Solved Activate retail Windows 8.1 with a Windows 8 WMC key...

Yeah, I've heard it's pretty sluggish. Wouldn't do any harm to put it on a second partition and have a dual boot setup though. Microsoft doesn't have any option to upgrade from Vista for free do they? Now that'd be sweet.

EDIT: ...sweet, but totally unnecessary as I already have 8.1!:sarc:
 
why not just stick with what you have got and worry about having to do a reinstall if/when the time comes. I used Vista for years from 2007 when is was launched to the start of last year on a powerful PC at the time but it was very slow. To use the computer I would have to switch it on then have a cup of tea, 5-10 minutes later it was usable, on the same rig with Win 8 the PC is usable after about 60-70 seconds, the motherboard takes about 30 seconds of that as it's now about 5 years old.

I honestly think you would regret it big time if you screwed up your Win 8 to install Vista, Vista and even Win 7 look dated compared to 8 and that's from an early Win 8 hater!
 
I'm not trying to cheat the system. I have a valid activated copy of win 8.1 which I purchased at a shop with a PC. I remember the guy at the shop showing me that the activation was valid and permanent. I then upgraded for free from 8. I only found out a few weeks after that the key installed on the system was only a poxy WMC upgrade key and that I couldn't use it to re-activate after a fresh install! If anything, I've been cheated out of being able to do a fresh install from disk.

Without
The certificate of authenticity,
The product key
The proof of purchase
you have a illegal install.

Therefore return.

:ditto:

The sale of a PC with Windows 8 installed without a certificate of authenticity is a CRIME.

Therefore return.
 
In Virginia there is a State Corporation Commission.(They issue business licenses)

If a pawn shop knowingly sells illegal goods they will have their business license revoked.

Each state has something similar.

You could contact yours & talk the situation over.
 
....You could contact yours & talk the situation over.

Nah, seems a bit extreme. After all, when I think about it, I did quite well. I got two OS's for the price of one - a fully legit OEM Windows Vista and as some would argue, a not so legit Windows 8 (even though it's permanently activated and seems genuine!) Plus ,the PC's specs themselves are pretty good.

tonymarcus said:
...why not just stick with what you have got and worry about having to do a reinstall if/when the time comes...

Yeah, I'm gonna do that. Partition imaging backup software seems like the way to go in case I ever need to reformat. It's no big deal anyway. I did however manage to restore the original Vista Home Premium (SP1) that was on a hidden factory restore partition. So now I have a dual boot, and I gotta say, I don't mind Vista at all! I prefer the look and feel of Vista to 7 & 8, whatever about boot times and alleged RAM hogging. It doesn't seem that bad to me at all! I think it got a bad reputation when it came out first because 1.) there wasn't great hardware/driver support at the time and 2) it was a lot different to the much loved XP. I'm currently downloading SP2 for it. The service packs, they say, have ironed out a lot of the original bugs and faults. I've already played a few games on it like Just Cause 2 and Batman Arkham and I didn't notice any performance deterioration compared to that of win 7 or 8, so, for now, I'm happy enough with my new (legal) OS.
 
It's not actually permanently activated by the way. Activation is rechecked from time to time, maybe every time you boot up. If that code gets blacklisted you'll get a not genuine warning. Then the next time you try to activate with it, say after a reinstall, it will fail activation. Activation is not a one time good forever type of deal.
 
It's not actually permanently activated by the way. Activation is rechecked from time to time, maybe every time you boot up. If that code gets blacklisted you'll get a not genuine warning. Then the next time you try to activate with it, say after a reinstall, it will fail activation. Activation is not a one time good forever type of deal.

I'll still have the Vista Home Premium that the PC shipped with from the factory. I'm using it now and I kinda like it. Thread solved!:party:
 
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