Clean Install with Windows 8 Upgrade

How to Do a Clean Install with Windows 8 Upgrade

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This tutorial will show you how to do a clean install with a Windows 8 upgrade copy on an empty drive (HDD/SSD).

Windows 8 System Requirements
Windows 8 works great on the same hardware that powers Windows 7.

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)

Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

Graphics card: MicrosoftDirectX 9 graphics device or higher

Additional requirements to use certain features:

• To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch.
• To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768.
• To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768.

Here's How:

1. If you haven't already, you will need to either purchase a Windows 8 Upgrade from a retailer, or use the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant to purchase and download a Windows 8.1 ISO file online from Microsoft to create a bootable USB/DVD with.


2. Do a clean install or clean install with UEFI with your Windows 8 upgrade USB/DVD, and enter your Windows 8 product key number during installation.
NOTE: You can do the clean install using either a local account or Microsoft account. It doesn't matter.

   Warning

You will only be able to enter a Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro product key.

You will not be able to enter a Window Media Center Pack or Windows 8 Pro Pack product key. These are considered to be an upgrade key and can't be used to install Windows 8. These can only be added after Windows 8 is installed, then use Add Features to upgrade to the Window Media Center Pack or Windows 8 Pro Pack.

3. When the clean install is finished, if you check in System, you will see that your Windows 8 upgrade may not be activated yet.





4. Do step 5 or 6 below for how you would like to activate the Windows 8 upgrade.


5. Activate by Refreshing the Windows 8 Upgrade

A) Refresh Windows 8, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You would use OPTION TWO at this link. Be sure to keep your Windows 8 installation DVD in the drive or Windows 8 installation USB connected.




6. Activate Windows 8 Upgrade using a BAT File Download

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .bat file below, and save it to your desktop.


Activate_Windows_Upgrade_after_Clean_Install.bat





B) Right click or press and hold on the downloaded .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

C) If prompted, click/tap on Run and Yes (UAC).
NOTE: If you like, you can stop getting the Run prompt by unblocking the downloaded .bat file.

D) You will now notice a command prompt quickly open and close while applying the changes to your registry.

E) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)




E) Restart the computer to apply, and go to step 7 below.


7. When finshed, if you check in System, you will see that your Windows 8 upgrade is now activated with the product key you entered in step 2 above.




8. You have just finished doing a clean install with an upgrade copy of Windows 8.


That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Do a Clean Install of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1
• How to Clean Install Windows on a MSATA (SSD) Drive
• How to Install Windows 8 Using "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)
• How to Upgrade from Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, or XP to Windows 8 or 8.1
• How to Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7
• How to Download and Run the "Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant"
• How to Create or Download a Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO
• How to Install Windows 8 on VirtualBox
• How to Install Windows 8 on VMware Player
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 8 and Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Create a Windows 8 VHD at Boot to Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Change the Product Key Number in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Find Your Windows 8 Product Key Number
• How to Activate Windows 8 and 8.1 by Phone
• How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 8 without Losing Anything

 

[theog]

Nice work, Shawn.

 

[azasadny]

Thank you!!

 

[Brink]

Glad it could help.

 

[SelenaGomez Fan]

Thank you!!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome SelanaGomez Fan, and welcome to Eight Forums.

 

[japa]

Thanks, but I wish I knew this before. Instead had to wipe the drive again and install windows 7 then upgrade to 8.

 

[garry35]

can you please clarify a few things for me when doing a clean install do you have to :-

install the qualifying OS and boot from USB drive or ISO with the old OS still present ? or just boot from a clean drive. it was my understanding that the upgrader needs to see a qualifying OS to work. if the drive is clean then how can it work if it cant see a qualifying OS. it would be helpful and maybe clear up some confusion if you explained how the upgrader determined if you had a qualifying OS during the install process or is this only done with the upgrade assistant.

 

[japa]

install the qualifying OS and boot from USB drive or ISO with the old OS still present ?

Clean install is when the partition or disk your installing to is completely empty or formatted.

it was my understanding that the upgrader needs to see a qualifying OS to work. if the drive is clean then how can it work if it cant see a qualifying OS.

Well it seems the installer does not check for it. It is checked however during the activation and refreshing it is basically overwriting the current installation so it somehow fools windows that it was installed (upgraded) over previous version. At least that's my understanding of it.

 

[Brink]

Hello Garry,

install the qualifying OS and boot from USB drive or ISO with the old OS still present ?

You would only need to boot from the USB/DVD that you created from the ISO to start the Windows 8 installation to install it to whatever drive/partition you like.​

it was my understanding that the upgrader needs to see a qualifying OS to work. if the drive is clean then how can it work if it cant see a qualifying OS.

Only the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant must be run in a qualifying OS to be able to purchase and download the Windows 8 upgrade ISO.

You can install Windows 8 upgrade however you like so long as you abide by the EULA and not use your qualifying OS while you have the Windows 8 upgrade activated.

The upgrade installation itself only checks for an existing Windowws for activation, that's why you install Windows 8 upgrade first, then must do the refresh for it to be able to activate. The refresh acts as the upgrade from itself to itself.
​

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[japa]

The refresh acts as the upgrade from itself to itself.

Ah, so I did understand it correctly. Also I bet Microsoft did that on purpose so they can show off with number of installs.

 

[Brink]

It's still a bit of a workaround, but I'm betting that it was to allow customers to be able to reinstall their Windows 8 upgrade as needed without having to install the previous OS first instead.

 

[garry35]

does this mean that the qualifying OS you run the upgrade assistant on remains tied to the upgrade ie. if you run the upgrade assistant from a XP (the same would apply to any OS)installation that you then cant use the same XP to dual boot or on a different system

 

[Brink]

It means that you agree not to use (activate) the qualifying OS's product key number as per the EULA for lower cost of an upgrade copy of Windows 8 instead of having to buy the more expensive full versions of Windows 8.

 

[FlightMedic]

I downloaded W8 without a problem and then used it for about a week. I deleted it. I still had the same W7 loaded on the C: Now I would like to reload W8 but it will not accept my product key. It says that it cannot verify the key. How can I use the same product key for the same W8 on the same computer I bought it for?

Jim

 

[Brink]

Hello Jim,

Double check to make sure that you have an internet connection, and that you are entering the correct product key. It's not hard to make a mistake with similar characters like o 0, G 6, etc...

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[cubski]

Thanks for clarifying everything Brink. I just purchased my Windows 8 Upgrade after playing with the RTM for a couple of days. The difference in performance compared to Windows 7 is so clear so its a no brainer to upgrade.

Will try this out after the download is finished. Cheers!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Cubski, and welcome to Eight Forums.

 

[cubski]

Just finished installing and found out my Windows 8 is already activated even if I did a clean install. It did ask me for my product key during installation.

 

[Brink]

Double check in "System" (step 3 or 5) to make sure though. It will always ask you to enter the product key during installation, but that doesn't mean that it will be activated afterwards.