So the challenge this week was....
I was working with an EDU that has a pile of HP Stream 13 Laptops that shipped with Windows 8.1 with Bing (non-PRO) that need to be added to an Active Directory domain. They already own Volume Licensing to cover Win 8.1 Pro on these laptops.
[As a note, the HP Stream13 doesn't ship with Windows Pro in any channel. The Stream11 does in the academic channel, but not the 13]
Now as you may (or may not) know these "Chromebook competitor" low spec windows laptops usually use a very small either SSD or eMMC hard disk and the preinstalled OS image is partially compressed to save space and effect performance. This is not something a layman can accomplish on re-install. Its also the reason an in-place upgrade will fail.
Now the easiest way to accomplish this is to purchase Windows 8.1 Pro Pack (SKU: 5VR-00139) and use the "Add Features" dialog in Windows 8 to input the "ProPack" key. The system then grinds for a few minutes, reboots, and magically becomes a fully licensed, activated Windows Pro machine.
Problem is.. ProPack is only sold in the retail channel for ~$100 per PC.
Regular VLKs cannot be used in the Windows "Add Features" dialog.
Here is what I was able to ferret out...
The OS doesn't seem to need to be online to validate the "ProPack" and transform the machine. It does to activate but that's a separate issue.
Its been my experience that a "Retail RTM" key used offline will work to "Upgrade to Pro" I suspect purchasing a single "ProPack" key might work as well.
Once the machine is Pro suddenly you can enter a valid VLK and activate.
Hope this helps.
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