[ikk157]

I do have one. I just have to get on with the testing. Only problem is the Product Key I have is OEM. I possibly need to find another one for temporary use first.

You don’t need to find another one actually. You can still use it just fine without activating it, that is if you don’t mind a little watermark on the bottom right corner of the screen. I personally haven’t noticed any significant differences between an activated and non-activated copy of Windows (just some minor limitations which you most likely won’t even notice). Should be good enough if you’re just testing it out.

Edit:

You also don’t need a full on internal disk to do this either. You can use a program called “WinToUSB” which will let you install windows directly on a USB thumb drive (with enough storage capacity of course).

[deanhills]

You don’t need to find another one actually. You can still use it just fine without activating it, that is if you don’t mind a little watermark on the bottom right corner of the screen. I personally haven’t noticed any significant differences between an activated and non-activated copy of Windows (just some minor limitations which you most likely won’t even notice). Should be good enough if you’re just testing it out.

Edit:

You also don’t need a full on internal disk to do this either. You can use a program called “WinToUSB” which will let you install windows directly on a USB thumb drive (with enough storage capacity of course).

OK thanks @ikk157.  I was unsure about that as I thought Microsoft wouldn't allow you past the installation point where it asks you for a Product Key - when you don't have one.  Possibly then there must be an option at this point where one can delay the activation?

[ikk157]

OK thanks @ikk157.  I was unsure about that as I thought Microsoft wouldn't allow you past the installation point where it asks you for a Product Key - when you don't have one.  Possibly then there must be an option at this point where one can delay the activation?

Yeah the installation give you an option to activate windows later. The same can’t be said about the windows 10 installation however. They used to also allow that with the windows 10 installation, but they no longer do. For all we know, they might’ve taken the same approach with the windows 8.1 installation (even though i find it unlikely that they’d do that now.)

However, you can actually put in any windows product key there (preferably one for the same version you’re installing), and it won’t check if it’s valid. So you can literally look up an expired product key on google and that’ll get you through the installation process!