Roundup of Current Windows 8 Activation Solutions (And - Am I Legal?)

Good point. It will be interesting to see what happens after 180 days. I will just keep my options open: Keep both the WMC activation restore files (ATM) and KMS VM's. And keep both installer iso's.

 

Question: Using KMS + WMC (whenever the **** I get the key from MS for WMC) gives you 180 days. Obviously within 180 days someone will have a viable activation method so I'm not too worried but you said that KMS is a risky option because there is no guarantee that the KMS server will be running in 180 days. Now I'm a bit confused. It looks like you said that KMS can NOT be extended, and then you said it can... Which is it and could you please expand on why it is such a risky choice? I mean... in 100 days when someone comes out with a mini KMS emulator would it not be a mute point? Just curious to learn more and you're the only one I've seen ever really explain KMS in a way I could truly understand it. Now if only I could get Office 15 to stop telling me angry error messages....

 

Also: Using Win8 Pro RTM 9600 is it correct to assume there is a possibility of a Volume Licence (if obtained) would work to "genuine" it?

 

mdc, thanks for the post Now if I pay for that $14.99 key, can I use it on a fresh install of windows 8 pro, or is that only for upgrade from windows 7? Also once obtaining that key, can I use it on another computer or is it only for one computer? And would there be a way to make it so that way my laptop and desktop can use it?

 

Yes you can use it for a fresh install, browse it on forum. You can use only one one pc. No. Only one PC at the time.

 

KMS activation allways lasts 180 day, from moment of activation. If renewed activation against a host, you will get another 180 days from then on and on and on........................................
If you install WMC-Key in a KMS activated Pro-Version license turns to Retail-Channel and machine is activated permanently (in terms of MS ).
Atm there is a possibility to build your own Home-Offline-KMS-Host, nearly as easy as my grandma can do. See my sig .
All signs point to an offline kms-solution, that will appear, an will be much smaller, i guess optimistically.

 

so even with the backup activation files this wouldn't work on a dif computer?

 

No, activation files are fixed to the original PC's hardware values and therefore cannot be transferred to another machine

 

Nothing happens, you remain activated. WMC activation totally supersedes however you have Pro activated on your machine (You are no longer "KMS activated", in fact it is impossible to be KMS activated because WMC is not volume licensed). As you mention, it actually changes the version string/SKU of Windows.

Also, you can upgrade to WMC with either a Retail or volume licensed copy of Professional. Some people are reporting that using the VL .iso, however, does not give you the option to upgrade to WMC. However, you can use the GVLK and KMS activation on the retail Pro .iso!!! So just avoid the VL .iso if you want to use this path.

 

How?? Tell me where this "previous product key" is stored on your computer? The only way MS could ever know if a KMS activation was illegitimate was if you failed to clear the address of a known leaked one. Just run

once you no longer are using KMS.

 

So,your suggestion in the checkout information form is to insert real infos,or fake?! And,how much hard for Microsoft is to find out the piracy/illegal key?!
Sorry for questions but i don't wanna pay 30€ for get a blacklisted key after some months.. i think we are maybe overrating the "fake iingenuity" by microsoft and maybe we can be trapped all and waste money,even if it is a low price?!

 

Oh well ,probably paranoid is the correct word,but i don't like to have things not under control i'm just afraid for consequences.. but i think i will give a try..

LoL,thanks!

 

I registered for the $14.99 upgrade offer using a legit Win7 key from a laptop.

I then used the Win8 key and did clean install to my desktop.

This considered as legit right?

 

Whether this is legit or not (in the legal sense of abiding by MS's licence terms) depends on the type of Win 7 key you had on your laptop. If the Win 7 key was an OEM key (found on a COA sticker stuck to your laptop), then what you did is technically not legit, unless you live in Germany. If the Win 7 key was a Retail (or Volume Licence) key, then what you did is legit. This is because the OEM licence does not allow you to move it to another computer, and without being able to move the Win 7 licence, you do not have a qualifying basis for installing an upgrade on your desktop.

If you mean whether the Win 8 installation is genuine (in the sense of MS being able to detect what you did), then the answer is Yes, you have a genuine installation and MS can't tell the difference from any other legitimate Win 8 installation.

 

I would like to confirm that I did clean install Genuine Win8 on my HDD and activated it just to have a test.

Then I decided to clean install it to my SSD doubting that same key would activate since I changed hardware, but to my surprise, it did activate

 

From EULA Windows 8:

 

Do you mean you're sure the previous product key is not normally stored somewhere in addition to the WMC key? I think this is a key point. I've browsed through the data.dat discussion thread and a few other threads but only briefly so I may have missed it. As I understand it and you seem to confirm you aren't supposed to be able to use WMC with KMS Windows. And you do need to have activated Windows before you install WMC. So under a proper/normal activation route you need 2 legit keys (although the first one could be OEM rather then retail).

When you activate with WMC does original key disappear completely by itself? Are we sure it's not stored somewhere such as in the data.dat file? If we are sure, then I guess the WMC method theoretically should always work. I mean MS could release an update and force people to re-enter their original keys but the chance of them doing this is close to zero give the hassle it would create (particularly when you add OEM keys to the mix).

But if under normal conditions both keys remain stored, then we have a different scenario. Even if you can convince Windows to erase the original key and it still works at the current time, it seems to me there's a risk however small MS may decide to start to check the original key (i.e. check both keys) in the future. For those who have manually deleted it but have a legitimate key, they will need to re-enter it. This may annoy some people but MS may consider it worth it since the number is likely to be small. For those who didn't delete it but it doesn't exist because it never existed, well they're SOL and MS isn't going to care.

Or to put it a different way, it seems to me a very important question is what info is stored under normal conditions since those are the ones MS is going to consider when deciding whether to close loopholes. While having info on your comp that KMS was used is 'bad', lacking info on your comp of normal activation before WMC is also 'bad' if that info should be there, even if you can manually remove it under a legitimate scenario and it currently works.

BTW there is an intermediate scenario. MS may change the way WMC activation works for future activations. So people who are activating again, e.g. for re-installations will find both keys need to be verified. For those who already activated, their activiation is not going to die. I expect there will be a way to trick MS in to thinking it was already activated before and work with only one key but it will definitely create more hassle.

Hopefully I'm not being too repetivie, as I said I've read a few threads but not in depth.