Tablet upgrade, retrieve 8.1 key

alphanumeric · 08 Apr 2016

cereberus said:

Bing is a valid upgrade path to Home - it Showkeyplus will tel you the key is embedded and its value but not that it is Bing afaik (you can see that on system info page from Windows 8 originally).

It reports what version the key is for, Core/Home or Pro, SL too I think. I'm not sure what it lists for the with Bing edition?

NavyLCDR · 08 Apr 2016

alphanumeric said:

I'm not sure what it lists for the with Bing edition?

Core Connected.

alphanumeric · 08 Apr 2016

NavyLCDR said:

Core Connected.

Another thank you. I was just looking through the showkey thread for that info. I had to take some pain meds for my back and I'm a little slow on the draw today.

Matthew Wai · 09 Apr 2016

alphanumeric said:

The free upgrade is good for the life of that device. When that device dies, that license for Windows 10 dies with it.

Having read the following statement from a Microsoft Community moderator, I think a different motherboard of the same model is considered to be the same device.
'OEM versions allow all hardware upgrades except for an upgrade to a different model motherboard.'── quoted from http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...3-cc55cf7b9231

alphanumeric · 09 Apr 2016

Matthew Wai said:

Having read the following statement from a Microsoft Community moderator, I think a different motherboard of the same model is considered to be the same device.
'OEM versions allow all hardware upgrades except for an upgrade to a different model motherboard.'── quoted from http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...3-cc55cf7b9231

That's talking about Windows 7 Retail versus OEM. If you had a motherboard failure, and replaced it with an identical, or almost identical motherboard, you'd have to call and activate by phone. Then explain what you did. In most cases I think Microsoft would reactivate you. My original point was, that you can't transfer the free upgrade to a new PC when the old one dies. Like you can with a full Retail Version. It's my understanding that Microsoft will not let you do that. That's all I meant by the life of the device.

Matthew Wai · 10 Apr 2016

alphanumeric said:

That's talking about Windows 7 Retail versus OEM. If you had a motherboard failure, and replaced it with an identical, or almost identical motherboard, you'd have to call and activate by phone. Then explain what you did.

In my case, I did not have to call and activate by phone because, IMO, Microsoft considered the identical motherboard to be the same device.

alphanumeric said:

My original point was, that you can't transfer the free upgrade to a new PC when the old one dies. Like you can with a full Retail Version. It's my understanding that Microsoft will not let you do that.

My understanding, which might be wrong, is that Microsoft will let you do that as long as the new motherboard is identical to the old one.

alphanumeric · 10 Apr 2016

Matthew Wai said:

In my case, I did not have to call and activate by phone because, IMO, Microsoft considered the identical motherboard to be the same device.

My understanding, which might be wrong, is that Microsoft will let you do that as long as the new motherboard is identical to the old one.

I've swapped motherboards and not had to do a thing. They were almost identical. YMMV. Yes, replacement for repair is allowed, up to a point. Microsoft will give the final yes no decision.

markweatherill · 11 Apr 2016

update: I installed Windows 10 Home on the tablet, but it hasn't accepted the 8.1 Core product key.
It says it can't be used to activate this version.

NavyLCDR · 11 Apr 2016

markweatherill said:

update: I installed Windows 10 Home on the tablet, but it hasn't accepted the 8.1 Core product key.
It says it can't be used to activate this version.

Enter the Windows 8.1 product key into the check product key function of Showkey Plus. Please post the results here. You can just click on the product key itself and showkey will blank it out for you:
Showkey - Windows 10 Forums

Also from an elevated ("run as administrator") command prompt, run:

winver

slmgr /dlv

Post the results of both of the those as well. Then we can figure out why the product key is not being accepted.

fdegrove · 11 Apr 2016

Hi,

Wullail said:

This command from the command prompt SHOULD show the serial number, it's worth a try.

wmic bios get serialnumber

Sorry if someone else replied to that already but that command gives the SN of the machine, not the Windows OEM key.

Cheers,