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How do I upgrade a Windows 8 machine without a network connection to Windows 8.1?
user541686
Posted 2013-10-17T17:39:01.283
Reputation: 21 330
How to upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 offline?
Answers
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Download a Windows 8.1 ISO (when you have access to it via MSDN/Technet), mount it inside Windows, run the setup.exe and select "upgrade".
magicandre1981
Posted 2013-10-17T17:39:01.283
Reputation: 86 560
What would I put for the serial number? – user541686 – 2013-10-17T19:28:11.907
@Mehrdad - I already answered this question through a comment. – Ramhound – 2013-10-17T23:07:48.387
Issue with this to be aware of that MSDN/technet is not meant for production. MSDN is for development & TechNet is for testing. So if you have a retail key, it isn't the supported methods for this. – Robert MacLean – 2013-12-23T20:51:40.227
MSDN/Technet is the only way to get clean ISOs. – magicandre1981 – 2013-12-24T06:18:09.727
1@hagen I used the ISO did an in-place upgrade without a problem – Ramhound – 2014-10-15T19:54:47.867
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You should be able to use http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=271128 and the key contained in the accepted answer to this questionr: http://superuser.com/questions/661261/windows-8-1-fresh- install-with-windows-8-licence in order to do this. After your upgrade is finished you will have to change the license back to your Windows 8 installation described by the accepted answer here http://superuser.com/questions/650019/how-to-use-windows-8-1-rtm-with-8-0-key/650055#650055 When I can provide an answer that isn't all links I will post an answer.
– Ramhound – 2013-10-17T17:42:17.877I don't think any of you have noticed that using the ISO, we lose all non-metro-applications. It's just as if we did a refresh: we have to reinstall all non-metro-apps afterwards. Yes, I tried it, only metro-apps survive this type of upgrade. There is no way shown to upgrade it offline and achieve the same as with the online upgrade. While on my first 2 win8 pro it did not work (as described before), on the other 4 it worked. A little irritating, yes. All actions were the same. So I assume, the upgrade procedure is not 100% stable. – Hagen – 2013-10-28T20:54:52.457