NOTE: If this thread violates any rules of MDL, a person of authority should lock, close, move, or remove this post/thread if necessary. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A while ago I remember reading about activating Windows 8 using MAK keys and calling the Microsoft UK activation center. You'd give the automated lady your installation ID, put in a few numbers, and she'd give you back a code to enter on the computer. I have since discovered another website that is not related to MDL that was recently posted (June) and has keys and things updated for Windows 8.1. It didn't seem to show that it works with Windows 8.1 Update 1; however, I installed it in a virtual machine and actually made it work! I'm not exactly sure if it will stick because I never tried to update the VM. I just wanted to see if it would work. Of course I've been able to get KMS (Microsoft Toolkit) to work flawlessly. EDIT: If an admin/mod/etc is interested in where I got the keys, and info on how to do it, just tell me and I'll PM the link to you unless you allow me to post it here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Question: Would permanently activating with the MAK keys and using Microsoft Toolkit to backup the activation, or would it be better to just use the KMS activation in Microsoft Toolkit and let AutoKMS activate automatically? Tl;Dr: MAK and Skype activation VS KMS using Windows 8.1 Update 1? ~CaffeinePizza~
The MAK activation will burn a legit activation charge on a company's account and it's not something I would recommend or endorse. There's background data being sent to MS data collection servers via the MarkMonitor name servers. MS can tell where your ip is when you send them this data. If enough people are using these keys you are getting from the net, they could wat-block the lot of them and re-issue the mak to the company. I've never heard of that actually happening, but that may be just because we've been insisting on the far less harmless kms activator stuff. I would personally recommend installing and using autokms from the Microsoft Toolkit in the MDL projects section. Just click the activation tab, install button, activate if you wish Autokms will run by default whenever you restart your computer or wait 24 hours while remaining online. IIRC it should also re-activate when you log onto different users.
I'm glad I got a reply from whom I would trust. I've only activated one version of Windows using MAK just to see if it works. I've used Microsoft Toolkit to activate any others I've used with no issues. Even if I ever had encountered issues I think I just reinstalled Microsoft Toolkit AutoKMS and fixed it.