Installing Windows 8 using an existing key

Question

I have a UWP app (from a Xamarin.Forms app) which debugs fine on the computer. But when I try to debug on a phone, I get the following error:

Unable to debug Windows Store app '....exe'. The debugger was unable to find the registration for the target application. If the problem persists, try uninstalling and then reinstalling this application.

The app does get installed on the phone and can be executed there. But I can't debug it with Visual Studio.

Meanwhile, the error I see in the error list in VS is:

DEP6700: LaunchMsvsmon failed on the device side. [0x800401F3] Invalid class string (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800401F3 (CO_E_CLASSSTRING))

I uninstalled both on the computer and on the phone, I rebooted both, I deleted the .vs folder, bin and obj folders... Nothing helped.

What are these errors telling me?

Solution 1

Frank, you should be able to use an existing product key.

According to this and the images and comments here, you should be prompted to enter a Windows 8 Product Key.

You should be prompted for a key. Try using your Windows 7 key, at which point you should/may be prompted for the upgrade. If that doesn’t work, then you can reinstall Windows 7 with the key, then upgrade directly from there.

Solution 2

I found the answer here, but here's the brief summary:

-I'm guessing that at some point, you probably downloaded the Windows 8 preview, yes? For whatever reason, when you go to do it "for real," the Windows 8 setup doesn't overwrite the old file, called the "WebSetup" folder. If that folder is still there, you'll get the "Sorry, something happened and we couldn't finish creating the ISO. Restart setup and try again" message.

The location of the folder is at: C:\%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebSetup

where %UserProfile% is the user account you downloaded it under (probably your default account) - this is the folder you need to delete.

Once that folder is deleted, run the Windows 8 setup file (found here, if you haven't, like me, already downloaded it 8 different times thinking it was a corrupted file), and it should prompt you at that point for your product key - which is something it wasn't doing for me.

It'd be helpful if Microsoft knew about this... hope it helps...

(h/t to EightForums, where I originally found and condensed this guide.)

Comments

[Admin]

I'd call Microsoft tech support. You might be on the phone for a while, but you get one or two freebies with a new OS, and they may be able to help. This sucks though. At least older versions let you run the installer all the way through before entering a key.

[FrankWest]

The problem is there is no option whatsoever when running the Upgrade Assistant to enter my key again.

[Ramhound]

@FrankWest - Use the ISO that you were asked to make and boot to the disk.

[FrankWest]

@JamesHill there is only one option "buy". I also dont remember the assistant asking me if I would like to save an ISO file, because I would have done that for sure.

[ispiro]

I'm using PCL and I now changed the target version to 15063 (the minimum version has been under that already). It still gives me the same error despite deleting the .vs, bin and obj folders, and uninstalling the app from the phone.

[Nico Zhu]

What is the OS version of the phone? And have you tried to deploy app in your desktop

[ispiro]

It works on desktop with Visual Studio and on the phone only separately - not from within VS. The OS on the phone is 10.0.15254.158. It's a Lumia 550.

[Nico Zhu]

Try to clean solution or delete bin obj folder .

[ispiro]

I already deleted them as I've stated in my first comment. I've also deleted .vs and closed VS and reopened...

[ispiro]

I don't think so. Because this app used to work. Then I changed the minimum version to 16299, (and obviously it couldn't even deploy to mobile), and then I changed back and it's not working even after deleting the folders, and the nuget packages, and restarting,...

[Nico Zhu]

Did you mean that the issue occurred after changing the minimum version to 16299?

[ispiro]

After changing the minimum version to 16299 I couldn't (of course) deploy to the phone. The issue, though, is that even after returning to min of anniversary update, and now after your answer, to target of 15063 it gives me this error.

[Nico Zhu]

Have you tried to deploy a blank app that target version is 15063?