Windows 8, yes the official version that will be launching this October 26th, is now available for download if you are a TechNet or MSDN subscriber. Even if you are not, you can still go ahead and download the official version of Windows 8 for 90 days trail. That’s long enough to cover until the official Windows 8 release.
While I was downloading and installing Windows 8, one thing I found it was missing at least for me was the activation dialogue. I installed the Windows 8 Enterprise Edition, apparently the install wizard never asked me for the activation key. I suppose this might be the fact I’m installing Windows 8 Enterprise edition rather than the regular Windows 8. Usually enterprise editions are meant for volume installation and activation in corporation and large organizations. Unfortunately, my TechNet subscription doesn’t offer Windows 8 Pro edition, so I grabbed the enterprise edition. (confused between Windows 8 editions ? be sure to get to know all the Windows 8 editions before purchasing your upgrade)
No activation is fine until I wanted to change my Start screen’s background.
Under the
PC Settings >
Personalize. It says “You need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC.” So that leaves me no choice but to activate.
But …
After pocking around all the possible place, I couldn’t find a UI that allows me to change or even enter my activation key. So that leaves me no choice but to activate Windows 8 via a “hack” command prompt method.
You need to go to the
Start screen type “
cmd” and right click. Make sure you choose run as “
Administrator” from the bottom options.
Once the command prompt is launched as Administrator, run the following command to enter your activation key.
slmgr.vbs -ipk YOUR-ACTIVATION-KEY-HERE
You will get a confirmation for the product key that you have entered.
Then, run slmgr.vbs -ato to activate the product key
Finally you will get a confirmation on product activated successfully.
Now all you need to do is to
restart your Windows 8.
