It’s the end of the year and I bought myself a new laptop. Although it came with Windows 8 and upgraded it to Pro, I had to install a fresh installation of Windows 8 Pro for some stupid/buggy reasons (still frustated, something with missing groups when using upgrade).
So I needed to remove the license from my old laptop and bring it over to the new one. To achieve this I used the following procedure:
- Press Windows key + X
- Click Command Prompt (Admin)
- Type: slmgr.vbs -upk + ENTER
This will uninstall the product key from the computer and set it back to trial mode. The key is now available to be used on your new laptop/PC.
If you encounter any problems using the free key, try activating by telephone:
- Press Windows key + X
- Click Command Prompt (Admin)
- Type: slui.exe 4 + ENTER
- Select your ‘Country’ from the list.
- Choose the ‘Phone Activation’ option.
- Stay on the phone (do not select/press any options) and wait for a person to help you with activation.
- Explain your problem clearly to the support person.