Permanent activation of windows 8.1 ?

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by manuboy, Nov 12, 2013.

  1. EFA11

    EFA11 Avatar Guru

    Oct 7, 2010
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    offline kms is the bestest. saves me running wire and or hooking up wifi to systems that don't need it and will never see the interweb.
     
  2. nchall

    nchall MDL Novice

    Dec 11, 2012
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    How did you add WMC to this install? I am trying to do something similar. I had 8.1 VL, then switched it to 8.1 Pro Retail by doing an install keeping files and settings and have now activated that with MTK. I have a WMC upgrade key but the problem is I am now unable to add WMC to this edition of Windows. Stumped.
     
  3. kelorgo

    kelorgo MDL Addicted

    Oct 29, 2012
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    #23 kelorgo, Mar 17, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2014
    What you are trying to do is not possible. If you activate Windows 8.1 Pro using KMS method (which is what MTK and other KMS activator tools do), then it's not possible to upgrade to WMC.

    There are basically two ways to get to Windows 8.1 Pro WMC:
    1) Install Windows 8.1 Pro with a genuine retail key, activate, then upgrade to WMC with your key.
    2) Install Windows 8 Pro, activate, upgrade to WMC with your key, then upgrade to 8.1 via Windows Store.

    Note that in the case of 2) above, it is possible to activate 8 Pro via KMS and still upgrade it to WMC. This is different from 8.1.

    In principle there is a third option as well, but it's complicated. You can get hold of the activation tokens (tokens.dat, data.dat) from someone who has done 2) above successfully, and insert those into a Windows 8.1 Pro WMC installation.
     
  4. nchall

    nchall MDL Novice

    Dec 11, 2012
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    Just to close the loop I was able to eventually get this to work, was pretty convoluted though.

    I had 8.1 Pro activated via KMS and had my legit WMC upgrade key.

    As stated earlier, could not add WMC to Windows through System as was KMS activated.

    I created a Windows 8.1 WMC install via hotfixdownloader but did not input my key. I made sure to edit ei.cfg to reflect Windows 8.1 WMC and when I clicked setup on the ISO in Windows 8.1 KMS activated environment was given the option to install and keep my files.

    Unfortunately this did not keep all of my files and I have had to boot into a recovery environment to restore them from their deleted state, but I was able to install Windows 8.1 WMC on top of a previously KMS activated Windows 8.1.

    Upon first boot it said it wasn't activated though and wouldn't activate with my key so I did phone activation and was eventually given a confirmation code and now have Windows 8.1 WMC activated and am in the process of reinstalling my programs and restoring the above mentioned deleted files.

    This was a big hassle and I would not recommend going from KMS activated to WMC version of 8.1. As other members have advised would be better to backup files and settings and just do a clean install. Was able to get it working finally though.
     
  5. murphy78

    murphy78 MDL DISM Enthusiast

    Nov 18, 2012
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    Just wanted to add, for curious 3rd parties... No you cannot do this without swapping data.dat file.
    We are not allowed to share our data.dat files since they contain installation ID information that corresponds with MS's database for a certain key.
    If you find someone's data.dat floating around on the internet and it works for you... great... but don't go around thinking you're safe.
    Your system reports your activation daily to MS collection servers and if enough people use the phony data, it will probably issue a WAT update to invalidate that Installation ID and render your system non-genuine.
    It happened during the Dec 10-2012 fix that we were using, and it can happen again.

    The difference between 8.0 and 8.1's Pro WMC activation is that no part of the activation can be based on Volume activation of any kind.
    That means no KMS or MAK.

    So yes... barring a few friends sharing their data.dat with eachother, they've effectively closed this loophole for 8.1
     
  6. s1ave77

    s1ave77 Has left at his own request

    Aug 15, 2012
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    It's possible to use generic Activation Tokens, like used by MSMGs tool to convert the RTM/GA ISOs to Update 1 ones. When choosing to create a ProWMC with it, it will offer the option to swap the originals with those generic ones :D.

    Tested myself with my own ProWMC install ISO and the mentioned Tokens and it accepted all WMC keys afterwards. Still might require to use the phone route the first time to activate, but can be done for free :good3:.
     
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