My aim was to buy the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for my trusty old IBM Thinkpad T43 w/XP Pro COA that runs a legit copy of MS Vista Ultimate and do a clean install of Windows 8 onto an to-be-purchased 128GB Crucial M4 Sata SSD.
The journey was long and difficult up to now, and I'm not yet at the end of it. My preliminary conclusion is that Microsoft really doesn't want you to buy and install the Win8 upgrade...
1st problem:
When you launch the Win8 upgrade assistant, it won't allow you to buy Windows 8 with less than 4GB of free space on drive C. Never mind the loads of free space on Drive D where I would like to download the files to...
Solution: install the original XP onto a spare HDD and run Win8 upgrade assistant from there
2nd problem:
My post code doesn't get accepted. I'm suspecting that country location is based on IP geolocation, as you cannot indicate the country for the billing address anywhere. Since I've recently moved countries, the billing address doesn't match the current country I reside in.
Solution: I changed the post code to a French one, and hoped that it wasn't going to be used in the credit card verification process.... and... success!
3rd problem:
Running upgrade assistant in Windows XP doesn't allow you to create an ISO install media... AARGG??!
And as a solution? I'm getting desperate now...
- Does the MSDN downloaded 'en_windows_8_x86_dvd_915417' accept the key bought through upgrade assistant?
edit: hmm I found some 'workaround' to change a cleanly install windows 8 into accepting upgrade keys, without using external software
- option 2: copy the \ESD directory to a more recent OS and hope that the upgrade assistant will 'detect' it upon installation and allow to create a .iso, or create an ISO directly from the stuff in the \ESD\Windows directory.
any advice? (yes I know what I'm getting into with Windows 8 UI, no need to warn me; that's where Classic Shell comes in)
The journey was long and difficult up to now, and I'm not yet at the end of it. My preliminary conclusion is that Microsoft really doesn't want you to buy and install the Win8 upgrade...
1st problem:
When you launch the Win8 upgrade assistant, it won't allow you to buy Windows 8 with less than 4GB of free space on drive C. Never mind the loads of free space on Drive D where I would like to download the files to...
Solution: install the original XP onto a spare HDD and run Win8 upgrade assistant from there
2nd problem:
My post code doesn't get accepted. I'm suspecting that country location is based on IP geolocation, as you cannot indicate the country for the billing address anywhere. Since I've recently moved countries, the billing address doesn't match the current country I reside in.
Solution: I changed the post code to a French one, and hoped that it wasn't going to be used in the credit card verification process.... and... success!
3rd problem:
Running upgrade assistant in Windows XP doesn't allow you to create an ISO install media... AARGG??!
And as a solution? I'm getting desperate now...
- Does the MSDN downloaded 'en_windows_8_x86_dvd_915417' accept the key bought through upgrade assistant?
edit: hmm I found some 'workaround' to change a cleanly install windows 8 into accepting upgrade keys, without using external software
- option 2: copy the \ESD directory to a more recent OS and hope that the upgrade assistant will 'detect' it upon installation and allow to create a .iso, or create an ISO directly from the stuff in the \ESD\Windows directory.
any advice? (yes I know what I'm getting into with Windows 8 UI, no need to warn me; that's where Classic Shell comes in)
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