win 8 core

why have you installed Core and not pro from the beginning? As all versions were available since being released, everyone had the choice to take the maximum version by using the appropriate key during installation. Sorry, but afaik, a clean new install is needed.

 

Windows Anytime Upgrade, type in a Pro key.

 

Yes you can. You can perform an "anytime upgrade". You need a proper Pro key, not the Media Center Upgrade key.
Most notebooks seem to be shipping with core edition. My MSI shipped with Core, I boot into WinPE from my usb key & used dism to change edition on the recovery install.wim

Code:

md d:\x
dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:E:\RecoveryImage\install.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:d:\x
dism /Image:d:\x /Set-Edition:"Professional"
dism /Image:d:\x /Set-ProductKey:Your product key here
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:d:\x\ /commit
rd /s /q d:\x

If you then format the OS partition and reboot, the notebook will auto boot into recovery & you can perform a reset to restore the Pro edition you just updated! This worked for me & my MSI notebook.

@PaulDesmond, M8, take a chill pill. You seem to jump on people with every post!

 

It's a good solution if you Upgrade to Pro and want your recovery image also to be Pro.