Strategies Needed For Upgrading Win8 to 8.1 on Dial-Up.

[GHagen]

Gentlepersons,

I recently acquired a HP Compaq Elite 8300 SFF. It has no HDD but it does have a set of HP Recovery DVD's for Win8 Pro 64-bit.

What I would like to try is to upgrade to Win8.1 Pro, but there are problems since I am limited to a 56k dial-up internet connection.

This whole thing might be pure fantasy, considering that if it can be done at all, the process required might be so complicated and time consuming that it just isn't worth it to me to bother. This is why I'm asking people who undoubtedly know a lot more than I do about the process to weigh in as to what steps I might need to take to accomplish this.

To get this out of the way: No, I don't have access to a high speed connection through a friend, business, etc. I'm stuck with the resources I have.

I need to be able to download Win8.1 incrementally, over time, as obviously there is no way to do it in one shot given my bandwidth restrictions. I have a download manager that will resume broken/interrupted downloads if the host server supports it.

I am expecting this to take, perhaps, months to complete. I am not under any kind of deadline, here.

Perhaps if I could come across a Win8.1 DVD, it might install as an upgrade -- or even as a clean installation with the OEM Product Key thus bypassing all the problems involved in downloading?

I have not yet tried to install Win8 from the Recovery Discs but I may have to if I need to provide the Product Key before I can start a download of 8.1. Usually, Belarc Advisor will provide the installation Product Key along with other system information when I run it, but I've never tried it on a Win8 set up.

I suppose that prior to installation, I should update the Win8 installation as much as possible. I can get drivers from HP, but other types of updates which would normally be provided through Windows Update will be a problem since Win8 can't get updates through Windows Update anymore.

I hope that some of you can think of a way to pull this off!

Thank you for your kind attention.

Grant

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Grant:

There is a way you can do it...

Since your internet is limited...use the W8 Pro recovery disks, and install W8 just so you can see what version of W8 Pro the product key is good for.

That way you don't waste your time downloading the wrong W8.1 Pro ISO file.

There can be the most common W8 Pro, W8 Pro single language, W8 Pro N (if you live in an EU country)...a real pain in the neck.

Use the small tool that I zipped up and attached below to see what version of W8 Pro you have and the product key.

If you have any questions, post the report minus the product key.  I don't need to know the product key.

Now, if you find that you need to install any other version of W8.1 Pro than the 'regular' version, I need to give you a different product key, so don't proceed until you let me know what version of W8.1 Pro you need, and I can give you the right generic product key.

99% of the time what I have provided below will work--meaning that 99% of the time your PC will have a 'regular' W8 Pro product key in the BIOS.

So, if you want, you can take the gamble and just download the regular W8.1 Pro ISO file and skip the recovery disks.

That's up to you.

Here's how you can clean install W8.1 Pro using the W8 Pro product key in your PC's BIOS:

Install W8.1 by creating the Microsoft installation media, using another Windows PC, if yours is not working...You want W8.1 Pro 64 bit.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8ISO

Only if you are asked to enter a product key during the installation process, use this generic key.

This is the generic key for W8.1 Pro

XHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKB

If you had to enter the generic key, manually change the generic product key to the W8 key in your PC's BIOS in the PC settings menu.

After you get W8.1 installed, and you had to manually enter the W8.1 generic product key, you will need to run the free utility I zipped up and attached below, that will show you show the W8 product key in your PC's BIOS.

I have also zipped up and attached below, the Microsoft tool which hopefully will transfer the ISO file to a DVD or usb flash drive so it is bootable.

Then you can install the available drivers and software from your PC's support page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-compaq-elite-8300-small-form-factor-pc/5232852

[GHagen]

Paul! As has been demonstrated in the past, you da MAN! Always above & beyond.

If the downloaded Win8.1 copy does not recognize the embedded product key during installation and I have to use the generic key, will replacing the generic key with the embedded key after installation completes cause Windows to activate automatically like it would if I had installed Win8 from the restore media or will activation require a separate process (online detection, phone, etc.) like it would using a retail copy?

I notice that the download link is only good for 24 hours. Considering that downloading a 3.5 -4 GB file on my connection will take, as I mentioned earlier, perhaps months to complete, this would be a barrier even for a download manager that supports resuming since getting a new link the next day would likely change the "address" of the file causing the resume feature to fail.

I have downloaded something else in the past (can't quite remember what) that used this 24-hour link expiration scheme and found a workaround that works for my older copy of Free Download Manager (FDM). This might work for someone else facing similar obstacles if their download manager fails to resume after a link gets reset.

When I get the new 24-hour link I start a new download from that link. Then I right click the entry (in the main window) for the new download and select "Properties". In the Properties box there is a field which shows the link URL being used. I highlight that link and copy it to the clipboard. Then I close that Properties window and right click the entry (in the main window) for the original download and highlight the URL link used for that download and delete it. Then I paste in the link copied from the new download and close the Properties box. I then stop the new download, select and start the original download entry (now using the new link URL). This allows the original download to "find" the file it was downloading previously and it can then resume from where it left off instead of starting over from the beginning. Repeat this same process each time you get a new link for as long as it takes to get the whole file. Unfortunately I don't think that there is any sophisticated file integrity check going on like you could expect from, say, the Microsoft Media Creation Tool, but I don't think that MCT supports resuming a broken download either, or I would be using that. So, you work with what you've got and hope it's good enough.

Perhaps someone else has a more sophisticated download manager that can find the file after the link reset, but if not, you might be able to use a similar strategy in your own download manager to manually resume downloads after such link resets.

If, for some reason this strategy fails with this download, I'm screwed unless another link exists that doesn't time out or I can get hold of a Win8.1 Prox64 installation DVD.

Paul, if you're still with me, does the Win8 Pro download from this link require any special preparation to install on a UEFI system or does the Win8 installer prep the HDD for this automatically?

Also, what would happen if I use the recovery discs to install Win8 Pro and then tried to install the 8.1 download? Would it install like an upgrade? I'm just thinking of all the downloading and installing and it's rather appealing to me to have all the proper drivers installed correctly from the disc. They could be updated later though one of those HP Assistant programs. Would the HDD Recovery partition be updated through an upgrade installation?

I think that about does it for now. If you've made it this far, crack a cool one with a sense of satisfaction. You've earned it.

Grant

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Grant:

With your situation, a clean install of W8.1 Pro will require you to use the generic product key I posted.

Yes, you then change the product key for the one in your PC's BIOS that the showkey plus report provides, to properly activate the installation.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help you overcome the 24 hour limit.

If you can keep online for up to that period, 3.xx GB should download within that time period.

If you install W8 from the recovery disks, you will have to do several online updates to W8 before you can get the free upgrade to W8.1 from the windows store, and I don't know how big that file will be.

It may be smaller than the complete W8.1 ISO file download, since a lot of the windows files are already installed.

Upgrading to W8.1 from W8 may be the best way to go if you have to do this incrementally.