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Windows 8 Pro - 8.1 Pro ... unable to upgrade.
DJGM
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I have a laptop has Windows 8 Pro installed, and I want to upgrade to 8.1 Pro using one of the recently released ISO
image files setup to install from a USB flash drive. When I've entered the product key and agreed to EULA, it brings
up the "Choose what to keep" screen, with the options to "Keep personal filles only" or "Nothing", but no option to
keeps all my installed apps and desktop programs, as if I was attempted to upgrade from a Preview release.
Thing is, the Windows 8 installation isn't one of the preview versions, it's the RTM build released last year. I want to
do a straight forward upgrade install, keeping everything in place, not an install where I have to reinstall everything.
I'd rather not wait until the upgrade appears in the Windows Store, I prefer to install from physical install media.
If I was upgrading from XP or Vista, then fair enough, as that's a much bigger upgrade path that would work best
using a "wash-n-wipe" install method ... but this is more of a step up, rather than a full on system upgrade . . .
image files setup to install from a USB flash drive. When I've entered the product key and agreed to EULA, it brings
up the "Choose what to keep" screen, with the options to "Keep personal filles only" or "Nothing", but no option to
keeps all my installed apps and desktop programs, as if I was attempted to upgrade from a Preview release.
Thing is, the Windows 8 installation isn't one of the preview versions, it's the RTM build released last year. I want to
do a straight forward upgrade install, keeping everything in place, not an install where I have to reinstall everything.
I'd rather not wait until the upgrade appears in the Windows Store, I prefer to install from physical install media.
If I was upgrading from XP or Vista, then fair enough, as that's a much bigger upgrade path that would work best
using a "wash-n-wipe" install method ... but this is more of a step up, rather than a full on system upgrade . . .
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It basically does a clean install of 8.1 and then moves your documents etc. across but it can't do this with applications.
You will need to wait until 8.1 is properly released to the public, what you have gotten is the RTM version intended only for developers to test programmes before 8.1 is made generally available. If you wait until it is properly released as a Windows Store application (probably late October) then you will be able to do an in-place upgrade which will retain everything.
Well, that's no good. There was never this problem with the upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium that came
pre-installed on the laptop. One straight forward in-place upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, everything was preserved.
Going from Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 8 Pro was a bigger upgrade than W8 to 8.1 is.
Like I said, it's merely a step-up rather than an upgrade. Even upgrading Windows Server 2012 RTM to the R2
version did not present this problem in the testbed server VM I'd setup in VMware, so there is absolutely NO
need whatsoever to apply this particular limitation to the step-up from W8 to 8.1.
This is stupid. An utterly pointless limitation. I prefer to use proper install media from an ISO image, like a DVD
or a pen drive, rather than wait for the digital download to appear to appear in the online app-store. I'm going to
have to find a hack to get around this nonsense. If I was an ordinary end user, there'd be no problem, but this
is a Technet ISO image ... it shouldn't have this limitation, unless I was upgrading from the Preview release.
This is just the latest in a long line of stupid boneheaded "Let's p**s everyone off!" decisions from Microsoft.
about as straight forward as it could be. Run the "setup.exe" file, answer the questions, enter the product key, agree
to the license, then walk away for about half an hour, go for a walk, have a brew, come back, job done.
With W8 to W8.1 being a mere step up with a few extra features and cosmetic enhancements added, rather than a
total upgrade, I should have the choice to install from real actual physical install media without having to re-install
everything from scratch. Like I said earlier, if this was a big upgrade procedure from an older version of Windows,
like XP or Vista, fair enough, I'd expect to have to re-install everything, and would prepare accordingly.
Same goes if I was migrating from 32bit to 64bit . . .
As mentioned above, MS put out the ISO of W8.1 only after developers complained. It's not designed for in-place upgrades.
all my apps and programs, without having to rely on a digital download from the online store, I can live with that.
Re-installing the Modern UI apps isn't so bad, but reinstalling/reconfiguring a ton of desktop apps is a ball-ache!
The original plan (and as far as I know this is still the case) was that MS were not intending to sell upgrade DVDs - the only way to get 8.1 was either via the Windows Store to upgrade 8 to 8.1 or to purchase a retail copy of 8.1 and do a clean install.
Yes it's free. So, you wasted 10 minutes being annoyed, for nothing.....:rolleyes:
It does look as if MS are going to go down the Apple route and roll out new versions of Windows 8 quite regularly, which will be more than a traditional service pack but most of the changes will be behind-the-scenes so to speak. So instead of a big jump (XP to Vista, Vista to W7, W7 to W8) every few years, they'll be a more gradual slow 'evolution' of Windows and these upgrades will be chargeable.
It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Windows 8.2 upgrade doesn't appear sometime late next year at a smallish cost.
if you had 8.0 then 8.1, 8.2, etc. are for free.
if you had 8.1 then 8.2, etc. are for free, etc.
you will pay for 9.0.
GDR for Win8.1 is supposed to be due out in Spring, a similar time to Windows Phone 8.1 release.
Their long term ambition is to make money from devices (higher margin) rather than through selling software.
I can picture them selling Windows as a subscription however, any and all updates are included so long as you keep subscribing.
for my main desktop PC which runs W8 Enterprise as it's main OS, the standard install media for W8.1 Enterprise
appears to allow me to do the upgrade the way I want, preserving everything that I want to keep.
Screengrabs:
Windows 8.1 Pro installer on the laptop.
Windows 8.1 Enterprise installer on main PC.
I'm wondering if the fact that I have the Windows Media Center add-on installed is preventing Setup from showing
the option I want to use, and whether I should uninstall that first (if possible) before continuing with the step-up.