Windows 8.1 Professional

Windows 8.1 Professional is an operating system that was produced by Microsoft and released as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17 of the same year, about a year after the retail release of its predecessor. Windows 8.1 was made available for download via MSDN and Technet and available as a free upgrade for retail copies of Windows 8 and Windows RT users via the Windows Store. It was succeeded by Windows 10 on July 29, 2015. A server counterpart was released on October 18, 2013, entitled Windows Server 2012 R2. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 8.1 on January 9, 2018, and extended support will end on January 10, 2023.

Windows 8.1 aimed to address complaints of Windows 8 users and reviewers on launch. Visible enhancements include an improved Start screen, additional snap views, additional bundled apps, tighter OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) integration, Internet Explorer 11 (IE11), a Bing-powered unified search system, restoration of a visible Start button on the taskbar, and the ability to restore the previous behavior of opening the user’s desktop on login instead of the Start screen. Windows 8.1 also added support for such emerging technologies as high-resolution displays, 3D printing, Wi-Fi Direct, and Miracast streaming, as well as the ReFS file system.^[6] After January 12, 2016, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 users will need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 for continued support.

Windows 8.1 received more positive reception than Windows 8, with critics praising the expanded functionality available to apps in comparison to Windows 8, its OneDrive integration, its user interface tweaks, and the addition of expanded tutorials for operating the Windows 8 interface. Despite these improvements, Windows 8.1 was still criticized for not addressing all issues of Windows 8 (such as poor integration between Metro-style apps and the desktop interface), and the potential privacy implications of the expanded use of online services. As of October 2020, 4.16% of traditional PCs running Windows are running Windows 8.1.

History

In February 2013, ZDNet writer Mary Jo Foley disclosed potential rumors about “Blue”, the codename for a wave of planned updates across several Microsoft products and services, including Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Outlook.com, and SkyDrive. In particular, the report detailed that Microsoft was planning to shift to a more “continuous” development model, which would see major revisions to its main software platforms released on a consistent yearly cycle to keep up with market demands. Lending credibility to the reports, Foley noted that a Microsoft staff member had listed experience with “Windows Blue” on his LinkedIn profile, and listed it as a separate operating system from 8.^[8][9]

A post-RTM build of Windows 8, build 9364, was leaked in March 2013. The build, which was believed to be of “Windows Blue”, revealed a number of enhancements across Windows 8’s interface, including additional size options for tiles, expanded color options on the Start screen, the expansion of PC Settings to include more options that were previously exclusive to the desktop Control Panel, the ability for apps to snap to half of the screen, the ability to take screenshots from the Share charm, additional stock apps, increased SkyDrive integration (such as automatic device backups) and Internet Explorer 11.^[10][11] Shortly afterward on March 26, 2013, corporate vice president of corporate communications Frank X. Shaw officially acknowledged the “Blue” project, stating that continuous development would be “the new normal” at Microsoft, and that “our product groups are also taking a unified planning approach so people get what they want—all of their devices, apps and services working together wherever they are and for whatever they are doing.”^[12]

In early May, press reports announcing the upcoming version in Financial Times and The Economist negatively compared Windows 8 to New Coke.^[13][14] The theme was then echoed and debated in the computer press.^[15][16][17] Shaw rejected this criticism as “extreme”,^[18] adding that he saw a comparison with Diet Coke as more appropriate.^[19]

On May 14, 2013, Microsoft announced that “Blue” was officially unveiled as Windows 8.1.^[20] Following a keynote presentation focusing on this version, the public beta of Windows 8.1 was released on June 26, 2013 during Build.^[21][22][23] Build 9600 of Windows 8.1 was released to OEM hardware partners on August 27, 2013, and became generally available on October 17, 2013.^[24][25] Unlike past releases of Windows and its service packs, volume license customers and subscribers to MSDN Plus and TechNet Plus were unable to obtain the RTM version upon its release; a spokesperson stated that the change in policy was to allow Microsoft to work with OEMs “to ensure a quality experience at general availability.”^[26][27] Microsoft stated that Windows 8.1 would be released to the general public on October 17, 2013.^[28] However, after criticism, Microsoft reversed its decision and released the RTM build on MSDN and TechNet on September 9, 2013.^[29] Microsoft announced that Windows 8.1, along with Windows Server 2012 R2, was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013.^[28] Prior to the release of Windows 8.1, Microsoft premiered a new television commercial in late-September 2013 that focused on its changes as part of the “Windows Everywhere” campaign.^[30]

Shortly after its release, Windows RT 8.1 was temporarily recalled by Microsoft following reports that some users had encountered a rare bug which corrupted the operating system’s Boot Configuration Data during installation, resulting in an error on startup.^[31][32] On October 21, 2013, Microsoft confirmed that the bug was limited to the original Surface tablet, and only affected 1 in 1000 installations. The company released recovery media and instructions which could be used to repair the device, and restored access to Windows RT 8.1 the next day.^[33][34]

It was also found that changes to screen resolution handling on Windows 8.1 resulted in mouse input lag in certain video games that do not use the DirectInput API’s—particularly first-person shooter games, including Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman: Absolution, and Metro 2033. Users also found the issues to be more pronounced when using gaming mice with high resolution and/or polling rates. Microsoft released a patch to fix the bug on certain games in November 2013, and acknowledged that it was caused by “changes to mouse-input processing for low-latency interaction scenarios”.^[35][36]

Update

On April 8, 2014, Microsoft released the Windows 8.1 Update, which included all past updates plus new features.^[37] It was unveiled by Microsoft vice president Joe Belfiore at Mobile World Congress on February 23, 2014, and detailed in full at Microsoft’s Build conference on April 2. Belfiore noted that the update would lower the minimum system requirements for Windows, so it can be installed on devices with as little as 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage.^[38] Unlike Windows 8.1 itself, this cumulative update is distributed through Windows Update, and must be installed in order to receive any further patches for Windows 8.1.^[39]

At the 2014 Build conference, during April, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson unveiled further user interface changes for Windows 8.1, including the ability to run Metro-style apps inside desktop windows, and a revised Start menu, which creates a compromise between the Start menu design used by Windows 7 and the Start screen, by combining the application listing in the first column with a second that can be used to display app tiles. Myerson stated that these changes would occur in a future update, but did not elaborate further. Microsoft also unveiled a concept known as “Universal Windows apps“, in which a Windows Runtime app can be ported to Windows Phone 8.1 and Xbox One while sharing a common codebase. While it does not entirely unify Windows’ app ecosystem with that of Windows Phone, it will allow developers to synchronize data between versions of their app on each platform, and bundle access to Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox One versions of an app in a single purchase.^{[40][41][42][43]} Microsoft originally announced that users who did not install the update would not receive any other updates after May 13, 2014.^[44] However, meeting this deadline proved challenging: The ability to deploy Windows 8.1 Update through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) was disabled shortly after its release following the discovery of a bug which affects the ability to use WSUS as a whole in certain server configurations.^[45] Microsoft later fixed the issue^[46] but users continued to report that the update may fail to install.^[44] Microsoft’s attempt to fix the problem was ineffective, to the point that Microsoft pushed the support deadline further to June 30, 2014.^[44][47] On 16 May, Microsoft released additional updates to fix a problem of BSOD in the update.^[48]

Distribution

Microsoft markets Windows 8.1 as an “update” for Windows 8, avoiding the term “upgrade.”^[49] Microsoft’s support lifecycle policy treats Windows 8.1 similar to previous service packs of Windows: It is part of Windows 8’s support lifecycle, and upgrading to Windows 8.1 is required to maintain access to support and Windows updates after January 12, 2016.^[4][50]

Retail and OEM copies of Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and Windows RT can be upgraded through Windows Store free of charge. However, volume license customers, TechNet or MSDN subscribers and users of Windows 8 Enterprise must acquire standalone installation media for Windows 8.1 and install through the traditional Windows setup process, either as an in-place upgrade or clean install. This requires a Windows 8.1-specific product key.^{[51][52][53][54]}

Upgrading through Windows Store requires each machine to download an upgrade package as big as 2–3.6 GB. Unlike the traditional Windows service packs, the standalone installer, which could be downloaded once and installed as many times as needed, requires a Windows 8.1-specific product key.^[55] On July 1, 2014, acknowledging difficulties users may have had through the Windows Store update method, Microsoft began to phase in an automatic download process for Windows 8.1.^[56]

Windows 8 was re-issued at retail as Windows 8.1 alongside the online upgrade for those who did not currently own a Windows 8 license. Retail copies of Windows 8.1 contain “Full” licenses that can be installed on any computer, regardless of their existing operating system, unlike Windows 8 retail copies, which were only available at retail with upgrade licenses. Microsoft stated that the change was in response to customer feedback, and to allow more flexibility for users. Pricing for the retail copies of Windows 8.1 remained the same.^[57]

Windows 8.1 with Bing is a reduced-cost SKU of Windows 8.1 that was introduced by Microsoft in May 2014 in an effort to further encourage the production of low-cost Windows devices, whilst “driving end-user usage of Microsoft Services such as Bing and OneDrive“. It is subsidized by Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which is set as the default within Internet Explorer and cannot be changed by OEMs. However, this restriction does not apply to end-users, who can still change the default search engine freely. It is otherwise and functionally identical to the base edition of Windows 8.1.