{"id":3677,"date":"2013-02-19T17:26:59","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T22:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techwalls.com\/?p=3677"},"modified":"2013-10-06T00:19:58","modified_gmt":"2013-10-06T04:19:58","slug":"activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Activate Windows 8 when Upgrade Product Key is not Accepted"},"content":{"rendered":"

I purchased the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade offer last October to do the upgrade from Windows 7. Since my laptop had some issues in booting up, I had to do a clean install using the Windows 8 64-bit ISO file<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another issue emerged after I finished installing and booting to Windows, I could not activate the Windows 8 with the purchased upgrade product key. The reason is because the key can be used for upgrade only and it does not accept fresh installation. That means if you format your drive and do a clean install, you will not be able activate and see the following error:<\/p>\n

“This product key didn’t work. Please check it and try again”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can install your previous Windows version and make the upgrade to Windows 8 again but it will take a lot of time. Here is the workaround to fix the issue:<\/p>\n

1. Press Windows + R<\/em> to open the Run<\/strong> box, type in regedit<\/strong> to open the Registry Editor.<\/p>\n

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\/Software\/Microsoft\/Windows\/CurrentVersion\/Setup\/OOBE\/<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Double click on the key MediaBootInstall<\/strong> on the right.<\/p>\n

4. Change the value data of the key from 1 to 0. Then exit the editor.<\/p>\n

\"regedit-activate-windows-8\"<\/p>\n

5. Open Command Prompt (right click on the icon and run it as administrator).<\/p>\n

6. Type in\u00a0slmgr \/rearm and press Enter.<\/p>\n

7. Restart your computer when you get the message.<\/p>\n

8. Come back to your PC Settings to activate Windows. You shouldn’t see any error now.<\/p>\n

Leave me a comment if you have any problem or activated Windows successfully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I purchased the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade offer last October to do the upgrade from Windows 7. Since my laptop had some issues in booting up, I had to do a clean install using the Windows 8 64-bit ISO file.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":3678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1146],"tags":[1147,156,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-3677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-guide","8":"tag-guide-2","9":"tag-microsoft","10":"tag-windows","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nHow to Activate Windows 8 with Upgrade Product Key<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After I finished installing Windows, I could not activate the Windows 8 with the purchased upgrade product key. Here is the workaround to fix the issue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tuan Do\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/\",\"name\":\"How to Activate Windows 8 with Upgrade Product Key\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/regedit-activate-windows-8.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-19T22:26:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-06T04:19:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0374331f6dab83e97eb683907dca90\"},\"description\":\"After I finished installing Windows, I could not activate the Windows 8 with the purchased upgrade product key. Here is the workaround to fix the issue.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/regedit-activate-windows-8.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/regedit-activate-windows-8.png\",\"width\":700,\"height\":441,\"caption\":\"regedit-activate-windows-8\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tech Guide\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/guide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How to Activate Windows 8 when Upgrade Product Key is not Accepted\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/\",\"name\":\"TechWalls\",\"description\":\"Technology News | Gadget Reviews | Tutorials\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0374331f6dab83e97eb683907dca90\",\"name\":\"Tuan Do\",\"description\":\"I am the founder and editor of TechWalls technology blog. I have been blogging for 8 years and here you can find latest technology news, gadgets, tutorials and product reviews.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/author\/rickyadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Activate Windows 8 with Upgrade Product Key","description":"After I finished installing Windows, I could not activate the Windows 8 with the purchased upgrade product key. Here is the workaround to fix the issue.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tuan Do","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/","url":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/","name":"How to Activate Windows 8 with Upgrade Product Key","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/regedit-activate-windows-8.png","datePublished":"2013-02-19T22:26:59+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-06T04:19:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0374331f6dab83e97eb683907dca90"},"description":"After I finished installing Windows, I could not activate the Windows 8 with the purchased upgrade product key. Here is the workaround to fix the issue.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/regedit-activate-windows-8.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/regedit-activate-windows-8.png","width":700,"height":441,"caption":"regedit-activate-windows-8"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/activate-windows-8-upgrade-product-key\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tech Guide","item":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/guide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to Activate Windows 8 when Upgrade Product Key is not Accepted"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/","name":"TechWalls","description":"Technology News | Gadget Reviews | Tutorials","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0374331f6dab83e97eb683907dca90","name":"Tuan Do","description":"I am the founder and editor of TechWalls technology blog. I have been blogging for 8 years and here you can find latest technology news, gadgets, tutorials and product reviews.","url":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/author\/rickyadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techwalls.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}