If you downloaded Windows 8.1 from the Store than Winston is right. If you downloaded from some other source the free upgrade will not work.
How do I find the product key for Windows 8.1
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Anonymous
Original title: Product Key
I downloaded Windows 8.1 (free) from the Microsoft web site. My understanding was that in doing so, a new product key would be generated. I do not know where/how to find the new product key. Can someone help me out with this? Was I mistaken and do I use the product key I have for Windows 8?
Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Licensing and activation
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
191 answers
Sort by: Oldest
-
Anonymous
2014-01-13T05:20:22+00:00 -
Anonymous
2014-01-14T01:21:11+00:00 Reread the question & mine was done in the MS store
-
Anonymous
2014-01-14T20:08:01+00:00 Once again,let me reiterate . I OWN a legal copy of Windows 8 that I purchased from Microsoft. I then used the store to update to Windows 8.1 . Microsofts own system restore backup software will NOT allow me to create a system recovery image , or partition or backup in ANY way because I do NOT have a Windows 8.1 product key . This essentially makes it impossible for the average user to back up their system ( I am not the average user , I own Acronis backup software ) .
Because of this , I have had what few friends and family that have upgraded to Windows 8 , then tried to update to WIndows 8.1 , have had it essentially ruin their system , come to me to reinstall Windows 8 . I have had to tell every one of them NOT to update to Windows 8.1 unless they want to purchase backup software and an external drive or a lot of removable media . Not that that helps , because most of them are running software designed for Windows 7 or Windows 8 that simply won't run under Windows 8.1 , which is inexplicable in and of itself.
The point of this rant is that Microsoft wants you to update to Windows 8.1 , but if you do so , they make it impossible to use THEIR OWN SOFTWARE to make a system backup .
-
Anonymous
2014-01-15T01:17:05+00:00 I called Microsoft support and since I was within what I think was a 90 day window, they did a refresh type install and gave me a product key to use at no cost. I have three other machines with windows 8.1 installed that I fixed by deleting the registry key. I use WHS 2011 for backup, so I have an image of all systems. Would be better if I had actual media so I could do a quick repair rather than reimage the system.
-
Anonymous
2014-02-10T02:42:02+00:00 Well, that just sucks. Windows 8.1 goes south and I have to go back to 8.0 and forward recover? And lose all of the rest of the stuff on the machine? Absolutely ridiculous.
I guess that free upgrade is worth a little less than we paid for it.