So, does the upgrade "really" need to have anything previously on HD?

[dlcampbe]

The install process proceeded normally and completed the installation without being activated, no problem, just a small regedit change and a restart and it was now activated.

Yes, you did the registry change which fools it into activating without being an "upgrade"

edit: there was NO operating system installed on the new SSD.

Yes, because you did the registry editing trick. That is the way around NOT having an OS installed on the SSD drive.

Don't knock it 'til ya try it.

Peace...

 

[pparks1]

The install process proceeded normally and completed the installation without being activated, no problem, just a small regedit change and a restart and it was now activated.

Yes, you did the registry change which fools it into activating without being an "upgrade"

edit: there was NO operating system installed on the new SSD.

Yes, because you did the registry editing trick. That is the way around NOT having an OS installed on the SSD drive.

Don't knock it 'til ya try it.

Peace...

I am not knocking you, just explaining why it worked.

 

[dlcampbe]

Well, I guess you have the answer to your initial question, eh?

 

[roofrider]

Well, I guess you have the answer to your initial question, eh?

Someone in the previous page said a win8 Refresh or some feature helped with activation, wonder if what it does is similar to a double install.

 

[dlcampbe]

Well, I guess you have the answer to your initial question, eh?

Someone in the previous page said a win8 Refresh or some feature helped with activation, wonder if what it does is similar to a double install.

That is what I suspect. The second laptop that I installed the Win 8 Pro upgrade on had a new HDD with the ONLY ever installed operating system of Win 8 evaluation copy present. The install was incomplete, I rebooted with the Win 8 upgrade disk made from the ISO and, it installed and was automatically activated.

Since the Win 8 eval copy does not qualify as an operating system eligible to upgrade from, I thought the second install on this machine may have seen enough of the first partial install of Win 8 for it to qualify as a previously required Windows OS. That leads me to assume that a double install of Win 8 may work the same as it did with Win 7.

Anyone willing to try it? I'm running out of laptops...

 

[theog]

Since the Win 8 eval copy does not qualify as an operating system eligible to upgrade from, I thought the second install on this machine may have seen enough of the first partial install of Win 8 for it to qualify as a previously required Windows OS. That leads me to assume that a double install of Win 8 may work the same as it did with Win 7.

It may work, but does not make it legal; as you would have NO original software.

 

[dlcampbe]

Since the Win 8 eval copy does not qualify as an operating system eligible to upgrade from, I thought the second install on this machine may have seen enough of the first partial install of Win 8 for it to qualify as a previously required Windows OS. That leads me to assume that a double install of Win 8 may work the same as it did with Win 7.

It may work, but does not make it legal; as you would have NO original software.

Did you read my earlier posts? For every installation of Windows 8 Pro that I have made, regardless of the method, I have retired a qualifying copy of a Windows operating system. I don't see the need to install an old copy of XP on a new HDD just to do the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro. The registry tweek does not make what I do illegal. I still have some no longer used copies of old Windows operating systems, but I'm out of laptops to upgrade. Guess I'll have to use Dell OptiPlex 780s for my last 2 upgrades.

 

[roofrider]

Since the Win 8 eval copy does not qualify as an operating system eligible to upgrade from, I thought the second install on this machine may have seen enough of the first partial install of Win 8 for it to qualify as a previously required Windows OS. That leads me to assume that a double install of Win 8 may work the same as it did with Win 7.

It may work, but does not make it legal; as you would have NO original software.

win8 rp, cp and dp qualify Upgrade to Windows 8 with only a product key - Microsoft Windows

 

[Brink]

win8 rp, cp and dp qualify Upgrade to Windows 8 with only a product key - Microsoft Windows

That's only to be able to run the downloaded upgrade to upgrade from those, and not to actually be able to download the upgrade from a qualifying OS (XP SP3, Vista, or Windows 7)

See: Terms and Conditions - Microsoft Windows


Just to help clarify.


Yes, you could upgrade from the "Windows 8 Release Preview" with the upgrade copy of Windows 8 since you can do a clean or ugrade install with the upgrade copy of Windows 8. You might as well do a clean install though since nothing from the "Windows 8 Release Preview" will be kept other than in the Windows.old folder.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2234-upgrade-install-windows-7-vista-windows-8-a.html​

However, you can only run the "Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant" from within the XP SP3, Vista, or Windows 7 that you are upgrading from to be able to purchase and download the Windows 8 ISO first.

Plus, you need to follow the EULA and not have the qualifying OS (XP SP3, Vista, or Windows 7) installed while the upgrade Windows 8 is installed. "Windows 8 Release Preview" is not a qualifying OS for the upgrade.


To comply with the EULA and be legal:

No qualifying OS to upgrade from = need to buy retail "system builder" copy of Windows 8

Want to keep both qualifying OS and Windows 8 installed = need to buy retail "system builder" copy of Windows 8

Want to replace your qualifying OS with Windows 8 = you can use "Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant" to purchase a upgrade copy of Windows 8

 

[dlcampbe]

Thanks Brink,

I also was relying on this statement, "Microsoft makes it clear that the 90-day evaluation is a dead end. "It is not possible to upgrade the evaluation to a licensed working version of Windows 8," the company says on the website that details the trial. "A clean installation is required."

I was only using the 90 day evaluation copy installed on new HDDs, no previous Windows software installed. I do, however, have more than one old Windows OS disk left over from computers that were changed to a linux distro.

 

[Brink]

Thanks Brink,

I also was relying on this statement, "Microsoft makes it clear that the 90-day evaluation is a dead end. "It is not possible to upgrade the evaluation to a licensed working version of Windows 8," the company says on the website that details the trial. "A clean installation is required."

I was only using the 90 day evaluation copy installed on new HDDs, no previous Windows software installed. I do, however, have more than one old Windows OS disk left over from computers that were changed to a linux distro.

Yeah, the 90-day evaluation was for Windows 8 Enterprise. You can't upgrade from that.

 

[bobkn]

Yeah, the 90-day evaluation was for Windows 8 Enterprise. You can't upgrade from that.

I did. Clean install with Win8 Pro upgrade version. Installed and activated.

I was a little surprised that a limited amount of stuff (IE favorites, custom desktop) were preserved, even though I deleted the old partitions during the installation.

 

[Brink]

Hey Bob,

Sure you can do a "clean" install (format) from anything, but that's not an upgrade install. It's just that you can do a "upgrade" install from Enterprise to say Windows 8 Pro.

Are you sure you did a clean install? A clean install formats the HDD, then installs the new OS.

 

[Moodkiller]

Can you take a running Windows 7 PC, go through the upgrade advisor, pay the $39, do the digital download, burn a DVD from the ISO and then take that installer to a computer with a completely blank hard drive, install it, input the CD key you get from the purchase and be on your merry way?

That's what I seem to be reading from a variety of sources. I want to be sure that I understand the process so I can answer correctly if somebody asks me.

SooooOOOo to answer this question, yes you can.

This is what I did, I started the download with Windows 7 64 bit. Got the option to choose how to upgrade, picked save nothing. After download I picked install from new media. Burned the iso file on DVD, booted from the DVD with a clean hard drive and it installed, entered my product key at the start of the install, Activation happened sometime during install.

 

[roofrider]

SooooOOOo to answer this question, yes you can.

This is what I did, I started the download with Windows 7 64 bit. Got the option to choose how to upgrade, picked save nothing. After download I picked install from new media. Burned the iso file on DVD, booted from the DVD with a clean hard drive and it installed, entered my product key at the start of the install, Activation happened sometime during install.

Clean hard drive meaning, a new hdd which had no previous windows installed on it?
Or u mean u formatted the hdd by booting from the media?

@Brink ya i was aware of that but didn' mention it in that post.
dlcampbe ran the upgrade assistant form a legit win7 to purchase the key and installed it over his win8 eval version on a different laptop (iirc) which is completely fine.

 

[Moodkiller]

Clean hard drive meaning, a new hdd which had no previous windows installed on it?

Meaning exactly that, was a brand new SSD out of the box with no OS installed on it whats so ever . .

 

[MadHorseman]

I might be wrong, but couldn't the licence check be being done when you first download? At this point you must have some operating system to download to.

I'd like to go though the following procedure:-

I have Win 7 on an SSD,
I have Win Vista on HDD with the Bootloader there. Not good!
I also have Win 8 RP on the same HDD.

I think I'm within my rights to use Vista to download the upgrade (bye-bye licence) create boot media, but then delete that partition, copy the Win 7 partition back to the HDD and upgrade that to Win 8 with the media I created.

So - I've lost my Vista licence, but kept Win7 and Win8 dual booting. Delete Win8 RP.

 

[roofrider]

Clean hard drive meaning, a new hdd which had no previous windows installed on it?

Meaning exactly that, was a brand new SSD out of the box with no OS installed on it whats so ever . .

Lol that contradicts everything i've read regarding this, i'm tired now.
Good for u.

 

[bobkn]

Hey Bob,

Sure you can do a "clean" install (format) from anything, but that's not an upgrade install. It's just that you can do a "upgrade" install from Enterprise to say Windows 8 Pro.

Are you sure you did a clean install? A clean install formats the HDD, then installs the new OS.

Yes.

I manually went into the advanced settings, and deleted the existing partitions.

 

[Moodkiller]

Lol that contradicts everything i've read regarding this, i'm tired now.
Good for u.

Haha I dont blame you, still a lot of uneasy minds regarding all of this... but yeah, did nothing special or different, not even any registry hacks -_-