How to add Media Center to Tech Preview

I did this myself, and used my original WMC key I got from Microsoft when they were giving away WMC & Win8 for $39.99 (Jan '13.) I had a spare 8.1 box lying around that I used for a Win10-TP *upgrade* install from 8.1. The first time the upgrade worked perfectly but it either removed or disabled the 8.1 WMC installation, and other than that worked perfectly except for labeling everything Windows 8.1, which I didn't like. My first attempt at doing an upgrade install right over the top of Win10TP w/8.1WMC failed--it took me all the way through the process and on the final boot hit me with an error stating that "for unknown reasons" the Win10TP upgrade had failed and the system was reverting to what I was trying to escape--the Win10TP w/8.1 WMC...

Solved it by going into Programs & Features/Turn Windows Features On or Off/ and clearing the check-box for WMC under the "Media" check box. After WMC was uninstalled, I repeated the Win10TP upgrade install *again* and this time it worked perfectly and the original Win10TP upgrade was restored.

Most likely, there'd have been no harm in leaving WMC installed, but I did notice that along with changing the Win10TP labeling to "Windows 8.1 with Media Center," the color of my log-in/out screens also reverted to what it had been under the original 8.1 installation--so I felt like there may have been other things less obvious that would have changed in the TP from its default state--so that's why I got rid of WMC in the TP.

Funny thing is...I really *didn't want* WMC....! I was just curious about it and so, nerd that I am, I did what I've related above. I've been using VLC for a long time and I find it superior to WMC. Anyway, that's my experience with this experiment, for what it is worth...

In case this isn't really clear, here's what I did:

1) Installed the Win10TP over the top of an existing "8.1 with WMC" install--worked perfectly, and disabled WMC

2) Installed WMC into my upgraded Win10TP installation, which changed the labeling to "8.1 with WMC," etc., using my original Microsoft WMC key

3) Attempted a *second* upgrade right over the first, in hopes of getting rid of WMC and restoring the Win10TP to its original state--the upgrade attempt failed

4)Uninstalled WMC from the hybrid "Win10TP/8.1 with WMC" installation I had created, as related above

5) Attempted a *third* upgrade of Win10TP which succeeded, leaving me at step 1) above again...

No more such experiments...!

Aditya Rizky said:

If you upgrade to ProWMC, you won't get any new builds offered.because Insider Program doesn't support SKU's ProWMC

Is there anyway to remove WMC and go back to the W10 Evaluation Build without having to re-install the OS?

Thanks Edwin. It's worth a shot. Going through Add/Remove programs didn't do anything.

Edwin said:

If that doesn't work, do you have an image to restore to?

I have images, but they were all made after I got configuring W10, so WMC is part of them all. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have created an image right after the upgrade was done, but at that point I didn't think of it.