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WMC Key will not work

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2019 8:31 pm
by williaml99
Low and behold I found two different paid for keys that windows 8.1 pro likes. The wizard say we are on the way to upgrade WMC 8.1 Pro and then it goes oops something went wrong. I may have to call Microsoft. Replacing W8.1 pro action pack activated key. When I just try changing my key it says cant use that key activate this version of windows. Anyone have a clue? Thanks in advance.

Re: WMC Key will not work

Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 3:07 pm
by williaml99
Found just a couple of instances of this online and Microsoft could not help. My gut feeling is, even if the keys can still work it would be a time consuming effort to get there.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Fo ... progeneral

have a great day and thanks for any interest in the subject.

Re: WMC Key will not work

Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:03 am
by choliscott
With support for 7 ending in January, I figured I would see if I could get Windows 8.1 with WMC to install.
This is what I did

1) Install Windows 8.1 pro with the Windows Key (not the WMC key). This is regular W8.1 Pro, not 8.1 Pro with Media Center
2) Checked Windows to see if it was activated, which it showed it was
3) Went into Control Panel - Add new features.
4) Put in WMC key, which it accepted. after a couple of reboots, WMC showed it was installed
5) Checked Activation again, which Windows now shows it not activated.
6) Called the automated activation line, which reactivated the WMC key to computer I'm testing on.

I've done a few reinstalls since the steps above and with both the 8.1 key and the WMC key it says the machine is activated

I know there are steps that allow you to use the 8.1 Pro with Media Center, but it did not like my WMC key, I had to use the method above

Re: WMC Key will not work

Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 3:29 am
by williaml99
Thanks, that is what i did but the wizard never finishes. It pops up "Something went wrong" close this wizard and try again. Like the link in my post above. The commands actually do as advertised but will always fail. Did yo patch it up with updates or just get it on the internet and try. Mine was totally patched with windows updates. Also all Intel drivers.

Re: WMC Key will not work

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 10:47 pm
by jbhall56
I suffered a hard drive crash three weeks ago and due to work only half heartedly worked on recovering my HTPC. I kept running into Windows 8.1 deactivating after I would install Media Center. I finally broke down and burned one of my MSDN support tickets and called them to get a resolution. What I was told was heart breaking. Since Media Center is a dead product, Microsoft has invalidated ALL of the Windows 8.x Media Center product keys. So while the key will allow you to install Media Center, that act will deactivate your Windows 8.x installation. I tried various techniques including SLMGR.VBS and SLUI to no avail. Nothing would fix the problem. Microsoft basically confirmed that there is no solution other than to move on.

The only other alternatives would be to go back to a Windows 7 Ultimate installation and live with that or move on to one of the other open source solutions.

Re: WMC Key will not work

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:30 am
by williaml99
Thanks for the response, I will mess a little bit more with the version for windows 10 (extracted from win 8) and then windows 7 or TIVO. I have HD Home run tuners but their DVR does not record premium channels.

Re: WMC Key will not work

Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2019 4:37 pm
by DavidinCT
I did this... and did a line by line HOW to do it...

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=12241

If you have a VALID WMC 8.1 key... Download, follow the directions and I don't see any reason why It wont work..

Re: WMC Key will not work

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:31 pm
by V1de0Lovr
That may be true if you are talking about a Media upgrade key for Pro that cost $10 at one time, but last weekend I upgraded a Windows 8.1 non-Pro with a Pro Pack key and SLMGR shows that it is fully activated.