While the majority of us are already on the final build of Windows 8.1, Microsoft would like to remind those of you who are still – for some reason – using the Preview builds of Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 that these builds will expire on January 15th of 2014.
“Did you know that Windows 8.1 preview and Windows RT 8.1 preview expire on January 15th? Now that Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 have been generally available for a while, it’s time to get all your remaining devices that are still running Windows 8.1 Preview or Windows RT 8.1 Preview to the final GA release before the Preview release expires,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
You can update to the final release of Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 by simply typing this in the Run box or in Internet Explorer (or just click it): ms-windows-store:WindowsUpgrade
This process will require that you reinstall all of your applications – desktop software and apps.
For those of you who installed a volume license build of Windows 8.1 Preview, Microsoft recommends that you install a fresh copy of Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows 8.1 Enterprise for continued use. “If you have to upgrade an existing machine, you can do so using volume license media. This can be done by manually running SETUP.EXE from the media, or can be automated by running “setup.exe /auto:data”. As with any Preview update, only data and accounts will be migrated; all apps will need to be reinstalled,” Microsoft explained.
The Windows 8.1 Preview was fun while it lasted and heres to the next preview version of Windows!
