Windows 8.1 license Key About to Expire!

Hello! I bought my laptop from Target in March of 2014. A couple of days ago I started getting a notification that my Windows is about to expire. My only options are to Activate online or enter a new key. When I enter my current key, it tells me the key in invalid.

I called Gateway, the flat out refused to help and sent me to Acer CS. Acer wants to charge me a "one time fee" of 99.99! I even called Target but there is nothing they could do. I called Microsoft and they told me it was a volume licensing key. I cannot activate by phone so they told me to call Acer. I called Acer again and they still want to charge me 99.99!!!

I bought the computer with no CD's and Windows was installed when I set up the computer.

It is Windows 8.1 (x64) and it is for personal use.

It expires December 3, and I am not sure what I can do without being out a lot of money and I feel cheated

Thank you!

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Cory-Acer

Hi LMBEEE,

The Windows key on 8.1 devices is stored in the motherboard. Windows is able to read it and activate. If it can't do that, it could be the reason you're seeing these messages. Was there any work done on the device? A new motherboard would not have the key to activate. A new Hard Drive may be creating conflicts with Microsoft. If there have been no hardware changes we can rule all of that out.

We ship devices with a hidden recovery partition that allows you to recovery directly from it, and create your own backups (instead of relying on 1 set of disks that wouldn't get used for years at a time). I'll provide some steps to help create and recovery your system. This process would wipe out any data, but allow you to restore the operating system back to it's original state and presumablly activate with Windows.

How to use recovery management to start a recovery: http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26295

How to create a USB recovery drive: http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26287

How to recovery with USB recovery: http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27608

Start with the first link as it should resolve your issue if the recovery partition is available. Creating the USB recovery would help in the future more than right now.