Reactivating my free Windows 8's Media Center Pack?

Hello.

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and upgraded
everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its free offer end
on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I got for free?

Thank you in advance.
--
"The ant has made himself illustrious; Through constant industry
industrious.; So what? Would you be calm and placid; If you were full of
formic acid?" --Ogden Nash (The Ant)
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Ant wrote:
Hello.

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and upgraded
everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its free offer end
on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I got for free?

Thank you in advance.

Test it and see.

I thought the idea was, it would not work (would not re-install),
but there is nothing preventing you from trying.

Paul

On 6/8/2013 1:48 AM, Paul wrote:
Ant wrote:
Hello.

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and
upgraded everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its
free offer end on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I
got for free?

Thank you in advance.

Test it and see.

I thought the idea was, it would not work (would not re-install),
but there is nothing preventing you from trying.

Paul

I had to reinstall one of my W8 PC's from scratch due to a bad hard drive.

I had registered my free Media Center, when it was free, and had
activated it prior to the expiration date.

When I had to reinstall everything (way after the free offer expired) I
used the Add Features wizard and told it to install Media Center.

When the menu choices came up asking if "I want to buy a product key
online" or "I already have a product key" I clicked on "I already have a
product key" and then entered the key that they had emailed me during
the free program giveaway. The program installed just fine.

For what it's worth on another test machine I tried a different free
key that was mailed to me but never activated and their registration
system reported that the key as invalid.

So unless I just plain got lucky you should be able to reinstall the
program as long as you kept a copy of the email with your "free" product
key that you used to install it the first time.

I am just plain guessing but I think the product key for W8 and the free
key you used were tied together in their registration servers when you
activated it the first time, before the free offer expired.

Anyway like Paul says, give it a try, since you have nothing to loose.

If it works for you as mine did let us know so others will know to keep
their old "free" product key email available to reinstall things later
if/when the system needs to be reloaded.

I had similar problems with the Media Center Pack.
There is an interesting detail.
When you reinstall, the original Win 8 product key will work, but the
media center key may be rejected.
A call to MS will get things going again. It may be automated, or you
may be given a specific url, etc.
With mine, there was a utility that I had to download and run.
It either read or generated a numeric sequence that had to be entered in
order to get a working key.



On 6/8/2013 12:18 PM, GlowingBlueMist wrote:
On 6/8/2013 1:48 AM, Paul wrote:
Ant wrote:
Hello.

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and
upgraded everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its
free offer end on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I
got for free?

Thank you in advance.

Test it and see.

I thought the idea was, it would not work (would not re-install),
but there is nothing preventing you from trying.

Paul

I had to reinstall one of my W8 PC's from scratch due to a bad hard drive.

I had registered my free Media Center, when it was free, and had
activated it prior to the expiration date.

When I had to reinstall everything (way after the free offer expired) I
used the Add Features wizard and told it to install Media Center.

When the menu choices came up asking if "I want to buy a product key
online" or "I already have a product key" I clicked on "I already have a
product key" and then entered the key that they had emailed me during
the free program giveaway. The program installed just fine.

For what it's worth on another test machine I tried a different free
key that was mailed to me but never activated and their registration
system reported that the key as invalid.

So unless I just plain got lucky you should be able to reinstall the
program as long as you kept a copy of the email with your "free" product
key that you used to install it the first time.

I am just plain guessing but I think the product key for W8 and the free
key you used were tied together in their registration servers when you
activated it the first time, before the free offer expired.

Anyway like Paul says, give it a try, since you have nothing to loose.

If it works for you as mine did let us know so others will know to keep
their old "free" product key email available to reinstall things later
if/when the system needs to be reloaded.

On 6/8/2013 10:01 AM PT, charlie typed:
....
With mine, there was a utility that I had to download and run.
It either read or generated a numeric sequence that had to be entered in
order to get a working key.

Do you have the URL to this utility?
--
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at the plants, the sparrows, the ants, spiders, bees, all doing their
business, helping to weld the order of the world. And will you refuse
man's part? And not run the way of nature's ordering?" --Marcus Aurelius
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\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

A phone call to MSFT usually works.

From a version prospective installing the Media Center pack for Win8 changes the system.
- as an example a Win8 pre-built pc (OEM), or upgraded PC (Win7 to Win8 Pro), or System Builder W8/W8 Pro becomes a new retail Win8
Pro with Media Center Pack with a new Product Key.



--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

"Ant" wrote in message m...

Hello.

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and upgraded
everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its free offer end
on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I got for free?

Thank you in advance.
--
"The ant has made himself illustrious; Through constant industry
industrious.; So what? Would you be calm and placid; If you were full of
formic acid?" --Ogden Nash (The Ant)
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

Ant wrote:

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and upgraded
everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its free offer end
on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I got for free?

Thank you in advance.


When you re-installed, which key did you use? I missed the 'free'
giveaway and paid $9 or whatever and got a new key. Did you try "Windows
anytime Upgrade" with the new key if you used the old one to re-install?


--

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety,
deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Ben Franklin

On 6/8/2013 11:28 PM PT, ...winston typed:

A phone call to MSFT usually works.

Does MS have a live chat or something since I cannot use the phone due
to my speech and hearing impairments?


From a version prospective installing the Media Center pack for Win8
changes the system.
- as an example a Win8 pre-built pc (OEM), or upgraded PC (Win7 to Win8
Pro), or System Builder W8/W8 Pro becomes a new retail Win8 Pro with
Media Center Pack with a new Product Key.

Interesting. That must be annoying for those who upgrade their OSes and
have to reinstall from scratch/restore from an old backup without the
upgrades.
--
"She's got ants in her pants." --unknown
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
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| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

On 6/9/2013 2:13 AM PT, G. Morgan typed:

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and upgraded
everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its free offer end
on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I got for free?

When you re-installed, which key did you use? I missed the 'free'
giveaway and paid $9 or whatever and got a new key. Did you try "Windows
anytime Upgrade" with the new key if you used the old one to re-install?

I used the same retail key from the previous Windows 8 Pro. installation.
--
"To the ant, a few drops of dew is a flood." --Iranian
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

Ant wrote:

On 6/9/2013 2:13 AM PT, G. Morgan typed:

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and upgraded
everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its free offer end
on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I got for free?

When you re-installed, which key did you use? I missed the 'free'
giveaway and paid $9 or whatever and got a new key. Did you try "Windows
anytime Upgrade" with the new key if you used the old one to re-install?

I used the same retail key from the previous Windows 8 Pro. installation.

Did you try "anytime upgrade" with the new key?

--

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety,
deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Ben Franklin

Thanks all for the suggestions! I used my free old key I activated for
Media Center, but it told me it needed to reactivate Windows 8 Pro.
retail. So I tried to reactivate it, but it failed (blocked). So I tried
my old Windows 8 Pro. retail key AGAIN, and reactivated. I tried Media
Center key, and it activated, downloaded Media Center, and rebooted.
Things look good. Whew. Weird way to get it to work. I still have W8
Pro. but now with its Media Center.

I wonder if this will happen if I were to do a clean install instead of
restoring my year old backup image.


Ant wrote:

Yesterday, my old Windows 8 installation got hosed to force me to
restore from an almost year old backup image. I reinstalled and upgraded
everything except its free Media Center Pack that had its free offer end
on 1/31/2013. Is there no way to get this back that I got for free?
--
Quote of the Week: "The great companies did not know that the line
between hunger and anger is a thin line. And money that might have gone
to wages went for gas, for guns, for agents and spies, for blacklists,
for drilling. On the highways the people moved like ants and searched
for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment." --John Steinbeck's
The Grapes of Wrath
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