Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro Pack

Everything goes wrong as with the 10

Online, the price is £99 for this upgrade key Win 8.1 to Win 8.1 PRO. So this is a winner saving £20. Delivered next day in my case. Worked perfectly. Now I can access all the PRO features including the encrypting file system (EFS). I'm happy, although I am still wondering whether I will have to pay to upgrade to Win 10, the PRO version. Hopefully not.

Having bought Windows 8 Pro download plus media center for my 3 other desktops at a good price (less than £40 each) when first released including free Media Center key for each, this Windows 8.1 Pro Pack was very EXPENSIVEUnfortunatly my only off the shelf IvyBridge pc (the others were built by me) came with Windows 8 BASIC and I needed some features of Media Center codecs etcHaving said that, the features are working fine and doing the job intended ( in conjunction with other software - screen video recording inc HD and transcoding to mpeg2 or AVCHD for burning to DVD playable on a hifi DVD player. So I can now record and copy up to one hour high definition internet video onto a standard 4.7GB DVD (AVCHD) playable on any DVD player that can play high definition... (cheaper than using a blu ray disc!)

Product key didnt work with it when it arrived, had to get a new one.

I upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Pro, a very simple process which involved entering the product key and waiting for it to install. It was quick and there were no problems. My motivation was to enable Hyper-V virtual machine capability and encryption not available on 8.1 Standard, and as expected these features are present.Based on the image on the Amazon listing and the documents supplied with the product key, I was also expecting Windows Media Centre to be installed, but this doesn't seem to have been installed on my laptop. While I'm not bothered about this myself, other users might want it and be surprised and disappointed that it hasn't been installed.

Despite the web page stating:"Game Information Platform: Windows 8 Media: CD-ROM Item Quantity: 1"what arrived was a small box with only a product key, but no CD-ROM. As long as you don't need a CD then this is fine. I will not review this as there are already lots of good reviews.I would only add that Windows 8.1 is much, much better than the original Windows 8 and you will only need this Pro version if, for example, you previously upgraded from one of the more advanced versions of Windows 7 and still need extra features like BitLocker or Windows Media Centre.

This review might be useful if, like me, you were unsure if this would work since MS have made some changes in recent times such as removing the option to download WIn 8 from the Microsoft store. My only option to upgrade my WIn 8.1 core laptop now is to enter a Win 8 Pro Pack product key. [I purchased the key from KSN-online - they gave me a comprehensive answer to my questions which gave me more confidence to purchase]. Today, I received the key inside official MS packaging (like a small "pamphlet"), followed the instructions attached by the seller and my 8.1 is no 8.1 Pro. Many thanks to the seller and those who answered my question here. [Also worth noting that Media Center is not included in the upgrade if that was what you wanted].

Control Panel -> Windows Update -> Add Features -> Buy Key or Already Have Key (Choose the latter) -> type in number provided on card (forget the dashes) -> last number entered triggers "Checking This Key" (quick) -> number authenticated and and it's all plain sailing from here on............ (erm..)Lost count of the number of times I tried this 'Add Features' install only to see "Something Went Wrong" after what seemed f-o-r-e-v-e-r as it went through the motions. What sort of Micky Mouse system is it that can't provide decent levels of error reporting!I found that error message and the answer on the net. No, not from Microsoft! (Course not)Nowhere on the packaging did it say. "Log in as Administrator". Yes, I know, you're the only person using the machine and naturally you have administrator privileges but none of that matters. If you get this error, switch users and log on as 'Administrator' without further ado. Same easy, but long-winded, process, only, this time, with the expected restarts (about 3 I think - I was falling asleep by this time) and then 'Configuring.....' (yawn) and then finally..... ohmygosh...... Windows 8.1 PRO (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

Ich habe dieses Produkt zum Upgrade des "einfachen" Windows 8.1 auf 8.1 Pro gekauft, und zwar insbesondere, da im "Pro Pack" - man beachte die genaue Bezeichnung! - das Windows Media Center enthalten ist. Ja, das ist wirklich so, auch wenn viele Verkäufer das vermutlich selber nicht wissen (Microsoft hat hier eine ziemliche Verwirrung angestiftet), obwohl es auf der Schachtel (des Originalprodukts, entspricht der Abbildung hier bei Amazon) deutlich draufsteht. Microsoft hat den Verkauf dieses Produkts leider eingestellt. Man ist auf Drittanbieter angewiesen, die dieses (scheinbar) noch anbieten. Gekauft von 2 verschiedenen Marketplace-Händlern, beidesmal dasselbe ernüchternde Ergebnis: Beide lieferten keinen "Pro Pack"-Schlüssel, sondern einen normalen "Pro"-Schlüssel. Dieser ist nicht zum Upgrade von 8.1 auf 8.1 Pro geeignet, und er enthält auch nicht das Media Center.Die Gefahr, dass der Schlüssel gar ein Fake ist, kommt noch hinzu. Dazu kann ich aber nichts sagen, da ich die Schlüssel nicht zu aktivieren versucht habe.Trotz großer Verärgerung gebe ich auf den einen Pflicht-Stern noch einen dazu, weil das (eigentliche) Produkt nichts dafür kann.