How to manually backup and restore Windows 8.1 RTM activation I create this topic about manually backup and restore Windows 8.1 for you guys you do not need rely on any third party software when you need to reinstall your Windows copy, you can easily do it yourself. Other reason is still early age of Windows 8.1 RTM non of the backup and restore software not functioning at the moment. Important Points you need to know before backup and reinstall procedure: 1. The activation is tied to your specific hardware and OS edition, so keep this in mind. 2. The solution will likely 100% fail if you make changes to hardware and re-install Windows and then trying to restore activation again 3. It has come to my attention that installing certain hardware drivers will break the activation on Windows 8 forcing you to reactivate. One way to prevent this from happening would be to make sure everything is installed and up to date before activating and then take the backup. That way when you have reinstalled Windows and the hardware drivers it should work just fine restoring activation later. 4. Once we buy the retail version of Windows 8, backing up the activation would be a more permanent solution given that you don't change the hardware or OS edition along the road which means you have to reactivate and backup again. 5. This manual backup and reactivate methot was working on KMS Activation but as there is non working KMS Activation i just can not check at this moment however there is no reason why shouldn't if there is in the future. Instruction: A. Backup Windows Activation 1. Enable Show hidden files, folders and drivers to order to see and save all activation backup files Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization Then Checked Show hidden files, folders and drivers hxxp://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5844/t5d4.png 2. Go to this location and save spp folder in somewhere save in your other hard drive, partition, usb stick DVD etc.... hxxp://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2849/ec1m.png 3. Make sure to verify that the store folder contains these files and folders! hxxp://img547.imageshack.us/img547/8642/nzck.png 1 file named data.dat which is hidden 1 file named tokens.dat which is visible 1 folder named cache containing a file named cache.dat B. Reinstall Windows 1. After Windows is reinstalled I suggest running a new Command Prompt as Administrator where you need to type in slmgr -upk to uninstall the key so the status changes to Unlicensed hxxp://img580.imageshack.us/img580/5111/aofi.png 2. You need to reboot in Safe mode and easiest way is by using msconfig via Run. hxxp://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7026/kfah.png 3. Choose the Boot tab and then Safe boot-Minimal, apply and restart when prompted reboot hxxp://img819.imageshack.us/img819/632/qg9q.png 4. Click Restart PC IN Safe mode hxxp://img541.imageshack.us/img541/3438/4zy7.png 5. After the PC has rebooted in Safe mode open a new Command Prompt as Administrator and type net stop sppsvc to stop the Software Protection Platform service hxxp://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8472/1fvr.png 6. Go to location: C:\Windows\System32\spp\ copy and replace the current store folder with the backed up one Notice: Even i stop Software Protection Platform service still some files Did not let me to copy and replace maybe i was experimenting on Virtual Machine if you can copy and replace some of the files i suggest to use: WinOwnership Tool By joshcell Download Link: hxxp://joshcellsoftwares.com/products/winownership/ Using this tool just drag the spp folder inside application hxxp://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8701/zqg.png After that open all the files inside the right folder Easiest way find the related folder then click Cntrl + A then click OK to send all files all in one make sure you do for every files to the related folder! hxxp://img203.imageshack.us/img203/1327/03ku.png After click OK every files send to the related folder hxxp://img703.imageshack.us/img703/9830/jo58.png 7. Go to Run and use msconfig and choose Normal boot under General tab this time, apply and click restart when prompted hxxp://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4692/kc6h.png 8. When restarted you can see that the watermarks are gone and by checking the usual Command Prompt (Admin) slmgr /ato slmgr.vbs /dlv slmgr -dli hxxp://i.imgur.com/8Yi0Ll0.jpg You'll see that it worked and you're activated.. ยท Tested on VMware Workstation Windows 8.1 RTM Pro x64 working flawlessly!
How could I make sure everything is installed and updated? There are no updated drivers, moreover, no drivers for Windows 8.1 at all for the time being. Hence, my activation restore will break for sure. Isn't it?
Hi there i'm going a little off topic Any idea how to restore office 2013 activation on windows 8.1 (windows is activated) Thank you
it mostly works even with some of the drivers not being installed(I ve tried this with ATM software), but if you remove or change any hardware or add something new, its not gonna work. I the other way round, if you fear that it will break your activation do something like this:---->if you ve activated your windows at first without installing any programs or drivers, then take up the backup immediately, so that upon your next format, you can easily restore your license just after formatting. but if you ve upgraded from windows 8 to windows 8.1, I suggest you to wait for Advanced Token's Manager (update compatible with windows 8.1). I guess the software will be updated soon.
@Amresh I just wanted to know whether by using this method, can we restore an activated license of x86 OS onto x64 OS??? As far of windows "8" and other previous windows(no idea about windows 8.1) are concerned, it was possible t restore an activated license of x86 OS onto x64 OS by means of Advanced Tokens Manager, obviously on the same system/computer. I am asking this, because I ve accidentally installed windows 8.1 pro "x86" on my laptop, just need to transfer the license on X64 version after installation.
data.dat, tokens.dat, and key are required for 8.1 activation restore. If you don't set the key as well, it won't activate on 8.1
For activation, no, the other files are not needed. For other things such as purchased apps and stuff, maybe... I don't know enough about the cache or other stuff in the spp folder.
I have a few questions,I did copy that folder store can activate ? 1 - I changed the hard drive with an SSD 2 - windows change build number
Using the same hardware this method don't work (at least copying only the store folder) if I diskpart -->clean the OS hard drive. I made a copy of the store folder but my OS hdd has 2 partitions (system reserved, and system), I was trying to remove the system reserved partition doing a clean install and cleaning disk of partitions to make just 1 and force OS to install there, after restoring the store folder, system keep unactivated. Any advice? Should making backup of the entire spp folder do the trick?
Saving 8.1 licensed tokens for reactivation even when reinstalling on the same HW without making any changes does not work. The system has to be reactivated online each time you reinstall. This is true even with tokens created from paid for legal keys which I have. At least this is what I have experienced. Microsoft no longer allows the old method of restoring your activated tokens to keep your activated status. The best you can achieve is Notification Reason: 0xC004FE00 after a restore when checking with slmgr -dlv
@Tito, That's one thing I have not tried since I have no problems activating online. Doesn't phone activation also require being online and why is the toolkit or ATM required to backup/restore the tokens? With Win 8, I just copied the *.dat tokens when the activated system was down. I only needed to do that once after activation. I would then restore with SetupComplete.cmd during install using takeown and icacls commands. From what you are saying, the tokens created via phone activation are different than those created with online activation even when using the same keys and that the phone activated tokens will allow you to activate offline on a new 8.1 install. Is that correct?
Activated 8.1 with WMC over the phone. I used a normal phone so the system was offline all the time. No need to use Skype. The system activated while offline after entering my confirmation id. It will be interesting to see if these activated tokens can be restored on my next reinstall.