Windows 8.1 Pro N & Windows 8.1 Pro (DreamSpark)

I Recently downloaded windows Pro 8.1 N from dreamspark.
They then uploaded Windows 8.1 Pro which i am unable to download:
The item cannot be added to your cart because you have already ordered this item (or a related item) and cannot order it again. You can view your previous order by clicking Your Account above. Download
orders can be re-downloaded from there.
Is there anyway to download 8.1 pro instead of 8.1 N ?

Depending on the type of Dreamspark you can apply for additional download. In schools there is administrator who can add additional downloads to any individual student.
Usually there are two downloads and various version may count to single common key.
Perhaps there is an alternative (if you have no chance to get more W 8.1 downloads), namely Windows 8 Pro followed by update and upgrade to Windows 8.1.
Regards
Milos

Similar Messages

I got a free copy of Windows 8.1 from dreamspark but now its telling me it cant activate windows.

AS i said, i used my student email to make a dreamspark account, downloaded my copy of windows 8.1 for free, put it onto a bootable flash drive, and loaded it onto my newly built pc. Everything was ok for a couple of hours but now i have the activate windows
watermark and when i got to try and activate windows it keeps telling me that it cant. Any help or suggestions?

Hi tjcreator,
I'm not sure how the DreamSpark entitlements are setup and activate , it is recommended to ask for help from DreamSpark support.
https://www.dreamspark.com/student/support.aspx
Best regards
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

Trying to install Windows 8.1 from an ISO, but boot camp assistant doesn't seem to recognize

Hi there,
I have a 2011 Macbook pro, 15", 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM. I'm wanting to install windows 8.1 using boot camp assistant, and downloaded windows 8.1 from dreamspark (Microsoft store for students). I have downloaded all of the windows support software onto a USB, and there is a folder sitting on my desktop containing the .ISO for windows 8.1. However, when i try to run boot camp assistant, it says that the installer disc could not be found, and does not give me an option to install from a selectable .ISO. Can anyone help me with this? Is it something obvious I'm missing? Thanks!
Connor

For Macs with built-in Optical drives, you will need to burn the ISO to Optical media and use the Optical drive.

DreamSpark: Error Unpacking Windows 8 x64 .sdc file

I get the following error when I try to download Windows 8 from the DreamSpark site.
I sent an email to DreamSpark support and they said to post here. I’m currently running a Windows 8 Release Preview.
Things I’ve tried based on other similar sounding issues on the forum:
Re-downloading “Microsoft_Windows_8_Professional_64-bit_(English).exe”
Tried from another machine (Windows 7 Pro)
Booted cleanly (only MS services started)
Disabled firewall/anti-virus
Plugged my ethernet cable directly into my cable modem to bypass potential router issues
Changed download locations
Tried to download at 4AM EST to hopefully maximize bandwidth
Just looking for more suggestions or alternatives before this eval version expires.

solution for unpacking error
1.open .sdx file in notepad ...
2.copy all and paste it in the address bar of your browser and open it.
3.go to source of the file and locate http://software.dreamspark.com/dreamspark/ENGLISH/********************.01.sdc
and
http://software.dreamspark.com/dreamspark/ENGLISH/************.02.sdc
4.download these 2 files using your downloader.
5.open cmd and switch to the location where you downloaded the files and type " copy /b *******.01.sdc+******.02.sdc
03.sdc ".
6.open secure download manager start downloading your software when downloading starts go to the location where your software
is downloading .... you will find the file ************.sdc now change the name of the 03.sdc file with the name of the file in download folder now close secure download manager.
7.Delete file which is in download folder and place file you renamed (****.03.sdc) in download folder.
8.restart downloading your software with SDM it will work and it will not give unpacking error i tried it 100% successfull.

Windows To Go MSDN OS

Good Evening,
I plan to buy MSDN OS subscription, mainly to install the OSes under Hyper-V for diagnostic and testing purposes (I have Windows 2012 R2 Datacenter Dreamspark license)
My question is if you are able to create Windows To Go USB stick without having the reactivation problems ? Do we have access to the VLK or MAK keys at this level of subscription ?

Hi,
According to Window To Go Q&A:
Do I need to activate Windows To Go every time I roam?
No, Windows To Go requires volume activation; either using the Key Management Service (KMS) server in your organization or using Active Directory based volume activation. The Windows To Go workspace will not need to be reactivated every time you roam. KMS
activates Windows on a local network, eliminating the need for individual computers to connect to Microsoft. To remain activated, KMS client computers must renew their activation by connecting to the KMS host on periodic basis. This typically occurs as soon
as the user has access to the corporate network (either through a direct connection on-premises or a through remote connection using DirectAccess or a virtual private network connection), once activated the machine will not need to be activated again until
the activation validity interval has passed. In a KMS configuration the activation validity interval is 180 days.
In addition, Using Multiple Activation Key (MAK) activation is not a supported activation method for Windows To Go as each different PC-host would require separate activation. MAK activation should not be used for activating Windows, Office, or any other
application on a Windows To Go drive.
You can refer to the link below for more details:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj592678.aspx
Roger Lu
TechNet Community Support

T420s & Windows 8: startup problems in legacy bios mode (and workaround)

a heads up for anyone looking to install windows 8 on a t420s. after my inplace-upgrade from windows 7 to windows 8, the os would only boot every 10-15 tries. most of the time it was stuck on the blue windows bootloader logo.
after being annoyed too much by this, i went ahead and manually converted the MBR to GPT with the help of gparted/gdisk . then i switched to UEFI-only mode in the bios and used a UEFI-enabled windows 8 boot stick to use the win 8 recovery tool to make the disk bootable again.
since then, no more boot problems.
TL;DR: if you plan a fresh installation of windows 8 x64, make sure to switch to UEFI only mode in bios before running setup.

Hi,
i got my new T420 in may this year. As I am a student i get the new Windows 8 out of Dreamspark one month ago. Before I installed Windows 8 x64 I made all bios and firmware updates i can get.
After the successfull installation I got some startup hangs, not regular, but most of the boots. A few days ago a new bios was available, so I hope this one will get me rid of the problem. But the same thing happens, well I think it is the powermanagement, because the hang always happens at this point, when the display is going to dim. If I have the power plugged in, I don't get this problem.
Hope this will be fixed in later versions of bios / powermanagement.
Best Regards

Corrupted Japanese/Chinese fonts

Hi,
I'm using Windows 8 Professional RTM (dreamspark) right now and I'm having trouble viewing japanese/chinese fonts.
Fonts are showing like squares.
I've just noticed that when I copy/paste the folder name, it shows perfectly!
When I was having the same problem on Windows 7, I've deleted the file FNTCACHE.DAT because it was corrupted. After a restart, everything was ok again.
Not working on Windows 8, I have to login, logoff and login again. After that it shows correctly.
Thank you.

Windows 8 updated to the last version.
Drivers and bios updated too.
I ran Windows update again, couldn't find any updates.
I'm having the same issue as the person on this forum
http://gdgt.com/question/fix-japanese-text-in-windows-8-displaying-squares-icj/
And I have to listen to some stranger on the internet with a solution to this problem, not MS support:
"This is a known issue that Microsoft is trying to fix at the moment. Best thing I can advise you to
do is that when this happens (I advise keeping a Japanese filename folder on the desktop so you can easily tell if it has) to log out of your account and log back in."
This is a screenshot of my PC with japanese folders

B570 - Booting in Legacy-BIOS-Mode (without UEFI)??

hi folks,
do you know how to boot a dvd in legacy-mode (without UEFI)?
my lenovo B570 UEFI has very little options, so i assume the other options (e.g. booting in legacy mode) are hidden somewhere.
i also found a guide from lenovo for the thinkpad series, but the option (see step 3) clearly is missing with my notebook.
any ideas??
thank you very much in advance..
-benni

Hi,
i got my new T420 in may this year. As I am a student i get the new Windows 8 out of Dreamspark one month ago. Before I installed Windows 8 x64 I made all bios and firmware updates i can get.
After the successfull installation I got some startup hangs, not regular, but most of the boots. A few days ago a new bios was available, so I hope this one will get me rid of the problem. But the same thing happens, well I think it is the powermanagement, because the hang always happens at this point, when the display is going to dim. If I have the power plugged in, I don't get this problem.
Hope this will be fixed in later versions of bios / powermanagement.
Best Regards

Question about Bootcamp

I am going to be getting a copy of windows 7 from Microsoft dreamspark. My question is that since it is a downloaded file and not a hard copy will I still be able to install windows with bootcamp?
Thanks,
Tom

That didn't work for me. I get an error saying can't find the install disk or something like that. The disk is in the drive and the computer does read it just not in Bootcamp.
I burned it at 2.4X that is the lowest option I have and burn the .ISO file on there. I even burned one copy with just all the files instead of the .ISO file and still nothing.

MSI GX60 1AC THX utilities and cpu upgrade

Hello, I've recently bought clean gx60 without OS. I've made clean install of windows 8 from my dreamspark student account under uefi. I've installed all the drivers from product site. The first problem encounterd was with realtek driver for audio, when i run the setup, it didn't run, then i clicked for troubleshooting, it said program is incompatible. So i installed it, by device manager update driver. Another same problem is with two utilities for THX, they won't run, and windows says they are incompatible. So in this matter any help would be appreciated, becouse i want to benefit from this tools.
Another question is if I can but new amd processor a10-5750m and install it in this laptop eventually, or it can't work.
Cheers

Hello again. So I've managed to find out, that my bios was 105 version for non.win8 systems, so i've updated it to 109 from official site. So now is the question. Does this mean for me, that even so i've installed win8 i lack some of features in for example boot procedure? Should I reinstall the system to windows 7 or reinstall windows 8 under bios not uefi.? Or maybe there is a way to install bios for windows 8 which is uploaded on product site, despite that they're telling that it shouldn't be done?
Regards

SDM File Never Showed Up

I am downloading Windows 8.1 through DreamSpark and according to the SDM the file is 100% downloaded. However, when I look in my downloads folder (I never changed the download location) the file is not there. What is going on?

Secure Download Manager posts are off topic for the MSDN Subscriptions Feedback forum. Students having issues with the SDM should email [email protected] and be sure to enter “SDM issue” on the subject
line of their message. SDM Issue emails must include:
Order #
A detailed description of the problem, including steps taken and error message. Screenshots are
highly preferred.
DreamSpark Students having any other issue with the service need to get help from their Program Administrator. Contact the Program Administrator by clicking the help link at the top of the student Webstore, and then
scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking Contact Us.
If you have any questions about the above, please reply to this thread.
Thanks, Mike
MSDN and TechNet Subscriptions Support <br/> Read the Subscriptions <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/msdnsubscriptions">Blog! </a>

Secure Download Manager Error

Hello community. I'm having issues with the secure download manager. I've installed it and tried downloading windows 8 professional from dreamspark premium however when I try to download by double clicking the .sdx file my secure download manager opens
but I get this message, "SecureDownloadManager has stopped working". Any ideas on what is going on? I've tried uninstall/reinstalling the download manager however i've had no luck so far.
PS: i dont know what category and forum to post this in.. so if anyone catches this will they please send me the right direction.

From the FAQ on Dreamspark.com:
If I have problems downloading or accessing the software on the DreamSpark site, what do I do? Who do I contact?
DreamSpark Support can help. Visit our
contact us page.

Install Windows 8.1 Pro on Mac Mini Late 2014

I'm trying to install Bootcamp on my Mac Mini. Windows reports that it cannot install or create a partition on the drive after formatting the BOOTCAMP partition as NTFS.
This is my setup:
1. Mac Mini Late 2014 with 2TB Fusion Drive.
2. Windows 8.1 Pro x64 full version ISO downloaded from Microsoft Store.
3. Sandisk Extreme Flash Drive (I have tried both 16GB and 64GB).
4. Bootcamp partition = 500GB.
5. Other USB devices plugged in: Corded USB Mouse and Apple Extended Keyboard (both of which are required to enter the serial number and navigate the installer window).
6. No additional storage devices of any kind are connected aside from the internal Fusion drive and the installer drive.
7. Booting from the EFI portion of the Bootcamp created Windows installer.
I have read that I should try using a USB 2 flash drive rather than a USB 3 flash drive, so I will try that next. I fail to understand how this could make any difference.
If you have any other tips, please let me know.
I have installed or helped other people install bootcamp many times over the course of the past 2 years. Every single time it has caused endless headaches and literally weeks of wasted time.
I have read endless posts on what is causing these problems. I will consider summarising these for anyone else having the same problems. Everyone has their theory so far about this Bootcamp nightmare, but so far there doesn't appear to be any one magic solution.
Apple's inability to address the issue suggests that the problem may be with the Windows installer. Perhaps Microsoft is deliberately causing this?
I suspect the two most likely causes of these issues are the downloaded ISO or the Thumb Drive.
If you have any better idea, please let me know.
On another topic, how to I rename the NTFS partition back to BOOTCAMP? All options to rename this partition are greyed out in Disk Utility...
Cheers,
Paul

Paul@Sydney wrote:
7. Booting from the EFI portion of the Bootcamp created Windows installer.
The FAT32/NTFS partition is usually not adequate for an EFI install. You can delete the BCA-created partition and create a Disk Utility partition which is formatted as Free Space. This will be split into an MSR and MSD. Fusion drives create problems, especially if the BC partition lies outside the traditional MBR 2TB boundary.
Before you delete the BCA-created partition, please post the output of
diskutil list
diskutil cs list
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1
I have read that I should try using a USB 2 flash drive rather than a USB 3 flash drive, so I will try that next. I fail to understand how this could make any difference.
Windows installers up to W8.1 do not have USB3 drivers. These are installed after Windows is installed and BC drivers are in place.
Apple's inability to address the issue suggests that the problem may be with the Windows installer. Perhaps Microsoft is deliberately causing this?
The requirements are pretty strict when installing Windows. Any deviations cause headaches and grief.
I suspect the two most likely causes of these issues are the downloaded ISO or the Thumb Drive.
The USB is usually the issue.
On another topic, how to I rename the NTFS partition back to BOOTCAMP? All options to rename this partition are greyed out in Disk Utility...
After Windows is fully installed and BC drivers are in place, log into Windows, right click on it and rename it on the Windows side. It cannot be renamed on the OSX side with diskutil renameVolume. Here is an example sequence. You cannot rename volume during the installation process.

Running Dual boot windows 8 and win 7 pro with xp mode installed!! I love it!!

It took over 2 days to figure out how to adjust the bios to get my win 7 pro DVD to boot and install dual boot on this GREAT MACHINE!!
Step 1: using diskmgmt.msc you have to shring the C partition. I shrunk it so I had 80GB remaining as unallocated space.
Step 2: You have to enter the machine Bios adn set the BIOS to Both and UEFI as first
Step 3: Connect your usb dvd
Step 4: Put your win 7 pro dvd in the usb dvd drive
Step 5: Reboot your machine and when it starts press F12 to get the boot menu and select the usb dvd drive then press enter
The machine restarts
Message on screen says press a key to boot from cd/dvd
Press space and it boots up the win 7 pro DVD
After files copy and load the setup screen asks to accept the agreement and where to install win 7
BE SURE TO SELECT THE 80GB location
Then follow thru the win 7 prompts to load it.
When the machine restarts you will see a dual boot screen with Windows 7 on top as first selection and Windows 8 below it as 2nd selection.
Make sure to hit enter with windows 7 selected
The win 7 installation completes.
You will see many items with drivers not installed dont fret.
You can load most of the drivers by highlighting the device in control panel/device manager and pick update driver then select BROWSE for DRIVER and be sure to put in drive D:\ which is now the windows 8 drive and hit search.
Many of the windows 8 drivers installed with no issue.
The Realtek driver was an exception .. goto to the lenovo site and pick the x100e tablet and download the LAN driver from there about (4MB). Copy it to flash drive and install it in win 7 from the .exe file. The driver for LAN will install sucessfully. The version of the driver is 7.46 something the 7.11 versions do not workl.
I have only 3 drivers that I could not find - 2 list as unknown and are related to ACPI or power management and 1 lists as USB controller but all the USB stuff works without it.
Be sure to either shutdown the system or sign out of win 8 when your done so you get the dual boot menu. If you shutdown while logged into win 8 the next time you start up it will go right to win 8 until you signout and restart.
Just to let you know an easy way to shutdown is go to the desktop and press ALT + FN + F4 and a shutdown menu comes up on the desktop.
Once win 7 pro is installed you can download the XP mode free from Microsoft and install it.
This is of course AFTER you have ACTIVATED WINDOWS 7 ONLINE with YOUR ACTIVATION KEY(you supply).
ENJOY! This is the BEST machine I ever had!

It's been many, many years since I don't do dual boot anymore. Don't find the reason to do it, either. Different kinds of virtualization should be enough. Anyway...
dfw1417 wrote:
It took over 2 days to figure out how to adjust the bios to get my win 7 pro DVD to boot and install dual boot on this GREAT MACHINE!!
ENJOY! This is the BEST machine I ever had!
WHICH machine?
Cheers.
If I helped you, please give me some kudos! ^^

How do I install windows from USB on Macbook pro 3,1

How do I install windows from USB on Macbook pro 3,1 ?
My Superdrive is far from super anymore, So I managed to make an extern drive with both Snow Leopard Partition, Lion Partition (Since I thought Boot Camp 4,1 would bypass my problem), and Time Machine partition, Since I got 1. USB drive that works.
- My general issue is that Boot camp Refuse to see the USB drive - (Many "how to"´s though show how they install windows perfectly through the USB port, but they use airbooks!, and somehow the Macbook will not ?)
I fix that issue with >> rEFIt <<, that suddenly makes it possible for the Mac to see the USB drive, and partitions.
Which was very strange since I could use an extern HD with the whole installation to start up wipe the whole disk, and then use my extern drive with partitions to install Snow Leopard and get everything as before with timemachine. Very smart with timemachine, but very lucky that I have a extern drive that runs the whole system and that I made the partitionsdrive before. DVD-drives are the past!
Point: So the original system could see the Snow Leopard installation USB disk, but boot camp cannot find the USB drive ?????????
After rEFIt I booted and then I got this error:
Starting bootmgr.efi
Error: Unsupported while loading bootmgr.efi
I read it could be a problem with the Windows software, so I purchased an extern DVD drive, Used Disk Utility to make an image (.DMG), then used another program to convert the .dmg to .ISO.
Then downloaded a trialversion of vmWare fusion, and installed windows from the iso. Everything worked brilliant, except and that is why I want to use boot camp, Running windows in another program while running the mac system is a little hacky and slow.
Point: Nothing is wrong with the windows software, and windows runs fine.
I then downloaded the Windows DVD / USB Tool, reformatted a USB drive as Master Boot Partition, MS-Dos Fat partition, then after lots of struggling got Vmware, windows to recognise the USB drive. And installed the windows software on the USB drive, as all the walkthroughs recommend.
Then I tried for "fun"! to just install windows form the extern USB drive, and with rEFIt it will see the drive and start to do something, but then when it starts to boot, the screen just turns into black and nothing happens, and you can see the drive does NOTHING. (I think it is because I only have 1 USB drive and the Extern DVD drive does not get enough power, but again the mac refuse to see the USB drive unless it is a Snow Leopard installation USB-drive!
Well trying to install Windows Ultimate 64 Bit, which worked great in vmware, because that program installed from the .ISO file that I had on the desktop, but trying with Boot Camp did not get anywhere, what kind of **** program is this boot camp anyway!?, but then I try the new USB disk with windows made from windows, thorugh rEFIt, it sees the disk and then starts and then I get this ERROR:
rEFIt - Booting Legacy OS
Starting legacy loader
Using load option ´USB´
Error: Not found returned from legacy loader
Error: Not found from LocateDevicePath
(x 9 times)
Error: Load Error while (re)opening our installation volume
The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external hard drives are not well-supported by Apple´s firmware for legacy OS booting
(Hey Apple please send out a updated firmware that fix this issue?!)
So how do I do it ? - or is the only option to fix the partition running the system from the extern disk. Format the whole drive in 2 from the "bottom" and install windows and then afterwards install Mac on the other partition ? Or just run windows on the mac and forget about mac software ? What a stupid solution...

There are strings in the pliist file to add other Macs so that you can use some USB-DVD drives.
This is 5 page thread, so a little more 'meat' to it:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3410900?start=60&tstart=0
And on PC booting Windows from a USB DVD to do the install is usually a piece of cake, sometimes you just need to specify that USB in the BIOS boot order and sometimes select via F12 (or another Fkey) and that is it.
What you have here seems to be everything and everyone is excluded unless there is a mac-model device ID string that specifies yes. An unnecessary hurdle.

Windows 8.1 Pro N & Windows 8.1 Pro (DreamSpark)

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