Hi guys and gals, Problem: When upgrading from windows 8 pro x64 to windows 8.1 x64 pro wmc from murphy78 iso i get this error: This upgrade path is not supported. I even follow the readme and delete the el.cfg in the source folder by copying the windows 8.1 iso to a new folder and deleting the file. Deletion of El.CFG still cause the error. Anyone has a solution? Thank you in advance.
Unfortunately the setup is right . You cannot updrade to ProfessionalWMC that way. By design this is meant to be done via "Add Features ...", although it's possible to perform a fresh install.
For the record, you would of had to extract the "sources" directory to the root of a drive, not a subfolder, and then run the setup.exe from the root. Good. c:\setup.exe and c:\sources Bad c:\folder\setup.exe and c:\folder\sources
Actually there are 2 setup.exe in the windows dvds. The root version calls sources\installprep.exe iirc and that program checks the keys and starts to form the $BT~WINDOWS directory (or whatever it's called) before passing command to the 2nd setup.exe which resides in the sources\ folder. If you run the sources\setup.exe you won't be able to keep any programs or settings as it bypasses the preparation. I have no idea what else it could do incorrectly, so I generally don't recommend people use this method to bypass the key check.
The problem is that Windows uses an Upgrade matrix when you try to upgrade one version to another. ProWMC is not allowed as an upgrade option. It is there for boot installs only. The correct method is to upgrade to 8.1, find the generic retail tokens here either in the abbodi esd decrypt script v2+ or the MSMG toolkit. IIRC these tokens were created in a vm, so they don't hold anyone's legit information. So anyway, get the data.dat and tokens.dat out of one of those projects and put it in the %windir%\system32\spp\store\2.0\ folder after upgrading to 8.1 pro. Then you need to find some bogus key on the net to enter in the wuapp.exe "Add features to Windows 8.1" option. It doesn't matter if the key is 100% bogus and blacklisted. You just need to enter it for the system to upgrade itself and change edition to prowmc. After that, you run Microsoft Toolkit here from the MDL projects section and click ez-activator in the activation options. That will change the key to the gVLK (kms key) and activate as well as install the autokms.exe activator. The only thing it won't do for you is my obligatory autokms defender registry key thing so Windows Defender won't nag you about autokms in the future. You can open Windows Defender and allow c:\windows\autokms\autokms.exe and it will add the same key that I add during setup with my script. There's no simple command to run for that. Editing certain registry keys requires elevated permissions and I'd rather not recommend using fishy programs to elevate.
Update: Windows 8 prowmc cannot be upgraded to windows 8.1 prowmc . Same error. S1lave is correct about using key to get wmc if you have 8.0 or 8.1. So it looks like: the only way to to get windows 8.1 prowmc is do a FRESH install and NOT an upgrade as Murphy78 mentioned. So what is the best method to keep all of your applications, data, and pictures from an old computer when upgrading to windows 8.1 prowmc? Is it possible? There is only the options of :keep files or nothing. There is no options of keeps "apps".
To my knowlegde it's only possible via Windows Store Upgrade. EDIT: ========================= In your case it would mean to upgrade to Win 8.1 via Store first, then upgrade to ProWMC via "Add Features ... ". Can be Upgrade to ProWMC first and then to Win 8.1, as you prefer.