Horrible Windows 8 install experience

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Gilco2

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# 143169 5-Apr-2014 12:44

I have HTPC with AMD A4-5300 apu and gigabyte ga-f2a88xm-d3h motherboard. Works very well with Windows 7 64 bit. I like Quickflix so thought would install windows 8 pro upgrade to get the quickflix app rather than having to open IE then loading the quickflix page etc. I bought Windows 8 64 bit pro when it came out and used it for a month and went back to 7. So start HTPC and from desktop select setup and get the online updates etc. Restarts and I chose wipe everything. Go to activate and cant as key already in use. Okay so ring microsoft 30 minutes later all activated after trouble understanding the accent of person. All good. Now as it is HTPC I like Media Center for tv. So rather than hassle of trying the old key I obtained I decided to buy a new key. Add features buy the key and everything installs. Result Windows is not activated and wont activate. So knowing 100 % genuine from Microsft I let the computer update still cant activate. It wanted to update to 8.1 so I thought would let it. Still wont activate. See error code 0xC004C4AA. Looking on google results come up that have to reinstall using genuine key etc. 30 hours to this point and they wonder why people look for alternatives. I love windows but with experience like this seriously considering linux. Still not where I want linux fully yet so have to persevere. So now I have to ring Microsoft and try and understand foreigner to try and get activated. It shouldnt be this frustrating.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

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597 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1019003 5-Apr-2014 14:54

One person supports this post

Sounds like you didn't know what you were doing and made mistake after mistake. Windows 8 is pretty easy to install from scratch. If you activate the key then it's expected that you can't activate again.

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

Gilco2

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# 1019039 5-Apr-2014 15:28

sorry but I do know what I was doing. Have done around 50 upgrades/installs and they go well. Have done hundreds over years from dos through all versions of windows and most go well. BUT there have been a couple which includes this where it has gone pearshaped. For instance you have a legit activated install of windows 8. Then through add features you purchase from microsoft the media center add on and it installs but wont activate. Usually it all works. In perfect world it should have activated without jumping through hoops.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

charsleysa

597 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1019043 5-Apr-2014 15:38

Well the only times it should fail is when you have a custom setup which isn't supported by the automatic upgrade systems. Usually happens when you use separate directories for OS stuff that is set using registry keys.

As for the media center activation it sounds like it failed because of the phone based activation of the OS.

Have you tried the automated phone activation where you don't have to talk to anyone?

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

Gilco2

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# 1019065 5-Apr-2014 15:49

yeah thats all done and working. The point I tried to make is you have a machine running windows 7 64 bit. Buy a windows 8 64bit upgrade. From desktop run setup let it run then it restarts and you choose whichever option to wipe everything, keep personal settings etc. Then when all finished it wont activate and you have to ring. It should have activated but didnt. In this case I fully expected to have to ring to activate but then once activated and you buy the media center addon, you would expect it to activate without having to ring up.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

charsleysa

597 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1019072 5-Apr-2014 16:06

Gilco2: yeah thats all done and working. The point I tried to make is you have a machine running 64 bit. Buy a windows 8 64bit upgrade. From desktop run setup let it run then it restarts and you choose whichever option to wipe everything, keep personal settings etc. Then when all finished it wont activate and you have to ring. It should have activated but didnt. In this case I fully expected to have to ring to activate but then once activated and you buy the media center addon, you would expect it to activate without having to ring up.

Yes that's true, it is a bit odd, but I think it's one of the caveats of using phone activation.

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

Gilco2

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# 1019080 5-Apr-2014 16:41

I guess I was just ranting and if honest, can understand why Microsoft do it. Thinking about it, if I am honest, I dont really mind having to ring. Again really thinking about it my frustration is from speaking with someone whose English isnt their first language and very hard to understand. On the phone you dont see the face and expressions to help understand

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

charsleysa

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# 1019083 5-Apr-2014 16:51

Gilco2: I guess I was just ranting and if honest, can understand why Microsoft do it. Thinking about it, if I am honest, I dont really mind having to ring. Again really thinking about it my frustration is from speaking with someone whose English isnt their first language and very hard to understand. On the phone you dont see the face and expressions to help understand

I understand, it's pretty bad talking to people who barely know English or have a incomprehensible accent, it's also made worse when there's lots of noise on their line.

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

surfisup1000

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# 1019099 5-Apr-2014 18:00

charsleysa: Sounds like you didn't know what you were doing and made mistake after mistake. Windows 8 is pretty easy to install from scratch. If you activate the key then it's expected that you can't activate again.

I too had an awful experience.

I bought win8 pro full version but am forced to run a pirate version.

Something to do with embedded keys and trying to change from a mechancial to SSD drive and also UEFI bios incompatibilities came up with a combination of events that made it extremely difficult to install the purchased version.

Anyway, I have legally purchased it so I am not overly consumed with guilt.

surfisup1000

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# 1019100 5-Apr-2014 18:00

charsleysa:
Gilco2: I guess I was just ranting and if honest, can understand why Microsoft do it. Thinking about it, if I am honest, I dont really mind having to ring. Again really thinking about it my frustration is from speaking with someone whose English isnt their first language and very hard to understand. On the phone you dont see the face and expressions to help understand

I understand, it's pretty bad talking to people who barely know English or have a incomprehensible accent, it's also made worse when there's lots of noise on their line.

Yep, takes a while to phonetically spell those huge keys.

Batman

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# 1019104 5-Apr-2014 18:12

I am failing time and again to clean install using uefi. That beast is mysterious.

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

Klipspringer

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# 1019107 5-Apr-2014 18:20

surfisup1000:
charsleysa: Sounds like you didn't know what you were doing and made mistake after mistake. Windows 8 is pretty easy to install from scratch. If you activate the key then it's expected that you can't activate again.

I too had an awful experience.

I bought win8 pro full version but am forced to run a pirate version.

Something to do with embedded keys and trying to change from a mechancial to SSD drive and also UEFI bios incompatibilities came up with a combination of events that made it extremely difficult to install the purchased version.

Anyway, I have legally purchased it so I am not overly consumed with guilt.

I would never trust a pirated version. Who knows what sort of low level changes have been made in the os. For all u know you could have opened yourself up to all sorts of vulnerabilities.

Gilco2

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# 1019113 5-Apr-2014 18:44

I wont pirate but would go to linux using mythtv probably. Main reason for Windows 8 was the quickflix app. At this stage no quickflix for linux.
The main thing with activation is it doesnt stop pirates as they find a way around it. But it does annoy genuine users makes them seriously look at alternatives. I just bought 2 windows 8 pro disks this last week. 1 to go on the lounge htpc and was going to use the other as home server using storage spaces and have plex on it. But as lounge htpc uses same brand and model motherboard/processor am hesitant of doing it now. And with home server will stick with whs2011 and find some way to put plex on it. the 3 laptops and 3 tablets here are all windows 8.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

surfisup1000

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# 1019535 6-Apr-2014 17:28

Klipspringer:
surfisup1000:
charsleysa: Sounds like you didn't know what you were doing and made mistake after mistake. Windows 8 is pretty easy to install from scratch. If you activate the key then it's expected that you can't activate again.

I too had an awful experience.

I bought win8 pro full version but am forced to run a pirate version.

Something to do with embedded keys and trying to change from a mechancial to SSD drive and also UEFI bios incompatibilities came up with a combination of events that made it extremely difficult to install the purchased version.

Anyway, I have legally purchased it so I am not overly consumed with guilt.

I would never trust a pirated version. Who knows what sort of low level changes have been made in the os. For all u know you could have opened yourself up to all sorts of vulnerabilities.

I understand that but i didn't really have an option as i couldn't clean install my official pro version over UEFI ... the laptop I purchased had win8 pro installed on a mechanical harddrive and activated via a bios key. But, it had lots of bloatware and i wanted to clean install on my SSD.

There is something about UEFI/AHCI combo which causes major issues. I could install my official paid version with AHCI off but that is not ideal for an SSD drive.

I might have another go at reinstalling the official version when i have a spare week to waste.

The point is, windows 8 is not easy to install for all situations even for those you are legally entitled to do so.

Gilco2

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# 1019552 6-Apr-2014 18:20

surfisup1000:
I understand that but i didn't really have an option as i couldn't clean install my official pro version over UEFI ... the laptop I purchased had win8 pro installed on a mechanical harddrive and activated via a bios key. But, it had lots of bloatware and i wanted to clean install on my SSD.

There is something about UEFI/AHCI combo which causes major issues. I could install my official paid version with AHCI off but that is not ideal for an SSD drive.

I might have another go at reinstalling the official version when i have a spare week to waste.

The point is, windows 8 is not easy to install for all situations even for those you are legally entitled to do so.

yeah I understand your point especially after my experience. I dont have a problem with YOU using a pirated version since you paid for the OS to start with, so long as you do keep the OS disk and licence you bought. But myself I wont as with my luck I would end up with virus/malware ridden version, so would persevere like I did (hence the rant) or go back to Windows 7 or Linux which is closer now to becoming a serious alternative

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

charsleysa

597 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1019575 6-Apr-2014 19:49

surfisup1000:
Klipspringer:
surfisup1000:
charsleysa: Sounds like you didn't know what you were doing and made mistake after mistake. Windows 8 is pretty easy to install from scratch. If you activate the key then it's expected that you can't activate again.

I too had an awful experience.

I bought win8 pro full version but am forced to run a pirate version.

Something to do with embedded keys and trying to change from a mechancial to SSD drive and also UEFI bios incompatibilities came up with a combination of events that made it extremely difficult to install the purchased version.

Anyway, I have legally purchased it so I am not overly consumed with guilt.

I would never trust a pirated version. Who knows what sort of low level changes have been made in the os. For all u know you could have opened yourself up to all sorts of vulnerabilities.

I understand that but i didn't really have an option as i couldn't clean install my official pro version over UEFI ... the laptop I purchased had win8 pro installed on a mechanical harddrive and activated via a bios key. But, it had lots of bloatware and i wanted to clean install on my SSD.

There is something about UEFI/AHCI combo which causes major issues. I could install my official paid version with AHCI off but that is not ideal for an SSD drive.

I might have another go at reinstalling the official version when i have a spare week to waste.

The point is, windows 8 is not easy to install for all situations even for those you are legally entitled to do so.

I don't have a bios key but I've had no problems installing windows 8 on SSD on laptop with AHCI on.

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

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