

You might need to update Windows 8 a fair bit before it activates: Mainly enterprise licensing has download rights, so starting with Windows 10 (probably your best option – have you tried that while you can, just to see?) and going backwards isn’t going to be cheap or easy either: If it never had Windows 8 perhaps consider trying Windows 10 before that option closes? Even re-using a key stripped from another machine could be problematic.


Your prospect of a genuine license seem slim unless you can recover a key the system previously used and get Windows installed to a near condition it was when it was first activated. Sorry I don’t have the “recent” on this, but should it help.
