Upgrading to Windows 8.1

[vanthus]

My daughter wants to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 but I keep seeing this annoying thing about needing a Microsoft account,which none of us have and don't really want,is this imperative?,also can anyone tell me if you need to supply the Windows product key to upgrade as the key on the laptop is now indistinguishable,I know how to retrieve it,(Speccy for one program) but just wondered.
Any help much appreciated.

 

[Bishybarnybee]

Hi Vanthus

I did not need to supply the windows product key when I upgraded from 8 to 8.1

A Windows account (formerly Known as Windows Live account) is not essential. You can still have a local account if you want and can switch between the two at a later date if required. You only need a Microsoft account if you use multiple Win 8 computers and want settings synced across them or if renting software like Office365

 

[vanthus]

Hi Vanthus

I did not need to supply the windows product key when I upgraded from 8 to 8.1

A Windows account (formerly Known as Windows Live account) is not essential. You can still have a local account if you want and can switch between the two at a later date if required. You only need a Microsoft account if you use multiple Win 8 computers and want settings synced across them or if renting software like Office365

Thanks a lot,

 

[ubuysa]

Upgrading from Windows 8 to 8.1 can be a bit iffy depending on what other applications you have installed. I did a standard upgrade-in-place (ie. on my Windows 8 system with all applications installed) and ran into a few minor but annoying issues, mostly with my security system (Comodo Internet Security) which isn't that surprising since it has hooks deep in the kernel. In the end I upgraded by doing a clean reinstall of Windows 8 and the drivers of course, and then I applied those Windows Updates that were needed for the Windows Store to offer the upgrade to 8.1, and I upgraded before I installed any other software. That worked just fine and Windows 8.1 is running without any issues.

You might get a text resolution issue on some applications with Windows 8.1, the solution is to right-click on the desktop and select Personalise, click Display in the menu items on the left (it's near the bottom) and on the window that opens select (check) the box that says "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays".

It's well worth taking a disk image after the Windows 8.1 upgrade because you can't use the in-built Windows recovery options to reinstall 8.1, because you don't have a Windows 8.1 installation disk. It is possible to download a WIndows 8.1 ISO using only your Windows 8 product key, details are at http://microsoft-news.com/download-windows-8-1-iso-to-install-from-usb-stick/. I've done that but it's not possible to do a clean reinstall by booting the DVD or USB you make from that ISO because it requires a Windows 8.1 product key. I'm guessing that you can use that DVD/USB to do a reinstall by using the built-in Windows 8 reinstall option, but I've not attempted that yet.

I hope some of that's useful?

 

[vanthus]

Thanks for the information ubuysa ,all very useful.