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Gem
Premium Member
join:2005-09-10

Gem to MrFixit1

Premium Member

to MrFixit1

Re: [WIN8] Questions about the Win8 digital upgrade...

What is the "media extender" of which you speak?
MrFixit1
join:1999-11-26
Madison, WI

MrFixit1

Member

Should have said Media Center not media extender

If you were not aware of it , Microsoft removed Media center capabilities from Win8 , unless you paid extra .
There is a window of opportunity to restore it for free .

»www.techrepublic.com/blo ··· ait/6928 explains things .

This is the page to get the Media Center key
»windows.microsoft.com/en ··· re-packs

If you think things are interesting now , wait till all the people buying computers with Win8 installed find out that they got Win8 core , and to do what they were able to on their old computers will have to pay for an upgrade !
Gem
Premium Member
join:2005-09-10

Gem

Premium Member

said by MrFixit1:

Should have said Media Center not media extender

If you were not aware of it , Microsoft removed Media center capabilities from Win8 , unless you paid extra .
There is a window of opportunity to restore it for free .

»www.techrepublic.com/blo ··· ait/6928 explains things .

This is the page to get the Media Center key
»windows.microsoft.com/en ··· re-packs

If you think things are interesting now , wait till all the people buying computers with Win8 installed find out that they got Win8 core , and to do what they were able to on their old computers will have to pay for an upgrade !

A quick heads up to anyone trying to add windows media player to W8.

You'll need to get a key to do so from Microsoft. When I tried to get the key using the Firefox web browser, MSFT in its all knowing wisdom, refused to send the key.

To work around that problem, contact MSFT using Internet Explorer. They will then send you the key with no problems.
robman50
join:2010-12-14

robman50

Member

How much is it? Is media player free if I have W8 Pro?
MrFixit1
join:1999-11-26
Madison, WI

MrFixit1

Member

Free until the end of the month ( must be installed by end of month )
Gem
Premium Member
join:2005-09-10

Gem to robman50

Premium Member

to robman50
said by robman50:

How much is it? Is media player free if I have W8 Pro?

As MrFixit1 said, Media Center Player is Free until the end of this month.

Getting the key and adding Media Player by following the instructions in the links posted above was very easy.

My key arrived in only a minute or two. The Upgrade took place in the space of ten to twenty minutes.

Thumbs up to MrFixit1 for the good tip and for posting the links showing us exactly how to get the key and how to do the upgrade.

Just to it in IE rather than a highly secured Firefox browser. ;>)
robman50
join:2010-12-14

robman50

Member

I got the key in about 5 minutes. It installed its self no trouble at all.
Gem
Premium Member
join:2005-09-10

Gem

Premium Member

Good deal. Glad it worked for you.
robman50
join:2010-12-14

robman50

Member

How many times can I reuse those product keys?
Gem
Premium Member
join:2005-09-10

Gem

Premium Member

I believe the rule is we are allowed to use only one key per upgrade and only on one computer. Even changing the components of that one computer may cause windows to refuse to boot, requiring a call to MSFT, where we ask "mother, may I". If the mood strikes, MSFT may deign to allow us to change the components of our computer or perhaps even to move the OS to an entirely different computer, but that's up to them.

To summarize: One key on one computer and only that computer forever more unless MSFT says otherwise.

If that wasn't your question, and if you were asking how many times can we reinstall the upgrade on the same computer - I don't know.
robman50
join:2010-12-14

robman50

Member

I swapped the HDD with an SSD and now I want to do a fresh install so the partition size matches the SSD. Not like 500GB -> 120GB and everything goes crazy.
Gem
Premium Member
join:2005-09-10

Gem

Premium Member

Well...

Try it and see what happens. If W8 balks on you, call Microsoft and ask their permission, which they will very likely grant if their present policy is similar to what it was back in the XP days.

If MSFT's rep says "NO", simply ask to speak to a supervisor and keep escalating until you get someone who says "YES".

============================================

Don't know what software you are imaging and restoring with. I use the Seagate Acronis free version of what appears to be True Image. It has done a lot of successful imaging here from larger drives down to much smaller drives with no problem.

What seems to matter is the size of the used space on the drive more that the total drive size.

I also use at least two partitions on almost all drives. One (or now two) for the Operating System and a second much larger partition for data files.

Most of the time it is the OS partition(s) that are restored or moved from drive to drive by imaging. True Image has handled that very well, IMO.
robman50
join:2010-12-14

robman50

Member

So an +1 for Seagate Disc Wizzard. I use that all the time when I need to restore the O/S.
Gem
Premium Member
join:2005-09-10

Gem

Premium Member

That's it. I've used it for several years but had forgotten it's exact name. My version works with Seagate drives and with most other brands as well so long as at least one Seagate drive is present on the system.