The company is said to ban a number of keys with the last 8.1 updates

Oct 16, 2013 12:03 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is said to be preparing the last round of updates for Windows 8.1 RTM before general availability, with x86, x64, and RT devices to be patched just before the public launch of the operating system.

Now it turns out that the so-called GA Rollup A updates are blocking some of the originally leaked keys that allowed users to download and install Windows 8.1 RTM using either one of the ISOs that reached the web in early September or the official MSDN builds.

While there’s no official word on this, it’s only natural to expect that Microsoft wants to prevent piracy and force all users to use a genuine copy of the operating system.

Of course, Windows 8.1 stays activated after deploying these updates and legitimate Windows 8 keys continue to work just fine on both desktops and tablets.