Here is what I now know. The promotional Win 8 download offered in
the fall of 2012 through Jan 2013 for 40 dollars and was downloaded
as an ISO that is not bootable, and has to be installed within a
qualifying windows upgrade product. Once installed you can upgrade to
Win 8.1 free and you keep your same key and activation. My problem
began when I attempted to use the free Media Center key to add Media
Center to Windows 8.1. I made the mistake of thinking it was an add
on product instead of a whole new version of Windows with a new windows key.
I used the key I was given for free by MS in their promotional in
January 2013 knowing that it had expired January 31 and thinking that
they would either not except the key or offer to sell me an active
license for it. They accepted the key but this was big mistake. If I
had not used the key, and simply asked for the Media Center upgrade
it would of cost me 10 bucks. But what occurred was that Windows
accepted my expired key and then when it hit the server it was then
deactivated as a blocked key. The problem is that it deactivated
Windows 8.1 in it's entirety because my Media center key became my
Windows plus Media Center key and there is no way to simply go back
to my original Windows 8 key which is now a used and blocked key.
It is unbelievably complicated and convoluted and Microsoft does
nothing to help you understand it. I learned all this by trial and
error and by reading other horror stories not from anything
Microsoft posted or anything their incompetent support staff
explained. Today I realized 40 bucks is not worth my time to try and
sort it out... if it even can be sorted out. I will just have to eat
the 40 bucks and buy another bootable copy of Windows 8.1 with Media
Center that can do a clean install, and be done with it.
At 02:23 PM 11/23/2013, you wrote:
IWinterlight, you're not alone:
http://forums.wpcentral.com/windows-8/246239-media-center-pack-killed-my-windows-8-1-activation.html
At least one poster in the above link claimed success,
The above is just one link of many that showed up when I googled
"Media Center Key is no good because it expired" -
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ASUM_enUS543US543&q=Media+Center+Key+is+no+good+because+it+expired
I'm not running Win 8 so I can't be sure, but a couple of others
links from the above google search might also be helpful.
Regards,
Mike
At 06:22 PM 11/22/2013, Winterlight wrote:
In windows 8 the screen that says my media center key is blocked
says I can buy a new key online, but when pushed tells me I can not
buy a key from this country and will have to buy from a retail
store... I am in California... so I guess California can't buy
windows 8 keys online. I wonder if MS did the software for the
Affordable Care Act.
So, I tried calling Microsoft. I first called the number on my
January 2013 receipt... because there is no other number to call
them. They tell me that my Media Center Key is no good because it
expired because I did not use it before the January 31st deadline..
here is the kicker that media center key has now my windows key
which means because it is expired, and blocked Windows 8 is no
longer valid, and will eventually shut down... unless I buy a new
Windows 8 key.
So they start transferring me around through 4 different
departments, All of them telling me I have to go to a retail store
and buy a new copy of Windows 8 with Media Center for 100 dollars,
until I finally end up at the Microsoft store and again theyt tell
me they no longer sell Media Center upgrade... what??... my only
way to solve this is to buy a whole new license key with Windows
Media Center from them for 100 bucks!!
I have never had to call or deal with MS or activation before and I
am clueless if I can even solve this... there is no one to call
that seems to understand what has happened or how to fix it. For MS
support the only solution they have is to buy a new copy of Windows
8 at a retail store!! You know the lame support staf that tells
people they have to reinstall or restore a backup to fix a simple
problem. Well MS has taken this to a new level... they tell you
that you have to buy a new copy of the OS because your key only
works once... imagine that!
Am I screwed.. am I really going to have to buy a whole new copy of
Windows 8 with media center and use that key to activate?
After I upgraded to win 8.1 from win 8 something went wrong and my
activation is no longer working .. which makes no sense so I have to contact
MS .. but where is the number... going through the online help keeps sending
me in a circle. Who do I call and where do I get the number?
__________________________________________
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." (Benjamin
Franklin, 1755)
