Solved Activation Deadline

paddyb

New Member
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8
I'm hopeing to upgrade purchase an upgrade to Win 8 by Jan 31, to take advantage of the £24.99 offer.

I'm also planning to buy a new SSD as my main OS drive and clean install it on that (presumably I can transfer my existing win 7 Pro license to the new install)?

However, for various reasons I'm not actually going to have time to do all this - a hardware upgrade, new installation of windows, re installing all my software etc - before the end of Jan.

If I take advanatge of the £24.99 offer and buying it online before Jan 31, do I also need to install and register it by 31 Jan, or can i do this at a later date.

Many thanks in advance for your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro
AFAIK, yes. It does need to be activated by 31-1. Happy to be corrected.
Wenda.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 'Ultimate' RTM 64 bit (Pro/WMC).
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer AS8951G 'Desktop Replacement'.
    CPU
    i7-2670QM@2.2/3.1Ghz.
    Motherboard
    Acer
    Memory
    8GB@1366Mhz.
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GT555M 2GB DDR3
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD w/Dolby 5.1 surround.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built-in. Non-touch.
    Screen Resolution
    18/4" 1920x1080 full-HD.
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 750GBx2 internal. 1x2TB, 2x640GB, 1x500GB external.
    PSU
    Stock.
    Case
    Laptop.
    Cooling
    Stock.
    Keyboard
    Full 101-key
    Mouse
    USB cordless.
    Browser
    IE11, Firefox, Tor.
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro.
    Other Info
    BD-ROM drive.
I know that if you want the free upgrade to add Media Center to Windows 8 Pro, that has to be activated by 31 January. For instance see the small print here.

I wasn't aware that you have to activate Windows itself by then; and this article suggests you can buy Windows 8 before 31 Jan but not use it till later.

If you wanted Media Center after that point you'd have to pay, but in any event I read somewhere that they are only planning to charge 9.99 for it (in some currencies at least).

Likewise I'm happy to be corrected!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
Thanks both!

Its quite a difficult thing to google, as most of the questions are about getting the free pro pack upgrade. So I went through the slightly laborious process of registering with the Microsoft Community and asked the same question there, and got this swift reply

If I Ibuy Win 8 for £24.99 before Jan 31, do I also need to - Microsoft Community

This is still not the same as hearing it directly from Microsoft, so interested to hear if anyone still thinks differently.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro
yes, that site is great for information. but like other forums, none of that information is official. it's all people trying to help each other out. I've even had that Andre Da Costa (who sounds very official with a MVP Community Moderator title) give me completely wrong information before on a couple questions I had. so the bottom line is to not take any advice blindly because sometimes we make mistakes and a lot of the advice we give is based on our experiences.

from what I understand, you don't need to activate Windows 8 by Jan 31. but you do need to activate your Windows Media Center code by Jan 31. so i'm in complete agreement with DavidY.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
You don't need to install it by that date, once you bought the product it's yours and you can install Windows 8 at your leisure, no time limits what so ever.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
yes, that site is great for information. but like other forums, none of that information is official. it's all people trying to help each other out. I've even had that Andre Da Costa (who sounds very official with a MVP Community Moderator title) give me completely wrong information before on a couple questions I had. so the bottom line is to not take any advice blindly because sometimes we make mistakes and a lot of the advice we give is based on our experiences.

from what I understand, you don't need to activate Windows 8 by Jan 31. but you do need to activate your Windows Media Center code by Jan 31. so i'm in complete agreement with DavidY.

Hi there
Windows 8 needs to be PURCHASED before Jan 31.

You can then sit in Jail for 3 years or whatever and activate Windows when you come out. !! -- The price of the software is the price pertaining to PURCHASE on or before the given date.

There isn't ANY change whatsoever to the mechanics of how the Windows activation servers work.

(WMC is another issue -- but IMO who really needs that anyway --so much better and FREE software out there for handling Video / general Multi-media).

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Thanks everyone, i'm marking this as solved. Not that bothered about WMP, i have plenty of video related software so i think the mpg II codec(i think thats the bit that needs the extra license fee?) will be included with these.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro
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