Help! Windows 8.1 problems

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Sam_wise

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May 1, 2014
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Hello,

I am building a new pc and wanted to install windows 8.1 as the os... I bought a Windows 8.1 Pro product key on ebay, but how do I use it? I went to the "Upgrade windows with only a product key" page but my laptop that I am using to download it only runs windows vista and wont allow me to download 8.1. I can click the windows 8 upgrade option, but it wont accept my 8.1 product key. So in a nutshell, I want to use my laptop to download windows 8.1 pro iso so i can use a usb to install it on my new pc build. Any thoughts?
 
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clueless77

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Jun 5, 2014
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I think 8.1 keys are only valid for 8.1, not being backwards compatible if it's not possible for you to download the 8.1 iso through the upgrade Windows with key method on Vista you'll probably have to find the iso that you need, run a checksum to ensure the iso is legitimate, and then use Microsoft's Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool to create a USB boot drive.

File Name:
en_windows_8_1_x64_dvd_2707217.iso
en_windows_8_1_x86_dvd_2707392.iso

MD5:
f104b78019e86e74b149ae5e510f7be9 en_windows_8_1_x64_dvd_2707217.iso
7dd36fea0d004acfedbdb3a5521ef5ff en_windows_8_1_x86_dvd_2707392.iso

SHA1:
bc2f7ff5c91c9f0f8676e39e703085c65072139b en_windows_8_1_x64_dvd_2707217.iso
802cfcd3a411d99c097ea7e747f0b6697f9bdac4 en_windows_8_1_x86_dvd_2707392.iso
 
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Sam_wise

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May 1, 2014
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Clueless77,

I'm a relative noob when it comes to this stuff. My first question would be: If i found a friend who has windows 8.1 on his computer, would I be able to use his pc to download the iso to usb (via windows 7 usb/dvd download) and then install it on my new pc. If not, what steps do i need to take to find the correct iso and run a checksum (I'm actually not sure what this is). Thanks!
 
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clueless77

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Jun 5, 2014
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Yeah, I'm new to this stuff too but I just did this recently on Windows 7 for a new PC after having bought a key from a third party without downloading my iso from Microsoft, it was before I even knew of the upgrade through key method. I'm not sure if it's possible to download 8.1 through key upgrade when the OS is already 8.1, seems unlikely, and if he doesn't have the retail DVD that can be ripped into an iso (disc image) to be used with the download tool I guess it wouldn't hurt to try if you have time for it. Otherwise, just copy and paste the file name for the version of 8.1 you need into Google, your safest bet is probably the .docs page that's at the top of the search results.

Use this for the checksum, from my understanding of it a checksum verifies that a file is the original and hasn't been modified:

MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility
 
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