Windows 8 offer

bricky06

So... many of you will have heard of the offer microsoft is running for windows 8;

If you have bought a windows 7 pc within the last 2 months, you can upgrade to windows 8 for €15 (normal price €30).

Well, it turns out that no proof of purchase is necessary to claim the discount code for this offer.Link for code

You do, however, need to be able to think of a date from some time in the last two months :P

The Pontiac

Brilliant stuff, it works!

Zascar

Thanks for this. Is it a full proper DVD which lets you do a fresh install? You don't have to upgrade directly from Windows 7 do you? I have XP.

I'm going throw it now and it wants me to put in credit card details but I have not put in any promo code so I think it's charging me €30 at the moment.

Am I doing something wrong? Do I have to run the upgrade tool on a 7 pc to get this to work?

BlackWizard

Charging me 30 euro too.

Also I would like to know if I reinstall windows will I have to install windows 7 again and then apply this update?

long_b

FAQ says

You should expect to provide information such as:

Name
Contact details
Email address
Phone number
PC purchase details
PC make / model
Purchase date
Retailer / PC manufacturer
Additional information may be requested to enable your registration to be validated, including the Windows 7 product key for your qualified PC.

The Pontiac

It was charging me €30 also, until final checkout page, then I put in the promo code, and then it only charged me €15. Paypal option too.

I picked the download option (instead of DVD). I will have it later tonight! 2% complete now.

The Pontiac

long_b wrote: »

FAQ says

You should expect to provide information such as:

Name
Contact details
Email address
Phone number
PC purchase details
PC make / model
Purchase date
Retailer / PC manufacturer
Additional information may be requested to enable your registration to be validated, including the Windows 7 product key for your qualified PC.

Just make it up.

blahblah06

Do u need to save everything to external drive or what?

The Pontiac

blahblah06 wrote: »

Do u need to save everything to external drive or what?

I doubt it. Once upgrade is complete you will still have all your original files.

Dr. Nick

This seems to be working......thanks!

bricky06

to people struggling...

say your pc was made by some obscure company, you could select 'other' under manufacturer and then their almost random looking model number

galait

Great Stuff , It's works alright, The PC it's going on Started life with Vista Home , I then Installed Windows 7 Ultimate that MS Ireland gave out free:D at the Windows 7 Launch Event in Dublin , Now for €15 Windows 8 is on the way >>

The Pontiac

Just hope we don't regret it, as Windows 7 was one of the better ones.

Hope Windows 8 doesn't turn out to be another Vista.

Got the Win7 Retail preorder for £49 or something on Amazon.

Would probably pay the same again for Win8 but not interested in any of this upgrade malarky, I prefer proper full and transferable retail licence for new builds etc.

quarryman

Deleted User wrote: »

Got the Win7 Retail preorder for £49 or something on Amazon.

Would probably pay the same again for Win8 but not interested in any of this upgrade malarky, I prefer proper full and transferable retail licence for new builds etc.

+1

Can't stand this upgrade messing.

Zascar

Ah crap so it deffo is an upgrade only? Meh. I would have paid the 15 but not bothered if it's not a full licence. I'll just wait till a good cracked copy surfaces..

Edit: Hand on, are you able to do a clean install or not? Or is it upgrade from Win7 only? Can someone verify please?

The Pontiac

Deleted User wrote: »

Got the Win7 Retail preorder for £49 or something on Amazon.

Would probably pay the same again for Win8 but not interested in any of this upgrade malarky, I prefer proper full and transferable retail licence for new builds etc.

quarryman wrote: »

+1

Can't stand this upgrade messing.

This is my first upgrade. Do you think it will cause issues? I'd imagine a full clean install would be better alright. Surely worth €15 though?

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Whats the difference between an upgrade and a full licence? Would it make a difference to someone (like me) who really only uses their PC for assignments and browsing?

EGriff

Damn, I payed 30 euro for this last night. Still pretty cheap in fairness.

I had consumer preview for a week and I was able to keep all my programs from Win7 with no problems at all, but when I put retail Win8 pro on I had to wipe everything except personal files (music, docs etc). Bit of a dose but it's good to have a clean slate for the new OS I suppose.

Berty

I got to the payment screen to enter my card details but It hasn't changed the price so as far as I know it's still 29.99 so If I enter my details are they charged immediately or is there another screen after that?

Dr. Nick

Beer Baron wrote: »

I got to the payment screen to enter my card details but It hasn't changed the price so as far as I know it's still 29.99 so If I enter my details are they charged immediately or is there another screen after that?

Looks like only the online d/load is €14.99, disc delivered €30 something, no?

Berty

Dr. Nick wrote: »

Looks like only the online d/load is €14.99, disc delivered €30 something, no?

Took the risk actually after re-reading a 3rd e-mail from Microsoft. I entered the code after that and it became €14.99.

Going to take about 2.5 hours to download by the looks of it. Only a 3MBPS connection here. Looks like I'm going to be drunk when it finishes.

newirishshogun

Downloaded it yesterday, you get the option of saving the files on a usb or as an ISO so you can dual boot if you want...I recommend it, see if you like it first

kn

Just a little word of warning re Windows 8. I did a compatibility test on my existing applications and in my case Expat Shield (for watching BBC iplayer etc) is not compatible and Windows 8 will not play DVD's but can get a separate player for it.

Berty

kn wrote: »

Just a little word of warning re Windows 8. I did a compatibility test on my existing applications and in my case Expat Shield (for watching BBC iplayer etc) is not compatible and Windows 8 will not play DVD's but can get a separate player for it.

Spotted that but like most things I'm sure there will be a workaround for it soon.

quarryman

newirishshogun wrote: »

Downloaded it yesterday, you get the option of saving the files on a usb or as an ISO so you can dual boot if you want...I recommend it, see if you like it first

You can run it off a USB, no installation required? That's pretty cool.

machalla

kn wrote: »

Just a little word of warning re Windows 8. I did a compatibility test on my existing applications and in my case Expat Shield (for watching BBC iplayer etc) is not compatible and Windows 8 will not play DVD's but can get a separate player for it.

VLC should help with playing DVD's
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

This may also be useful to anyone swapping to windows 8 also.

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

quarryman

<Ollie> wrote: »

This is my first upgrade. Do you think it will cause issues? I'd imagine a full clean install would be better alright. Surely worth €15 though?

THFC wrote: »

Whats the difference between an upgrade and a full licence? Would it make a difference to someone (like me) who really only uses their PC for assignments and browsing?

For the majority of users the upgrade will do the job perfectly.

I'm different in that I often buy new hard drives and other hardware and need a fresh install. Also, it's a great "spring clean".

But yeah, an upgrade will be fine for most.

Berty

quarryman wrote: »

You can run it off a USB, no installation required? That's pretty cool.

I was given the option(s)

Keep all settings and personal files
or
Keep personal files
or
Clean install(or however they worded it)

I chose option of keeping all files and settings of course. Having upgraded from XP, to Vista to Windows 7 on the same Laptop I never had an issue with file loss so don't expect any now either.

newirishshogun

quarryman wrote: »

You can run it off a USB, no installation required? That's pretty cool.

Sorry for the confusion, no, you cant run it off USB, just given the option to save the installation files to a USB key to create a new install or dual boot later, you'll need a seperate partition on your HDD if you want to dual boot.

Minatauro

Hi thanks for the heads up on this downloading now.

It does not come with media centre but I have found this to get it free for limited time..

[URL=http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57540793-285/how-to-add-windows-media-center-to-windows-8-pro-for-free/[/URL]

mcgovern

For those worried about playing DVDs etc, you need the Windows Media Centre Pack, its for if you have Windows 8 at the moment.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

Berty

Oh the Codec wasn't compatible either and I needed it for downloads needing subtitles.

Tragedy

Free media centre direct link is here, but it takes around 24-36 hours for the mail to arrive:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

I bought the upgrade for €15 yesterday and the media centre key arrived a few hours ago.

antodeco

Will this work on Win XP?

Esel

antodeco wrote: »

Will this work on Win XP?

as long as it's Service Pack 3, afaik.

manu2009

How big is the download file?

Esel

manu2009 wrote: »

How big is the download file?

Estimated size for the download is 2 gigabytes.

This info is all on the FAQ page......

heebusjeebus

manu2009 wrote: »

How big is the download file?

2GB

dingding

installed it and had to change the machine back to windows 7 from a full backup.

I found there were Java errors, SPSS, NVivo and the office applications did not work. It passed the compatability test to.

Just make sure that you have backed up all your files so you can restore your previous OS if it does not work.

Greatest load of Sh1t ever. I upgraded to vista on an old machine before.

I need the laptop so much that I need all the applications to work.

Is there anyway to get a refund.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/DisplayHelpReturnsRefundsPage/

Details Here

long_b

dingding wrote: »

installed it and had to change the machine back to windows 7 from a full backup.

I found there were Java errors, SPSS, NVivo and the office applications did not work. It passed the compatability test to.

Just make sure that you have backed up all your files so you can restore your previous OS if it does not work.

Greatest load of Sh1t ever. I upgraded to vista on an old machine before.

I need the laptop so much that I need all the applications to work.

Is there anyway to get a refund.

It wouldn't let you downgrade back to 7 ?

konline

dingding wrote: »

installed it and had to change the machine back to windows 7 from a full backup.

I found there were Java errors, SPSS, NVivo and the office applications did not work. It passed the compatability test to.

Just make sure that you have backed up all your files so you can restore your previous OS if it does not work.

Greatest load of Sh1t ever. I upgraded to vista on an old machine before.

I need the laptop so much that I need all the applications to work.

Is there anyway to get a refund.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/DisplayHelpReturnsRefundsPage/

Details Here

Oh no, I just ordered one.

Dr. Nick

@dingding Can't believe with all your knowledge of everything you took such a risk...

Oracle

Looks like the golden rule of Windows upgrades still applies .... never ever do an in-place upgrade.

bizmark

Got this on my laptop that i bought in 2011 worked fine took about an hour to download and maybe another hour to upgrade.I think i lucked out as im finding the new UI of windows very easy to use and pritty enjoyable quite nice to fullscreen explorer while haveing a little area at the side of the screen for msn which is what i use my lappy for 80% of the time.

Going to use it a week before decideing on upgradeing my desktop

Rafloution

Im missing something i cant get past product key screen despite putting it in.

Berty

If you have a Dell Touchpad on Laptop there is NO driver for this so you lose the scroll up/down option for the time being.

Response on web seems to be "bear with us".

quarryman

Windows upgrades are generally reliable.

For the real geeks out there check out this vid upgrading from the 1st version of windows. Really worth a watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPnehDhGa14

breathn

When the download image is burned to a DVD or flash disk, can it be booted from and install the OS on a blank hard drive and have the product key work for it?

missmoleman

breathn wrote: »

When the download image is burned to a DVD or flash disk, can it be booted from and install the OS on a blank hard drive and have the product key work for it?

Yes, I did this today, booting from USB

quarryman

missmoleman wrote: »

Yes, I did this today, booting from USB

So it will actually work as a fresh install?