Microsoft Extends Windows 8 Developer Preview Expiry Date

[Arrum]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2671501
http://www.windows8news.com/2012/02/19/ ... piry-date/

Microsoft released the first developers preview of Windows 8 back in September of 2011 and since then it’s had several million downloads from developers and keen tech enthusiasts looking to try out Microsoft’s latest operating system. However what most of you probably don’t know is that the Windows 8 Developer Preview build is set to expire on March 11, 2012 and Windows 8 Server preview on April 8, 2012.

This doesn’t really give you much time to update to the Windows 8 Consumer Preview which will more than likely be released on February 29th 2012. However 2 days ago Microsoft announced that they will now be extending the expiry date for the developer preview to January 15, 2013. That gives you plenty of time now to upgrade from the developer preview. Also the chances are that the full version of Windows 8 will be out on the market by then.

If for some reason you still want to use the developers preview edition of Windows 8 after March 11, you’ll have to update it via the Windows Update program. There’s an update available now which extends the expiry date for both Windows 8 and Windows Server 8 developer previews to January 2013.

14 days before your license is about to expire you will get notifications telling you “This pre-release version of Windows will expire soon. Go to Windows Activation to purchase and install a released version of Windows.”

Then once your license has expired Windows will restart every hour.

But somehow I don’t think that too many of you will be caught out by this and I’m sure you’ll all be upgrading to the Windows 8 consumer preview as soon as it comes out.

Could this mean that the Consumer Preview might be later than expected? Only thing I can think of (At the moment).

[giantsteen]

No. Microsoft is releasing it on the 29th as expected. It just gives people extra time to upgrade to the beta.

[Arrum]

After I tested it, I went back to Windows 7. So I don't need any time to upgrade. And other than me most people have high-speed, so I think they could get around to it in 11 days.

[Derf]

After I tested it, I went back to Windows 7. So I don't need any time to upgrade. And other than me most people have high-speed, so I think they could get around to it in 11 days.

Not everyone obsessively waits around for new builds of Windows to get released so they can upgrade asap. I'd bet plenty of users of the WDP won't upgrade until at least summer, if at all.

[Arrum]

That's strange. I would think everyone would want to upgrade asap. Now this makes sense.

[chrisjose1913]

No. Microsoft is releasing it on the 29th as expected. It just gives people extra time to upgrade to the beta.

I don't think microsoft would postpone Windows 8 Developer Preview till January 15, 2013 just to give extra time to upgrade to the beta.
it don't take just over half a year extra time to upgrade

[DBlake]

Does anyone have the URL to manually download this update?

[PlyrStar93]

Seems this update cannot be downloaded from website, but can only installed in Windows Update. I checked MS site but couldn't find any download link for it.

[chrisjose1913]

Seems this update cannot be downloaded from website, but can only installed in Windows Update. I checked MS site but couldn't find any download link for it.

That's because Microsoft have not yet released it i think they plan to release 11 days before the original expiry date

[PlyrStar93]

Yes they have released this patch. My WDP was updated on Feb 19th and the date of expire is postponed now.
So just use Windows Update and you can find it.

[giantsteen]

I have a special Windows Update Downloader. I'll see if I can get it.

[ultrawindows]

An update that postpones the expiration date of Windows 8 Developer Preview and of Windows 8 Server Developer Preview is available

Important To continue using Windows 8 Developer Preview or Windows 8 Server Developer Preview, you must install this update before the expiration date. After the activation license expires, Windows 8 Developer Preview and Windows 8 Server Developer Preview will periodically restart. After you install this update, Windows automatically tries to reactivate after the restart until activation is successful.

Build: 6.2.8102.144
Download

[SmirgeliS]

Now i'm using WDP as primary OS and i'm waiting 29 of February when WCP will be released officially so i can say one thing: I WILL UPGRADE MY WDP to WCP...

[giantsteen]

Maybe using this update we could figure out what is changed in order to let us use builds longer.

[DeFacto]

Maybe using this update we could figure out what is changed in order to let us use builds longer.

You're going to reverse engineer an update?

[giantsteen]

It's possible that someone could see what actually changes the expiration date.

[Phenom II]

Maybe using this update we could figure out what is changed in order to let us use builds longer.

What for ?

I doubt they will self-destruct when they expire, look at all betas etc in the FTP that you can still use way past their expiry date.

[WinPC]

From what I see, the reason for this is due to the fact that many Windows 8 users are still running the widely available Developer Preview (Build 8102) and/or similar builds on their systems, meaning that an upgrade to the coming Consumer Preview may not always be practical for them, mainly because:

1. They have just recently downloaded the earlier build, and need time to properly evaluate it before moving on to the next build.

----and/or----

2. They are already using Windows 8 as their main operating system, and either they don't want their primary Windows installation to expire, and/or they may feel the need to wait a bit before carrying out a major change on their Windows installation, due to the problems created by reinstalling Windows (which is why I personally am not carrying out any such changes on my personal Windows installation, that is, the one that I use for all of my personal tasks, even as much as I would like the advantage of being able to upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer, for example, due to the potential risks that it involves, at least not at the moment).

Also, another way around the expiration date, is to set your system's date back (the system configuration on which I'm running Windows 8, has the date set to 2003, rather than 2012, although the month, day, and time are still the same).

Finally, remember that although even as recently as Windows 8's release to general availability, pre-release versions will undoubtedly remain in use at least for several months after, the day will indeed come when it's finally time to update to a new version of Windows 8. While keeping an older build installed on your system during later portions of the pre-release testing period is understandable (for example, in cases where it involves a primary Windows installation that is actually used for personal purposes on a day to day basis), by the time that the RTM build is compiled, then you should think seriously about upgrading to a new version of Windows 8.

Even if you couldn't normally aquire your own copy of Windows 8, you could still use the latest Release Candidate or pre-RTM build available, and then convert it to a Service Pack release upon the beta testing of Service Pack 1 for Windows 8, using maxtorix's procedure, though that's one of the few times that I support such procedures, for obvious legal reasons.

It may be a bit of a long post, but I thought I would explain the situation a bit for everyone here, since it was brought up.

[Derf]

From what I see, the reason for this is due to the fact that many Windows 8 users are still running the widely available Developer Preview (Build 8102) and/or similar builds on their systems, meaning that an upgrade to the coming Consumer Preview may not always be practical for them, mainly because:

1. They have just recently downloaded the earlier build, and need time to properly evaluate it before moving on to the next build.

----and/or----

2. They are already using Windows 8 as their main operating system, and either they don't want their primary Windows installation to expire, and/or they may feel the need to wait a bit before carrying out a major change on their Windows installation, due to the problems created by reinstalling Windows (which is why I personally am not carrying out any such changes on my personal Windows installation, that is, the one that I use for all of my personal tasks, even as much as I would like the advantage of being able to upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer, for example, due to the potential risks that it involves, at least not at the moment).

Also, another way around the expiration date, is to set your system's date back (the system configuration on which I'm running Windows 8, has the date set to 2003, rather than 2012, although the month, day, and time are still the same).

Finally, remember that although even as recently as Windows 8's release to general availability, pre-release versions will undoubtedly remain in use at least for several months after, the day will indeed come when it's finally time to update to a new version of Windows 8. While keeping an older build installed on your system during later portions of the pre-release testing period is understandable (for example, in cases where it involves a primary Windows installation that is actually used for personal purposes on a day to day basis), by the time that the RTM build is compiled, then you should think seriously about upgrading to a new version of Windows 8.

Even if you couldn't normally aquire your own copy of Windows 8, you could still use the latest Release Candidate or pre-RTM build available, and then convert it to a Service Pack release upon the beta testing of Service Pack 1 for Windows 8, using maxtorix's procedure, though that's one of the few times that I support such procedures, for obvious legal reasons.

It may be a bit of a long post, but I thought I would explain the situation a bit for everyone here, since it was brought up.

tl;dr
He pretty much said what I said, only in essay form.

[WinPC]

Well, I only made that post to further explain it all for everyone, and to add in a few points - I didn't mean anything against anyone, and certainly not against you Derf.

It's just that some people apparently were unsure of the reason as to why Microsoft extended the expiration date for earlier Windows 8 builds, so I decided to present some possible situations to the members here.

[linuxlove]

It's just that some people apparently were unsure of the reason as to why Microsoft extended the expiration date for earlier Windows 8 builds, so I decided to present some possible situations to the members here.

Which Derf did just that in only a few words.

[Arrum]

No offense to Derf but WinPC did a really good job explaining it all for everyone.

[WinPC]

Well, I not only explained it all here, but I added on some additional information, especially regarding the specific situations that people were in, so that's really why I posted all of that, to help better explain it here, and again, this is of no offence to anyone else (including Derf).

Also, I myself am going to prepare for receiving new builds of Windows 8, by finally getting around to installing the Developer Tools and Server counterparts of what is for us the current build (Build 8102); then, once the new build is finally released here, I'm going to adapt my coming Windows 8 Review for BetaArchive to the new build, by updating all of its information to match that of the new build itself, rather than the previous build (Developer Preview - Build 8102).

However, as for the Server counterpart, I'm going to first install Windows Server 2008 R2 if possible, then upgrade from that to Windows Server 8, just to not only watch it evolve from a less beta-oriented user's standpoint, but also to gain some experience with Windows Server 2008 R2 itself, so that I'll be able to distinguish the newly introduced features from the ones that were already present in the Windows Server family.

[Arrum]

I am very interested in the development of Windows 8 Server. I know that some that use Server 2008 R2 are very worried about Windows 8 Server. They are afraid it is going to mess everything up ,but are being ordered to prepare to upgrade to Windows Server 8.

[yksoft1]

If someone reverse engineer the updater maybe we can find out how to delay the timebomb for longer or even disable it..