CAUTION: You May Lose Reset/Refresh if You Upgrade to Windows 8.1

[ishamm]

my 8.1 REALLY messed up, and as a result i can only boot into safe mode (i dont know why). I upgraded from the store, so dont have the refresh option. is there a way to use the enterprise evaluation as a recovery media for refresh? i can do the 'cmd prompt magic', but since i cant refresh from safe mode it doesnt seem to help. thanks.

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

my 8.1 REALLY messed up, and as a result i can only boot into safe mode (i dont know why). I upgraded from the store, so dont have the refresh option. is there a way to use the enterprise evaluation as a recovery media for refresh? i can do the 'cmd prompt magic', but since i cant refresh from safe mode it doesnt seem to help. thanks.

 

No, don't use the enterprise method. There is a better way we figured out. We can now download Windows 8.1 ISO using our Windows 8 Key. Check out this forum post and follow the instructions. Once you burn your Windows 8.1 ISO to DVD or make an USB, you can use that to refresh your PC.

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1183149-hazzaaa-download-windows-81-iso-using-windows-80-product-key/

[ishamm]

thanks, i have tried that, but get errors saying its unable to connect to the internet, i have been trying various methods all day to no avail. 

is it possible for anyone to share an 8.1 iso they have succesfuly downloaded? many thanks

[WickedGirl]

Hello! Like a fool, I upgraded to Windows 8.1 last week, and I have been having nothing but trouble. I decided to perform a refresh of the installation, in an attempt to keep my personal files for the moment, while hopefully fixing any problem issues with the 8.1 upgrade installation. Imagine my surprise when I went to the Recovery area in control panel and selected "Refresh", only to be told that "some files are missing" so the refresh cannot continue. Well crapola! Now what do I do. Anyone else experience this?

[Eric Veteran]

[Threads merged]

[zoharzenica]

Best solution is to turn off system restore, install Acronis True Image and life is good. Microsoft should remove all these backup options from Windows because none of them work right or they are incomplete. If they can't provide what Acronis True Image does, they shouldn't bother having anything in OS but let 3rd party to provide solutions.

[Gotenks98]

Best solution is to turn off system restore, install Acronis True Image and life is good. Microsoft should remove all these backup options from Windows because none of them work right or they are incomplete. If they can't provide what Acronis True Image does, they shouldn't bother having anything in OS but let 3rd party to provide solutions.

They do work if your not doing it wrong. They just need to make this documentation more available or put a better interface on it. I have a refresh/reset image that works just fine. I even worked on getting the compression down even more.  

[psychok9]

Guys tonight I've tried "enterprise evaluation" method... and it doesn't work!

I've got broken Enterprise evaluation OS!

Now I don't know how to restore my Windows 8.1 Pro  :s

[JohnnyGuitar]

I wanted to reset an older computer that had been running Windows 8.1 and had this exact issue. I used the method described above and everything worked as described EXCEPT that once it went through the reset process the license agreement told me that I was installing a trial edition of 8.1 Enterprise. At that point I was so far along that I could not back out of the reset process. I now have a reset computer but it has a watermark in the lower right-hand corner that says "Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation. Windows License is expired. Build 9600."

 

What does this mean exactly? I purchased the $40 upgrade to Windows 8 and then installed the upgrade to 8.1...do I now have some kind of version that will expire at some point in the future? Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

[zhangm Supervisor]

What does this mean exactly? I purchased the $40 upgrade to Windows 8 and then installed the upgrade to 8.1...do I now have some kind of version that will expire at some point in the future? Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

I believe that technically, the license is already expired for the eval that you have.

Anyway, I'm not aware of a conversion process from Enterprise Eval. to upgraded 8.1 (pro?). Just stabbing in the dark, try making a new refresh/restore partition using a retail image file for the version that you have, and then run the refresh process again. I can't guarantee that it won't go all taco-shaped though. :(

This is old info, but see if it works.

https://www.neowin.net/news/here-is-how-to-get-the-windows-81-iso-and-create-a-usb-install-stick

[primexx]

Microsoft really dropped the ball on this one by refusing to provide clean ISOs for Win8.1. So many totally avoidable problems and bad user experiences simply because their stubborness. I tried the Store upgrade install on my laptop and it bluescreened immediately upon booting into Win8.1 the 1st time. It then suffered frequent BSODs seemingly randomly. I ended up getting a copy of the ISO from a friend and did a clean install, which worked fine. I'm going to do the same with my desktop during the break.

 

If you do get a copy of the ISO, simply use the Win8.1 generic key during the install process, and once booted in put in your actual Win8 key to activate. It doesn't matter if it's an upgrade key it'll take it directly. Don't need to mess with the registry or command prompt at all (As opposed to Win8 which needed a registry edit to activate an upgrade key on a clean install). Very simple and straight forward.

[+Warwagon MVC]

This

 

Microsoft really dropped the ball on this one by refusing to provide clean ISOs for Win8.1. So many totally avoidable problems and bad user experiences simply because their stubborness. I tried the Store upgrade install on my laptop and it bluescreened immediately upon booting into Win8.1 the 1st time. It then suffered frequent BSODs seemingly randomly. I ended up getting a copy of the ISO from a friend and did a clean install, which worked fine. I'm going to do the same with my desktop during the break.

 

If you do get a copy of the ISO, simply use the Win8.1 generic key during the install process, and once booted in put in your actual Win8 key to activate. It doesn't matter if it's an upgrade key it'll take it directly. Don't need to mess with the registry or command prompt at all (As opposed to Win8 which needed a registry edit to activate an upgrade key on a clean install). Very simple and straight forward.

 

Correct this shows a recently Microsoft trend, where they are trying to make things more simple for the consumer but more of a hasel for computer assistance. F8 being turned into Shift + F8 is a great example. Half the consumers we talk with over the phone can screw up F8 on a slow posting bios, let a lone holding down 2 keys on a bios which boots instantly. This is just 1 example.

[JohnnyGuitar]

I believe that technically, the license is already expired for the eval that you have.

Anyway, I'm not aware of a conversion process from Enterprise Eval. to upgraded 8.1 (pro?). Just stabbing in the dark, try making a new refresh/restore partition using a retail image file for the version that you have, and then run the refresh process again. I can't guarantee that it won't go all taco-shaped though. :(

This is old info, but see if it works.

https://www.neowin.net/news/here-is-how-to-get-the-windows-81-iso-and-create-a-usb-install-stick

I will try this later and let you know what happens. I have no idea what I did with the original 8 and 8.1 install files for that computer. It is a few years old and shipped with windows 7. 

What happens if I do nothing? Will the computer cease working at some point?

[zhangm Supervisor]

I will try this later and let you know what happens. I have no idea what I did with the original 8 and 8.1 install files for that computer. It is a few years old and shipped with windows 7. 

What happens if I do nothing? Will the computer cease working at some point?

I'm honestly not sure how the evaluation version is interacting with your upgrade key upon restoring. I'm guessing that it simply won't be activated, so you have the entire 10 day grace period for activation. After that, expect the computer to shut down every hour.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj552442.aspx

[JohnnyGuitar]

Just a quick update. I have no idea what happened to my product key for my original windows 8 install and the refresh now shows the newly installed enterprise edition as "not activated" where my key should have been. Fortunately I was preparing this computer for a secondary life so none of this was too crucial to me. However, I am not willing to spend additional money for an operating system I'd already paid for and finally just decided to use the manufacturer's restore disk to take the OS all the way back to Windows 7.

 

To others that happen upon this topic and the enterprise edition solution that is outlined below the second post, please know that this will not reset or refresh your computer, but install what is essentially a new trial edition windows OS. 

 

Thanks for those who followed up and gave me advice after the install. It is very much appreciated!

[Praetor]

Refresh is the biggest crap on windows 8, IMHO. Why? because it takes a awful lot of hours to complete; did it a few weeks ago (just for trying and to know the method involved) and after 4 hours it was still in 7%... i wonder what was going on, only to find several people that had the same displeasure on the Internet.

[zhangm Supervisor]

Just a quick update. I have no idea what happened to my product key for my original windows 8 install and the refresh now shows the newly installed enterprise edition as "not activated" where my key should have been. Fortunately I was preparing this computer for a secondary life so none of this was too crucial to me. However, I am not willing to spend additional money for an operating system I'd already paid for and finally just decided to use the manufacturer's restore disk to take the OS all the way back to Windows 7.

 

To others that happen upon this topic and the enterprise edition solution that is outlined below the second post, please know that this will not reset or refresh your computer, but install what is essentially a new trial edition windows OS. 

 

Thanks for those who followed up and gave me advice after the install. It is very much appreciated!

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sorry that we weren't able to provide much help getting your installation repaired properly. As a note, after reading your initial post, I edited the second post in this thread to include a warning about this issue - I know it is too little too late for you, but maybe it will stop others from unknowingly performing a reset.

[JohnnyGuitar]

No worries. I just bought a new laptop and just wanted to clear out the old one for storage, etc. Thanks for being so friendly!

[Gotenks98]

Refresh is the biggest crap on windows 8, IMHO. Why? because it takes a awful lot of hours to complete; did it a few weeks ago (just for trying and to know the method involved) and after 4 hours it was still in 7%... i wonder what was going on, only to find several people that had the same displeasure on the Internet.

You sure you didn't pick reset my pc with a full drive clean? That wipes the drive completely which is why it takes so long. A standard refresh should not take no more than 20 minutes unless you are having hardware issues or something.

[Praetor]

You sure you didn't pick reset my pc with a full drive clean? That wipes the drive completely which is why it takes so long. A standard refresh should not take no more than 20 minutes unless you are having hardware issues or something.

 

now that u say that, i think it was reset...yep, reset it was. but it didn't give me the option (at least it wasn't visible) of a full drive wipe, i just thought it will quick format and reinstall from a image, sysprep like.

[c0rnm3al]

Guys tonight I've tried "enterprise evaluation" method... and it doesn't work!

I've got broken Enterprise evaluation OS!

Now I don't know how to restore my Windows 8.1 Pro  :s

This is exactly what happened to me.  I accidentally installed windows 8.1 Enterprise, but am unable to activate it with a valid product key because I don't have one.  As a result, my computer shuts down on its own after about an hour.  Is there any way I can go back to windows 8.1, or even 8?  I really need help with this.

[The Evil Overlord]

This is exactly what happened to me.  I accidentally installed windows 8.1 Enterprise, but am unable to activate it with a valid product key because I don't have one.  As a result, my computer shuts down on its own after about an hour.  Is there any way I can go back to windows 8.1, or even 8?  I really need help with this.

My advise, read the posts by Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

Read carefully, most everyone who took the time to go through it found a solution

[c0rnm3al]

My advise, read the posts by Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

Read carefully, most everyone who took the time to go through it found a solution

I read everything and attempted to install both windows 8.1 and 8 using a product key I got from a keyfinder.  Neither of them worked; it told me that "this product key cannot be used to install a retail version of windows 8.1."  I assume it's because the key was for Windows 8.1 Enterprise.  I don't have my old key from 8 or 8.1, and I don't know what else to do.

[primexx]

I read everything and attempted to install both windows 8.1 and 8 using a product key I got from a keyfinder.  Neither of them worked; it told me that "this product key cannot be used to install a retail version of windows 8.1."  I assume it's because the key was for Windows 8.1 Enterprise.  I don't have my old key from 8 or 8.1, and I don't know what else to do.

 

uh, what? earlier you had a win8 key and now you only have an enterprise key?? just install 8.1 with the generic key and put your win8 key in to activate.

[c0rnm3al]

uh, what? earlier you had a win8 key and now you only have an enterprise key?? just install 8.1 with the generic key and put your win8 key in to activate.

Unfortunately I got the win8 key from a keyfinder.  I didn't write it down because I didn't exactly plan on changing OS.  I can't get that key back now because the keyfinder detects my Enterprise key, because that's the OS i'm on now.  Also, what do you mean by "generic key?"