RE: Clean install of windows, 8.1 or 10 All of the devices in the Device Manager are happy, to include USB. The only exception of course being the Airplane Mode device as it cant find all of its driver due to my renaming of them. If you’re looking to upgrade your existing Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 PC, go to Get Windows 10 to learn more about upgrade options. If you’re on an Enterprise or Education edition, the tool won’t work for a clean installation. Please see the Volume Licensing Service Center for more information.
Windows 8.1 is a free upgrade to all Windows 8 users, but you normally can’t install Windows 8.1 with a Windows 8 product key. Luckily, you can get around this limitation if you really want a fresh install of Windows 8.1.
Clean Install Windows 8 Upgrade
Microsoft also only allows you to download Windows 8.1 installation media with a Windows 8.1 key, so we’ll show you another trick that allows you to download Windows 8.1 installation media with a valid Windows 8 key.
Update! Microsoft Makes it Easier
If you want to just download the installation media for a fresh reinstall of Windows 8.1, there’s a new option from Microsoft that can allow you to download that image without even entering your product key. And if you are completely reinstalling a Windows 8.0 PC you can use this 8.1 installation media with the same key from Windows 8.0, so there’s no reason not to do so. It even comes with Update 1 integrated.
Simply download the Windows Installation Media Creation Tool, and then select the details about which version you want (Windows 8.1 or 8.1 Pro, etc), and then follow through the wizard to create your boot media.
You can choose to put the boot media directly on a USB drive, or you can create an ISO for later use or to burn to a disc later.
The Problem, and How We’ll Fix It (Old Version)
The problem is that Windows 8.1 product keys are different from Windows 8 product keys. You can’t enter a Windows 8 product key into the Windows 8.1 installer, just as you can’t enter a Windows 7 product key into the Windows 8 installer. You also can’t install the original version of Windows 8 with a Windows 8.1 product key.
This normally makes sense, but Windows 8.1 isn’t really a different version of Windows. It’s a free upgrade to every single Windows 8 user, so there’s absolutely no reason to introduce a new product key system.
RELATED:What You Need to Know About Windows 8.1
Microsoft wants you to install Windows 8 normally and use the Windows 8.1 upgrade offer in the Windows Store to get Windows 8.1. Only people who purchase Windows 8.1 can install it fresh, not people who origianlly purchased Windows 8.
That’s the theory, anyway. In reality, there’s a way we can get around this limitation. The Windows 8.1 installer refuses to accept the Windows 8 product key and won’t allow us to install Windows 8.1 with it. However, Windows 8.1 will accept the Windows 8 product key if you enter it on the desktop after installing Windows 8.1 — no, we don’t know why it works this way. If we had a way of skipping the product key prompt during the installation process and entering the key later, we could install Windows 8.1 fresh — luckily, we do have a way of doing that. We’ll just need to modify the Windows 8.1 installation media a bit.
Update: We’ve been informed that simply entering one of the KMS Client Setup Keys from Microsoft’s website during the Windows 8.1 installation process should let you install Windows 8.1 normally. You should then be able to change your key to your original Windows 8 key from the desktop later.
Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Clean Install
Download Windows 8.1 With a Windows 8 Product Key
RELATED:Where to Download Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 ISOs Legally
The second problem is that Microsoft only allows you to download Windows 8.1 installation media with a Windows 8.1 product key. You can’t normally download it with a Windows 8 product key. Luckily, there’s yet another confusing trick we can use to get around Microsoft’s limitations.
First, visit the Upgrade Windows with only a product key page. Click the install Windows 8 button to begin downloading Windows 8 installation media. Run the downloaded tool and enter your product key. After the download begins, close the setup tool.
Next, visit the Upgrade Windows with only a product key page. Click the Install Windows 8.1 button and run the downloaded tool. The Windows 8.1 setup tool won’t prompt you for a key, but will download Windows 8.1 normally. Select the Install by creating media option after it completes and create either USB installation media or an ISO file. We’ll assume you’re creating USB installation media for this process, as it’s the easiest way to do this.
Modify the Windows 8.1 Installation Media
If you try to install Windows 8.1 with the media you created and your Windows 8 product key, you’ll see an error message. Instead, we’ll need to modify the installation media before beginning in the installation process.
This is easiest if you’ve created USB installation media, as you can edit the files directly on your USB flash drive. If you created an ISO file, you’ll have to modify the files inside it before burning it to disc.
Open the USB drive in Windows Explorer or File Explorer and navigate to the sources folder inside it. Right-click inside the sources folder, create a new text file, and name it ei.cfg . (Ensure it’s named ei.cfg , and not ei.cfg.txt — this may require ensuring file extensions are shown.)
Open the ei.cfg file in Notepad or another text editor. Copy-paste the following text into the text file and then save it.
[EditionID]
Core
[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0
If you have a product key for the Professional version of Windows, replace the word Core with Professional.
Install Windows 8.1 Normally and Enter Your Product Key Afterwards
You can now install Windows 8.1 normally using the installation media you created. You won’t be prompted for a product key while installing it. After the installation process completes, you’ll see a product key prompt. You can enter your Windows 8 product key here, and Windows 8.1 will accept it for some reason.
You now have a fully working Windows 8.1 system fresh-installed with only a Windows 8 product key. The installation media you created can be used to install Windows 8.1 on other systems with a Windows 8 product key, so you can more quickly install Windows 8.1 on multiple computers.
RELATED:Why Have Most Windows 8 Users Not Upgraded to Windows 8.1?
Yes, it’s ridiculous that we even have to write an article about this. Windows 8.1 is practically a service pack for Windows 8, and it’s free to all Windows 8 users — Windows 8.1 even accepts Windows 8 keys when installed, but it doesn’t during the installation process. There’s no reason to force Windows users — especially loyal ones who purchased Windows 8 at release thanks to Microsoft’s $40 offer — to jump through so many hoops.
Thanks to Paul Thurrot for demonstrating how to download Windows 8.1 installation media with a Windows 8 key, and thanks to nate.wages on Neowin for sharing how to install Windows 8.1 with that key!
Image Credit: KniBaron on Flickr
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Windows 8.1 Update has finally been released via Windows Update to all existing Windows 8.1 users and is a mandatory update. PC users who’re running Windows 8.1 can now get the major Update either via Windows Update or by manually downloading the same.
As you likely know, this is a free update to Windows 8.1 and is designed to fix many announces that keyboard and mouse users were experiencing while using Windows 8.1.
In addition to new features and tweaks, there are a number of improvements under the hood as well. Because of this reason, many users want to perform a clean install of Windows 8.1 Update to get the most of out of the newest version of Windows.
Performing a clean install of Windows 8.1 Update is as simple as installing or reinstalling previous versions of Windows. You just need to prepare a bootable USB/DVD and then boot from the bootable media to begin the installation. This method is also helpful when your PC is unbootable (see how to backup data from unbootable PC) or you want to install Windows 8.1 Update on a newly assembled computer.
But if you’re not sure how to prepare a bootable USB drive of Windows 8.1 Update, simply follow the given below instructions to easily create bootable USB of Windows 8.1 Update and then clean install Windows 8.1 Update from the USB drive.
If you’re going to perform a clean install of Windows 8.1 Update by formatting your existing Windows 8.1 drive, you need to back up all data before beginning to install Windows 8.1 Update. Backup all data to an external hard drive or another drive on the same PC.
More importantly, you must have your Windows 8.1 product key in order to perform a clean installation. If you can’t locate the product key, please refer to our how to recover Windows 8/8.1 product key or how to recover the product key from unbootable PC guide to easily retrieve the product key.
Preparing Windows 8.1 Update bootable USB
While it’s possible to create a bootable USB of Windows 8.1 Update with the help of Command Prompt (see how to install Windows 7/8/8.1 from USB drive to see the Command Prompt method), we’re going to use a free tool named Rufus to prepare the bootable USB, as most Windows users aren’t familiar with the Command Prompt and prefer using software with easy-to-use interface.
Step 1: Connect a USB drive that you would like to use as bootable media to clean install Windows 8.1 Update, and be sure to backup all data to a safer location as we need to format the drive in order to make it bootable. However, you can follow our how to create bootable USB without formatting the drive to prepare the drive without having to erase the data.
Step 2: Visit this page of Rufus (free) and download the software on a working PC. You can run Rufus on a PC running Windows XP or higher version of Windows.
Step 3: Run the tool with admin rights. To do that, right-click on Rufus.exe file and then click Run as administrator option. Click on the Yes button when you see the UAC dialog.
Step 4: Once Rufus is running, under Device section, select your USB drive.
Step 5: Next, select your partition scheme as MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI computers and select the File system as FAT32, as a bootable USB formatted with NTFS can’t be used to install Windows on a UEFI based computer. However, if you’re sure that your PC is not a UEFI PC, you can simply select NTFS as the File system. But if your PC is UEFI, be sure to select FAT32.
Clean Install Windows 8 Upgrade Downloads
Step 6: Click the small CD/DVD icon next to ISO image button to browse to your Windows 8.1 Update ISO image file and select the same.
Step 7: Finally, click the Start button and then click OK button when you see the confirmation box to begin preparing your Windows 8.1 Update bootable USB.
Step 8: Once your bootable USB is ready, restart your PC, make necessary changes to BIOS/UEFI settings to enable booting from USB.
Step 9: Press any key when you see Press any key to boot from DVD… message on the screen.
Step 10: When you see Install Windows screen, select your language, keyboard and then click Next button to continue.
Step 11: In the next screen, click Install Windows button.
Step 12: When you’re asked to enter the product key, enter a valid 25-character product key and then click Next button to proceed to the next step.
Step 13: On Where do you want to install Windows screen, select your Windows 8.1 drive or any other drive on which you want to install Windows, format the drive (if required), and finally, click Install button to begin installing Windows.
Windows 8 Clean Install Download
Step 14: From here onwards, you can follow the extremely easy on-screen instructions to sign in with Microsoft account and complete the installation.