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Answer a Windows 8 > 8.1 question for me

Bateluer

Bateluer

Lifer
I picked up the MS intro deal for Windows 8 early this year, 40 dollars or whatever it was. But the OS . . . failed to deliver.

I know 8.1 is a free service pack if you have 8. Question is, can I acquire install media for 8.1 and install/activate using my W8 key, or do I need to install W8 first, then upgrade to 8.1?

Currently using Windows 7 after rebuilding into my Haswell parts.
 
Haswell has subpar performance on Windows 7

You can use your Win 8 Upgrade key to do a fresh install of Win 8.1 on your computer

that'ds what I've done

Mind you, entering your current win 8 key during setup will not work, any key will not work in fact. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft now has 3 default installation keys

1) Windows 8.1 Single Language
2) Windows 8.1 Core
3) Windows 8.1 Pro

So let's say your key is Windows 8 Pro

Then you need to use the Windows 8.1 Pro default installation key, that is not a real key that you can activate Windows with but rather, just a key for installation purposes. Once you are in Windows environment, activate Windows by entering your real product key and it will be activated automatically over the internet
 
berryracer said:
Then you need to use the Windows 8.1 Pro default installation key, that is not a real key that you can activate Windows with but rather, just a key for installation purposes. Once you are in Windows environment, activate Windows by entering your real product key and it will be activated automatically over the internet
Click to expand...

I am not sure I follow this. Is there some 8.1 key that everyone gets or something? Where did you get the 8.1 media?

Thanks
 
berryracer said:
Haswell has subpar performance on Windows 7

You can use your Win 8 Upgrade key to do a fresh install of Win 8.1 on your computer

that'ds what I've done

Mind you, entering your current win 8 key during setup will not work, any key will not work in fact. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft now has 3 default installation keys

1) Windows 8.1 Single Language
2) Windows 8.1 Core
3) Windows 8.1 Pro

So let's say your key is Windows 8 Pro

Then you need to use the Windows 8.1 Pro default installation key, that is not a real key that you can activate Windows with but rather, just a key for installation purposes. Once you are in Windows environment, activate Windows by entering your real product key and it will be activated automatically over the internet
Click to expand...


Its Windows 8 Pro that I have.
What is the legal method of getting that default install key, assuming you're referring to a legal process?

I'm assuming the key Microsoft has posted for their 8.1 Preview ISOs is a no go?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/preview-iso
 
welcome bro, feel free to ask if u have more questions. i've done this win 8.1 intallation over 30 times

PS: make sure to disable automatic updates and get device drivers and info from the web when u get the first customization screen, otherwise win 8.1 will automatically download all drivers it finds and install them silently, but that's the issue, u want to install ur manufacturer drivers are they are more optimized and give better performance so no need for the windows updates ones. i then go to windows updates, change the setting to only inform me of new updates but not download and install them automatically which is the default behaviour

then when i find the driver updates, i simply hide them so they dont appear again
 
Windows 8.1 installs driver updates automatically? That would be annoying.

7 and 8 have those as optional updates, and they are not automatic.
 
WilliamM2 said:
Windows 8.1 installs driver updates automatically? That would be annoying.

7 and 8 have those as optional updates, and they are not automatic.
Click to expand...

not only are they automatic man, they are silent!!!

Once time I had forgotten to turn that automatically get driver info and updates for drivers...

after installing office and all my apps I wanted to make an image of my SSD just before i install the drivers but the freakin' Intel Management Engine Interface and nVIDIA drivers were installed from WU 🙁
 
berryracer said:
welcome bro, feel free to ask if u have more questions. i've done this win 8.1 intallation over 30 times

PS: make sure to disable automatic updates and get device drivers and info from the web when u get the first customization screen, otherwise win 8.1 will automatically download all drivers it finds and install them silently, but that's the issue, u want to install ur manufacturer drivers are they are more optimized and give better performance so no need for the windows updates ones. i then go to windows updates, change the setting to only inform me of new updates but not download and install them automatically which is the default behaviour

then when i find the driver updates, i simply hide them so they dont appear again
Click to expand...

Its been a few months since I had my W8 Pro test machine up, but I recall WU basically having the same settings as previous Windows versions, where you can set it to alert that new updates are available but to choose whether to download and whether to install them. Doing it automatically on a desktop or laptop, and silently, is a pretty big error.

But, this is Windows 8. Its mostly a series of poor design decisions on top of mistakes and screw ups. 😛
 
Type update in the search box and you should see a list including Windows Update. Open Windows Update and change settings. It's there.
 
Bateluer said:
Its been a few months since I had my W8 Pro test machine up, but I recall WU basically having the same settings as previous Windows versions, where you can set it to alert that new updates are available but to choose whether to download and whether to install them. Doing it automatically on a desktop or laptop, and silently, is a pretty big error.

But, this is Windows 8. Its mostly a series of poor design decisions on top of mistakes and screw ups. 😛
Click to expand...
yeah I can't recall how it ws in Windows 8 but on 8.1 the default option is to install updates auotmatically. Also, it is vital that you turn off "Get devies info and drivers automatically" as that causes hell and you will suddenly notice that Windows Update installed many of the generic drivers automatically

u get that option on the first welcome screen after the Windows installation, if you miss it, you're toast as I haven't seen a way to set it back to OFF after that
 
Just curious but what drivers other than maybe a video card driver do you think are not optimized in windows update? You know the drivers on there come from the hardware manufacturer right?
 
postmark said:
Just curious but what drivers other than maybe a video card driver do you think are not optimized in windows update? You know the drivers on there come from the hardware manufacturer right?
Click to expand...

Audio Driver - always had trouble with the WU drivers, it seems to work, but then come try to record something for example in Skype, it appears as if ther was no Mic, that was with a Realtek sound chipset in one of my laptops

another example >> Intel Management Engine Interface, the ones WU installs is ancient
 
postmark said:
Just curious but what drivers other than maybe a video card driver do you think are not optimized in windows update? You know the drivers on there come from the hardware manufacturer right?
Click to expand...

SATA drivers, specifically, ones for the extra pair of SATA ports that some motherboards have. My ASRock Extreme4 has two ports controlled by an ASMedia<?> chip.
 
Bateluer said:
I picked up the MS intro deal for Windows 8 early this year, 40 dollars or whatever it was. But the OS . . . failed to deliver.
.
Click to expand...

Not seeing any special prices/promotions for Windows 8.1, Amazon lists the full version for $199.99 - sigh.
 
berryracer said:
Haswell has subpar performance on Windows 7
Click to expand...

I don't believe this is actually the case, in the real world.

Yes, Windows 8 will give you a higher Windows Experience Index score. That is because they raised the cap with each version of windows -- Vista gives a rating from 1.0 to 5.9. Windows 7 gives a rating from 1.0 to 7.9. Windows 8 gives a rating from 1.0 to 9.9. Meaning even if your Windows 7 box completed every test in under a millisecond, the WEI would only be a 7.9. Even with the lower cap in Windows 7, Haswell GT2 graphics WEI score is slightly higher in Windows 7 (6.7) vs Windows 8 (6.5). The CPU/memory/disk scores are hitting the 6.9 score cap, doesn't mean they are actually slower.

There are also some configuration tweaks where Windows 8 may have a more performant default setting, but these can be changed in Windows 7 as well (other than the partial hibernate for faster startup after shutdown). For example, by default Windows 7 boots in single CPU mode, switching to using multiple cores only after the system is mostly started up. You can change this setting in the boot section of MSConfig, and after doing so my new Haswell system boots in Windows 7 just as fast as it did in 8.1. But without all the compatibility issues.
 
Last edited:
postmark said:
Just curious but what drivers other than maybe a video card driver do you think are not optimized in windows update? You know the drivers on there come from the hardware manufacturer right?
Click to expand...

The USB drivers that Windows Update will grab in 8/8.1 by default do not work properly on Intel 8 series (Haswell) chipset.
 
glugglug said:
The USB drivers that Windows Update will grab in 8/8.1 by default do not work properly on Intel 8 series (Haswell) chipset.
Click to expand...

Windows 8/8.1 never installed any USB 3.0 Drivers they come preinstalled in the OS as far as I know

Also, trying to install the latest USB 3.0 Drivers provided by Intel gives you a message saying that this computer does not meet the minimum requirements and it makes sense, since Windows 8 has the USB 3.0 Drivers for Intel built in. Correct meh if I'm wrong please
 
berryracer said:
Windows 8/8.1 never installed any USB 3.0 Drivers they come preinstalled in the OS as far as I know

Also, trying to install the latest USB 3.0 Drivers provided by Intel gives you a message saying that this computer does not meet the minimum requirements and it makes sense, since Windows 8 has the USB 3.0 Drivers for Intel built in. Correct meh if I'm wrong please
Click to expand...

Windows 8/8.1 has generic USB3.0 drivers built in.
They don't work properly with Intel 8 Series (Haswell) chipsets. 8.1 ones work with more devices than 8, but they are both pretty lacking.
In order to install the Intel ones you have to hack the .INF files and turn off driver signature checking. And they won't stay installed long because Windows Update puts back the MS ones instead of leaving the unsigned hacked Intel ones in.
 
glugglug said:
Windows 8/8.1 has generic USB3.0 drivers built in.
They don't work properly with Intel 8 Series (Haswell) chipsets. 8.1 ones work with more devices than 8, but they are both pretty lacking.
In order to install the Intel ones you have to hack the .INF files and turn off driver signature checking. And they won't stay installed long because Windows Update puts back the MS ones instead of leaving the unsigned hacked Intel ones in.
Click to expand...
ohhhhhhhh ok!! thanks a lot for this info

and now I know why in Win 7 my USB speeds are better coz I used the newer Intel USB 3.0 extensible host driver
 
Here are the 3 default installation keys for Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 Single Language Y9NXP-XT8MV-PT9TG-97CT3-9D6TC
Windows 8.1 Core 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT
Windows 8.1 Pro XHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKB

There was some confusion on behalf of the mods; our apologies.
-ViRGE
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm not sure its piracy when you can only install the product but not activate it with the keys in question. You still need a legit key to activate. The keys that are publicly available all over the internet remain so, for a long time now.
 
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