I bumped into this problem when being assigned to deal with the activation of Windows 8.1 Enterprise.
There are around 6 notebooks in my team, and they seldom connect to corporation network so are essentially isolated from our KMS server. Therefore we used to install Windows 8 Enterprise and activate these Windows 8's with an Enterprise MAK. However, These Windows 8 are going to be upgraded to Windows 8.1 Enterprise but my team is not given the MAK of Windows 8.1 Enterprise. Hence I am going to activate the Windows 8.1 Enterprise with my existing Windows 8 Enterprise MAK.
To the best of my knowledge, there are 3 ways to upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 8.1:
- Install Windows 8.1 with a Windows 8.1 DVD.
- Install Windows 8 first, and upgrade to 8.1 through an Upgrade ISO.
- Install Windows 8 first, and upgrade to 8.1 through Windows Marketplace.
I tried method 1 and 2 and found the Windows 8 MAK does not apply to Windows 8.1, in which slmgr -ipk would fail. Method 3 requires a full installation of all available Windows Updates first so I did not try it yet. I wonder if there is any possibility to activate the Windows 8.1 Enterprise with a Windows 8 Enterprise MAK. Any reply would be appreciated.
By the way, my corporation do purchase the Software Assurance. I cannot get the 8.1 MAK due to management issue.