Hello,
I purchased Windows 8.1 Professional 64 bit from the Microsoft Store. When I try to download it, I get the dreaded 'we can't connect to the internet right now' error. This happens regardless of which computer I am on or which OS I use. Many other people have had this problem and it looks like it has something to do with the product key being rejected by the activation server, rather than anything inherently wrong with your internet connection. Microsoft support has been less than helpful. They said my product key was fine and then spent two hours on my computer remotely and were unable to solve the problem.
So, I have a valid product key, but no way of getting Windows onto my computer because I cannot download it and have no disk. All of the solutions that I have seen so far for obtaining a Windows 8.1 ISO image assume that you have a Windows 8 product key. I just have the Windows 8.1 product key since I am going from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1, so the well known 'trick' for obtaining a Windows 8.1 ISO file does me no good.
I assume that since this is such a common problem, there are ISO files of Windows 8.1 64 bit professional floating around out there on the internet, even though Microsoft will not release them officially, that one could use to make a bootable USB drive from which to install Windows and then use their valid product key to activate it. If anybody knows of a copy of such an ISO file that others have used and can vouch for, I would be very grateful if someone could hook me up with the file. I would prefer to not have to resort to torrent sites like Pirate Bay.
Thanks