I am quite confused. Call me a noob. Can I use Windows 8.1 Pro VL key with Windows 8.1 Pro retail ISO? Can I use Windows 8.1 Pro retail key with Windows 8.1 Pro VL ISO? If so, is there any point in having both?
neither key will work on other version since these are different channels afaik, never tried since I only run genuine TechNet/MSDN keys on versions that I get with my subscriptions
IIRC I have activated VL with a retail key in the past ... I think the licence of Pro is interchangeable...
Wait, wut? For Windows, key switches the channel. Been this way since Vista. Only the SKU must match.
basically most I believe you like to install a retail iso and try to activate with either KMSpico or MTK - right?
Yup. It looks like Microsoft actually have a page on this: http: //technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx
Pro VL is the same as Pro retail except that it has an additional package that assigns the gVLK (KMS key) by default and automatically activates on a VM (AVMA) What this means is that you can activate all keys on either version, but certain default methods will be different. On Pro VL, because of the additional package and the ei.cfg (either one would cause this) it won't automatically read OEM keys from your BIOS(UEFI). You could still activate an OEM key on those systems, but the OEM key would need to be for Pro and you'd need to enter the key post-install by using SLUI 2 or slmgr /ipk The only 2 functional differences besides the activation are: 1) AVMA like I mentioned. If you install on a VM, it will try to automatically activate by connecting to network systems and using Auto DNS discovery, etc. 2) You cannot upgrade the Pro VL build to Pro WMC. There's literally no 2nd Pro WMC edition to change it to.