I have 2 computers, a desktop and a laptop. Can I upgrade to Windows 8 pro on one of them, and then use that key on the other to activate it as well (total of 2 personal pcs)? I know it says one computer, but is that really true? Could I call into Microsoft and simply say I am testing the OS on 2 hard drives for hardware testing purposes..are they really going to flag 2 installs? I can see flagging 4 or 5.. Any insight? Thank you
Well, when you buy Windows 8 you get 1 license. So yeah, I think You can only have one install of it. The license terms do not allow you to have 2 installations with the same license.
I'm not sure with that. Why? If you use Office 2010, you could use to install office on 3 machines regarding the EULA: Personal PC Laptop Work PC Maybe the same would apply for Windows 8. Will read the EULA if I get a bit of time.
MS realizes that sometimes people accidentally use the same key on two computers and typically doesn't black list a key for that but...... I wouldn't push it.
You can only be able to use 1 key per 1 computer..it it will get successfully activated but after smetimes it will get blacklisted if detected by the MS servers .... so i dont think it would be a smart move.....if you have a geniune key then use it on a single computer....and for the other conputer/laptop we have many soultions for activation like KMS
Correct me if I'm wrong but a retail key can be transferred from one PC to another. If so then presumably the same key can be used on multiple PCs as long as only one PC is used at a time. If the above is true how often does MS check which keys are used on which hardware?
Still don't know how they will come to know but one thing is sure "Software Protection Service" occasionally call home & that could let them know.... But still not sure that how & when they will address this...
while using he same key on the diffrent computer..u need to remove the key that you have used before i mean remove the operaing system completely...after that re-install Windows 8 and then install it...so either way..you have to remove from one and install it on the other.....vice versa....without getting blacklisted
I installed a month ago on 2 desktop Windows 8 Pro with the same Product Key, differences were that 1 PC had WMC while the other NOT. Both PC's have the same MB but CPU, Memory, Graphic Card and HDD. The one without WMC is just the Backup PC. Both are on the same Network. If check the Product ID, they's different. Just started the Backup PC, installed the latest Updates and both just working activated. That said, it's possible to use the same Key on different PC's, even on the same Network and the same time.
No problem I don't so I still say the key will eventually get blocked from one machine, if it was that simple everyone would just buy one key .
I guess that is why I have 10 keys Retail and only 5 machines... (just in case) 1 WMC key so that means 11 Retail Keys and only 5 machines... PS: my upgrade EULA says 1 key for 1 machine ... and since ea machine has a different # to M$ - sooner or later 1 machine will go De-Activated due to Over the Limit... then be in OOBE 30 day trial period. Im sure M$ is busy doing other De- Activations and will get to him/her later....
So when you upgrade your Windows 8 Pro upgrade to Windows 8 Pro with WMC, and then reuse your Windows 8 Pro upgrade on another machine and then upgrade that to Windows 8 Pro with WMC (different key to first WMC u/g), you could just go on and on as long as you don't run out of free WMC keys before Jan 31st, or cheap WMC keys thereafter?