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How do I upgrade a Windows 8 machine without a network connection to Windows 8.1?

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You should be able to use go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=271128 and the key contained in the accepted answer to this questionr: superuser.com/questions/661261/windows-8-1-fresh- install-with-windows-8-licence in order to do this. After your upgrade is finished you will have to change the license back to your Windows 8 installation described by the accepted answer here superuser.com/questions/650019/… When I can provide an answer that isn't all links I will post an answer. –  Ramhound Oct 17 '13 at 17:42
I don't think any of you have noticed that using the ISO, we lose all non-metro-applications. It's just as if we did a refresh: we have to reinstall all non-metro-apps afterwards. Yes, I tried it, only metro-apps survive this type of upgrade. There is no way shown to upgrade it offline and achieve the same as with the online upgrade. While on my first 2 win8 pro it did not work (as described before), on the other 4 it worked. A little irritating, yes. All actions were the same. So I assume, the upgrade procedure is not 100% stable. –  Hagen Oct 28 '13 at 20:54
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2 Answers

Download a Windows 8.1 ISO (when you have access to it via MSDN/Technet), mount it inside Windows, run the setup.exe and select "upgrade".

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What would I put for the serial number? –  Mehrdad Oct 17 '13 at 19:28
@Mehrdad - I already answered this question through a comment. –  Ramhound Oct 17 '13 at 23:07
@Ramhound: Yup I saw, thanks! –  Mehrdad Oct 18 '13 at 0:17
Issue with this to be aware of that MSDN/technet is not meant for production. MSDN is for development & TechNet is for testing. So if you have a retail key, it isn't the supported methods for this. –  Robert MacLean Dec 23 '13 at 20:51
MSDN/Technet is the only way to get clean ISOs. –  magicandre1981 Dec 24 '13 at 6:18
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Microsoft suggest you to use this third-party solution.

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