Upgrade from XP to 7 to 8.1

Bossk128 · 9 Sep 2014 at 11:25

I've got a legit XP key, and want to upgrade to Windows 8. I can buy an upgrade license from XP to 7, and buy an upgrade key from 7 to 8. Is there a way I can do a clean install of Windows 8 with this method?

this_is_gav · 9 Sep 2014 at 11:47

You don't need to upgrade to Windows 7 first: Upgrading to Windows 8.1 from Windows Vista or Windows XP

Bossk128 · 9 Sep 2014 at 12:02

Nice one, thanks. At what point does it need to see your XP key then? ie how do they know you aren't NOT upgrading?

this_is_gav · 9 Sep 2014 at 13:15

I can't remember how I did (I was upgrading from Win 7 anyway), but if you're using the same hard drive it will obviously see Win XP when you go to install it (and if you install it from within Windows using the downloadable installer obviously it can see it too).

Actually, it looks like Microsoft has stopped selling the upgrade version of Windows 8 with 8.1 - just the full retail and OEM licenses are available to consumers.