Workarounds have been available for some time to create Windows 8.1 installation media to avoid going through this lengthy installation process but they too required you to go through a lengthy process.
If you then decide to format the system and start anew or move everything to a new PC, you may have noticed that you need to install Windows 8 first to update it to Windows 8.1.ĭownloading media can also be useful if you cannot install Windows 8.1 from Windows Store for whatever reason or don't want to perform that operation for multiple systems that you want to update. While you can buy a Windows 8.1 DVD, you don't get media if you upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 for example.
