Windows 8 upgrade offers

[Dr.Dave]

Windows 8 upgrade offer for PCs purchased after June 2, 2012

Now that the Windows 8 Release Preview is available, Microsoft has announced the Windows 8 upgrade offer for qualified Windows 7 PCs purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. The last day to register and order your Windows 8 upgrade is February 28, 2013.

The upgrade is for a download of Windows 8 Pro for $14.99 U.S. The Canadian price should be the same depending on the exchange rate. A Windows 8 upgrade DVD will be available for an additional cost.

You don't have to install the upgrade on the qualifying PC as long as the PC is at least XP SP3 and meets the other requirements. There is a limit of 5 upgrades per individual and obviously you can only install each upgrade on 1 PC. There will be a separate upgrade program for businesses.

Windows 8 Pro is the most complete version, however Windows 8 no longer includes Windows Media Center. WMC will be available as an add-on for a nominal cost.

Here are the links for the Microsoft Program Information and FAQ.

To order this upgrade: http://windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-CA

See the next post for PCs purchased before June 2.

This thread is for discussing the upgrade offer - NOT the pros and cons of Windows 8.

People may want to review the Windows 8 Release Preview or Windows 8 General Discussion threads in this forum.

[Dr.Dave]

Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets. And if you want, you can add Windows Media Center for free through the “add features” option within Windows 8 Pro after your upgrade.

You will be able to upgrade from any consumer edition of Windows 7 to Windows 8 Pro and bring everything along which includes your Windows settings, personal files, and apps. If you are upgrading from Windows Vista, you will be able to bring along your Windows settings and personal files, and if you are upgrading from Windows XP you will only be able to bring along your personal files. Of course, if you want to start fresh, you can choose to bring nothing along. Or if you prefer to format your hard drive as part of your upgrade experience, you can do so as long as you boot from media and then format your hard drive from within the setup experience for installing Windows 8, not prior to it.

You will be able to create your own bootable USB or .ISO file which can be burned onto a DVD or purchase a backup DVD for $15 plus shipping and handling.

A packaged DVD version of the upgrade will be available for $69.99 at retail stores during this promotion.

This upgrade promotion for Windows 8 Pro both online and at retail runs through January 31st, 2013.

If you’re not upgrading from a prior version of Windows and are building your own PC or installing Windows 8 in a virtual machine or a separate partition, you will be able to purchase and install the Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro System Builder product.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b...for-39-99.aspx

Here's a link to the Microsoft Store:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...ctID.255156900

[spensar]

Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99

"We set out to make it as easy as possible for everyone to upgrade to Windows 8. Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets. And if you want, you can add Windows Media Center for free through the “add features” option within Windows 8 Pro after your upgrade.

When you use Windows.com to purchase an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant makes upgrading simple by walking you through the upgrade process step-by-step from purchase to download and then of course installation."

Link here:

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b...for-39-99.aspx

[TorontoColin]

For that price, I'll be upgrading a couple of my computers.

Anyone know whether you will be able to do a clean install with this upgrade? I own legitimate Windows 7 licenses for my PCs, but I hate upgrading from older versions of Windows.

[Dr.Dave]

From the link:

Or if you prefer to format your hard drive as part of your upgrade experience, you can do so as long as you boot from media and then format your hard drive from within the setup experience for installing Windows 8, not prior to it.

[Wayne]

I wouldn't upgrade all of my PCs automatically and I definitely will not be upgrading my HTPC as you cannot boot directly into WinMC and there are no improvements to WinMC.

[hugh]

Wasn't going to upgrade (too expensive for three computers at the old price) though I might now. Will it be $39.99 per PC?

you can do so as long as you boot from media and then format your hard drive from within the setup experience for installing Windows 8, not prior to it

Does anybody understand that?

[audacity]

I think it's saying that the Windows 8 upgrade installer must "see" the Windows 7 install before it formats the drive.

[ScaryBob]

Win7 is the same way for upgrade versions. WinXP allowed you to insert qualifying media as well as overwrite an existing installation. Now for the $50,000 questions. What will happen if it formats the drive but the installation fails? Will the Win8 upgrade allow the double install workaround like Win7 does?

[audacity]

Will the Win8 upgrade allow the double install workaround like Win7 does?

I don't think the installer is substantially different from the Windows 7 installer in how it functions, so if the installer works a certain way for Windows 7, its a good bet that it will continue to work that way for Windows 8.

[TorontoColin]

Thanks Dr. Dave, I read what I thought was the same thing elsewhere, so I skipped the link.

As Audacity said, I believe they are saying not to format your drive before you attempt to install Windows 8, so that it knows there was a Windows installation there before. They could have been a little more clear on that though.

[audacity]

The "double install" workaround that ScaryBob was referring to is to install Windows as the "30 day trial mode", and then when you install it again (this time for real) then you can enter your "upgrade" serial number, it sees the existing install of Windows so it can proceed. It doesn't actually check to see if the first install was just a "30 day trial mode" install.

So if you format your drive, forgetting that the "upgrade" installer requires an existing Windows directory, this is the standard work-around.

[Dr.Dave]

I just quoted the link about formatting because it made sense.

I wonder what that says about me?

Hopefully they'll get a "technical writer" to reword it for normal people.

[mellaby]

I hope they do a better job at checking your PC for compatibility. Right now your PC is not checked for supporting: Physical Address Extension (PAE), NX, and SSE2. If your bios cannot enable the NX feature your hooped. I'm pretty sure that older PC's (5 yrs old) will not be able to install win 8 unless Microsoft comes back with a patch. It's funny the first 2 editions of win 8 did not have this problem.

[frenchhomer]

I will wait, win 7 works fine for me, tried windows 8 preview and it is made for easier mobile computing from what I gather. I like windows 7 , works great, no hiccups , serves me well.