Hi guys, anyone know what the cheapest way is to get a full copy copy of Win8 (ie, not an upgrade) Thanks!
The only way to get a non upgrade version of win 8 is to buy a system builder version, which you can now do legally it is available in both win 8 and win 8 pro versions There is no retail version per se now
For home use buy the System Builder version : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-WN7-00403-English-Version/dp/B009HI2W66/ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Professional-FQC-05955-English/dp/B009HI3WOC/ Then according to first line of System Builder licence : http://oem.microsoft.com/public/sblicense/sb_licenses/oem_system_builder_license_english.pdf Go to : http://personaluselicense.windows.com/en-US/default.aspx Then read the licence (which gives you pretty much the same rights as FPP product before), check the checkbox, fill in the fields and press Submit to accept the Personal Use Licence. Unfortunately for non-personal use (that AFAIK means commercial use) there is no FPP product yet. You will have to either buy OEM, Action Pack or one of other licencing options.
You can actually do a full clean install using the upgrade download It's just a simple regedit to fix the activation: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/10/27/windows-8-upgrade-clean-install-possible/
What in the instance that my Primary HDD dies, I lose all installations of windows, and I only have the upgrade option - surely microsoft has put in a proviso for that? There's no way in hell I'm purchasing another full price copy just to be able to get my system operating again, and no way I'll go through the hassle of reinstalling and reactivating windows 7. To be honest, once I get my boxed copy of Win8, 7 is going through the shredder
Buy a serial code off eBay. I've had 3 copies of W7 that way. Then use official ISOs and install from USB!
Volume licencing. Serial codes assigned to a company. But seriously guys, he ask the cheapest way to get it legally.
I don't think Bill would mind, so long as he paid something... Where can one obtain an official / clean ISO anyway?
Are you a student? If you are check if you have access to Dreamspark, where you may have access to several copies of Windows 8. I think you need access to Dreamspark Pro. I have access through my subscription to IEEE (which doesn't cost too much as a student and is an excellent source of science and technology based news etc.), because my uni only gives access to Dreamspark Pro to the computer related courses.
Yes if you are a student then get your Windows 8 copy from dreamspark.it is free of charge for students.Register and get your copy.
I have an upgrade key. PC needed formatting from scratch. Put in Windows 8 disk entered my upgrade key. Sorted. No reg fixes. It jut works.
What he said. I bought the upgrade, formatted the drive. Installed the upgrade and it never once asked for my previous installation data.
It won't ask for any previous key, but it may get a bit funny (ie. not let you) if to try and activate on a system that didn't have an eligible OS installed prior to the upgrade. The downloader/installer in the download version of the upgrade gives you the option to download an ISO or create bootable USB (the -bit version matches the system you are downloading it from). You can then use this to perform what effectively amounts to a clean install on any system that has a valid OS installed already (not necessary the system you downloaded it from), which in this case is any legit version of Windows from XP onwards. The only remnants of the old system is the Windows.old folder, which is actually pretty handy for quickly transferring files to the new system (I wouldn't trust it without backups though). If you wanted to you could even do a clean install of any old Windows licence you have lying about, and then install the Win8 upgrade media onto that. Installing on a freshly formatted drive may not activate, an is breaking the EULA. I must admit though, I've never seen the issue with using the aforementioned reg fix to get round this as long you legitimately fulfilling the upgrade criteria. As far as I can tell the method above is just as clean as installing on a freshly formatted disk, but if you are upgrading you drive at the same time it seems a bit silly to have to install one OS just in order to install another.
Same here, my laptop HDD died, I tried to recover to a new disc via my restore DVDs which refused to install on the new hybrid drive I had as it it lacked the recovery partition....doh what its the point of recovery dvds if you can't restore to a new drive. I then thought bugger it I installed W7 fresh using key on my laptop only to discover Sony does not sign up to all the driver certifications so couldn't use latest Ati drivers etc, started frigging about with the system to put Sonys' hacked stuff on and some how managed to end up with my system telling my I had non legit windows.....aaargh Blatted the disc and took a punt on the W8 upgrade on a blank disc and it worked no problem, all activated etc along with Windows media Player and even had OK drivers out of the box for the most part, yay As that was painless and so cheap, I have now bought it for all my systems.
