. I hadn't lost my Activiation.
    That might have worked on my Pcs', but thats not to say it would work for others.

    I inserted it into a HOT SWAP Bay..Windows to Go!!!
     
  12. Adr990

    Adr990 MDL Novice

    Aug 13, 2012
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    Thanks for this tutorial, it saved my activation on my laptop, as the Amsterdam.freenet.net didn't work anymore on GoGo6.
    I had to reinstall Windows 8 (Pro 64x) on it, so I lost my activation, but luckily I did this.

    I can confirm that it works flawlessly.


    Btw, I just did "refresh" and "restart" on the Windows 8 on my laptop, and it kept the activation. :)
    (Windows 8 doesn't like the drivers I have to install on my laptop.. hehe)

    I never run into problems using Windows 8 (Pro 86x) on my desktop, it is super fast.
     
  13. hakan_710

    hakan_710 MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    please look bro :yeahyeah: //e1208.hizliresim.c om/10/k/c00nz.png
     
  14. daoud

    daoud MDL Novice

    Aug 14, 2012
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    i have activated windows 8 enterprise WZT , I reinstalled Windows 8 enterprise msdn


    it works, thanks
     
  15. Highlanders

    Highlanders MDL Novice

    May 6, 2012
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    As above gone from WZT to Ent.x64 and all worked like a charm, now where did I put that store folder :D
     
  16. hakan_710

    hakan_710 MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    check your inbox :D
     
  17. Rock Hunter

    Rock Hunter MDL Senior Member

    Dec 6, 2011
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    Question: Did the expiration date change giving you a new 180 days? Or is it still set to the date from the first install?
     
  18. Adr990

    Adr990 MDL Novice

    Aug 13, 2012
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    How can I check how long my activation is? I did the KMS thing with GoGo6, but I'm not sure how long it is and so.. :)
     
  19. Rock Hunter

    Rock Hunter MDL Senior Member

    Dec 6, 2011
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    I do it this way: Control Panel/System/View details in Windows Activation. Mine tells me that mine in Activated and my license expires on 2/2/2013.