My pc which arrived 9/9 had Windows 8 Core preinstalled but not activated. I was unable to activate it with the product key that came on the pc. I called the pc company tech support. Very helpful and nice guy. He has stayed with me through this. I'm just wondering if anyone here may have a solution since so far we haven't solved this. The tech told me to call Microsoft. I called. The first woman had me Run slui 4 and get the installation key. When she heard what it was she said she wouldn't be able to help and gave me another number. I called. First guy said he couldn't help and connected me with another MS tech. This third MS person, kind and helpful, got the installation key (I still had it on the screen), and was checking around and at first thought he could activate me online. Then all of a sudden he said, "oh, more information just came in here and I won't be able to activate you online." He said my version of Windows 8 was "out of their scope." I would have to take care of this through my vendor. It had something to do with it being an OEM. He was clearly stumped about the situation too. Okay, next call to pc company yesterday. Same tech says he'll talk with the manager and we'll talk today. He called today. (Great tech support - free lifetime support - at this company, Cybertron, by the way.) What they wanted to try was to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro online and he sent me the link and the key. So I installed. All went perfectly. The key works to get it all going. I click on Add Features to do the upgrade. Now W8 Pro is installed via the online download and installation. Afterwards I check the status in Properties and it shows that Windows 8 Pro is installed, however, it is not activated. So I did a Run: slui 3. I put in the key and got this error: 0XC004F061. "This specified product key can only be used for upgrading, not for clean installations." So apparently, it didn't like the Windows 8 Core that was underneath and so it didn't consider the Pro version an upgrade. Jeez. I emailed Cybertron support and let him know what happened - with the error code. Then I followed up with a call. He's going to call me back with another key shortly but thinks we will have to start fresh with a new install. He was disappointed it didn't work ... they had hoped the online upgrade would do the trick. I read a lot about upgrading to 8.1 in here last night and it occurred to me that someone here might have some insight into what is up on this and what is the most efficient way to go next. The good thing is that Cybertron will do anything and everything to make it right. Thanks! I can't wait to actually get everything going on this very cool new pc.
If it's just an upgrade key problem, search for "MediaBootInstall" in the registry, change from 1 to 0 Open elevated CMD and type: slmgr -rearm Now try to activate online (Might need to reboot - can't remember)
MrMagic, I opened regedit and searched for MediaBootInstall and nothing came up. Do you have any idea of where to look in the tree?
+1, for another brand Dxxx, you just need to turn on the power, go get some beer and come back later, everything will be done automatically....
Update: I searched via Google and found the location in regedit, however, the key was not there. I created a new key with value 0. Then I opened elevated CMD and did slmgr /rearm. I was told to restart. Restart, then right click on My Computer to Properties. It says Windows 8 Pro installed, not yet activated. I go back to my email from the tech to copy the key he sent today. Paste in the key, get the message that the key works, then Activate. This is where this key failed before. But this time - it activated!!!!!!!!!! OMG, I am so happy! Thank you, MrMagic!!!!!!! At last, this is over! Now I'll let the tech know what I did and that it worked - thanks to MDL and MrMagic! Peace out for now....
- It's an old trick that can be used to activate clean installs with upgrade keys, as upgrades are generally cheaper than full versions
I am so grateful, MrMagic. So, even though this online upgrade from the unactivated W8 Core to W8 Pro was supposedly an upgrade, because of the unactivated version underneath, it wasn't considered an upgrade, right? This is considered a clean install? I'm getting educated here.
Yea I think because you didn't activate the clean Core install first, it wouldn't let you activate an upgrade, otherwise people would just buy upgrades, perform a clean install, not activate it, then perform the upgrade and activate that for half the price (Which you can do anyway, but they don't like to make it that easy) If you had activated the Core install first, then the key likely would have worked no problems