OK, before i start i have gone through the stickies and to be honest half of the stuff in them i don't quite understand, hence this thread. This is all being done on a virtual machine... I d/l the english WINDOWS 8.1 Core/Pro X64 ISO file(MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.8.1.RTM.X64.ENGLISH.DVD-WZT) from the "The Windows 8.1 (& related) Repository" thread, with utorrent. Im using "microsoft toolkit 2.5 beta 5" for activation/product key purposes. I have gotten the above combo to work and activate, but when i run a check(under the product keys tab) using MTK it states that i have a remaining grace period of 44 days, as i understand it it is supposed to be 180? Or is there a permanent solution? When i first installed 8.1 using the above, i used MTK and under the product keys tab, next to "product" i chose windows 8.1 and next to "edition" i chose: core. Then i clicked "Check" and then used the product key displayed in the console, which i used during installation, which worked. To the questions: Did i download the correct 64bit 8.1 for my pc(8gigs of ram, fairly new pc)? Is this the correct way to get a product key for during the installation of 8.1? Am i using the correct settings in MTK to get a key for during installation of 8.1, for the version of 8.1 i downloaded? Should i be even using MTK for the ver of 8.1 im using? or something else? Activation, next to "tool" i used AutoKMS and clicked install, then i clicked the green EZ-Activator, waited and was successful, but with only 44 days on the clock, is this right? And licence backup, i simply gave it a name, hit backup and it put a folder on my desktop, what is the reason for doing this backup? After the 44 or 180 days grace period are up can i simply just hit the green EZ-Activator button again to reactivate or is this where the backup comes in? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry for all the questions, i just wanted to include as much info as possible. This is a little more complicated than W7 where all you have to do is use daz's loader, so im having some trouble understanding everything. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
Core SKU can't be officially activated via real KMS server, but an emulator supports activating it. You get 45 days of grace period instead of regular 180 days. If you click on EZ-Activator, then AutoKMS is installed which will renew activation automatically.
cheers for the reply, so which english SKU is the best to use from the The Windows 8.1 (& related) Repository? will i get 180 days out of Pro VL? Or even better is there a way to permanently activate? also am i using MTK correctly to input a key during W8.1 installation?
Use Pro (retail is good too)/Enterprise to get 180 days interval. Permanent activation is possible only if you are using retail/oem/MAK key; OEM:SLP isn't applicable in Windows 8.x. There is nothing wrong in your approach.
i just made a new VM running Pro VL and activation was successful using MTK with 180 days grace period. Much thanks for the help. Now i just have to figure out how to install WMC. Can anyone point me in a good direction?
lol ... 180 days is no grace period but is totally regular for KMS activation process. Must be renewed every 180 days by design. You might fail with WMC because this is not intended to run on VL versions
Yea i think i jumped the gun a bit here, as i understand it you cant add features(WMC) to pro VL(well i cant see the option anywhere on my new installation). So which version from the The Windows 8.1 (& related) Repository will WMC work with? Once again any help is much appreciated, thanks.
The Retail ISO in conjunction with a non-VL (Retail or OEM_NSLP) key. MS doesn't allow adding WMC to VL-activated systems, even if the ISO contains the "Add Features" component (formerly known as "Anytime Upgrade").
i cant seem to see The Retail ISO in the The Windows 8.1 (& related) Repository, where do i get this? And do i use MTK to get a non-VL key? Thanks for the help.
Non-VL key = buying a license. With Windows 8.x, MS did take away OEM:SLP and all we have left is KMS (VL).
wow i cant believe how helpful all you guys have been, you guys rock. Ill get busy and report back. Much thanks.
Well looks like ive been successful, i used the keys provided in the link from tito's post, activated with WTK EZ-activator and i now have an activated windows 8.1 pro WMC running on a VM, but, with only 30 days on the clock, which ive read is normal. So i just need clarification on one more thing and ill stop pestering, So AutoKMS will run automatically at regular intervals to keep the 30 days on the clock, when EZ-activator is used? Once again a big thanks to all that helped here.