14 DAY TRIAL // The upgrade process from an existing installation of Windows to the public pre-Beta of Windows 8 released at BUILD can alter the data associated with copyright protected content to the point in which it’s rendered unusable.
Microsoft has confirmed this problem, indicating that early adopters testing Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) can be impacted.
” This issue occurs because the specific operating system and computer information that is used by DRM licensing is changed during the upgrade process. This behavior may cause some DRM-protected content on your computer to become unusable,” the software giant said.
The scenario described above only happens if users own Digital Rights Management licensing software and upgrade the Windows machine with DRM content to Windows 8 Developer Preview.
During the Windows 8 Build 8102 M3 deployment process, the Developer Preview will inform testers of a potential compatibility issue, providing the following message in the compatibility report: “These will work after you do a few things.”
Still, Windows 8 will offer no guidance to early adopters on how to fix the problem. And this is where Microsoft comes in:
“You can use DRM licensing software to de-authorize the computer, or back up the DRM licenses to other media. Otherwise, you may have to contact the technical support service for the software that uses DRM in order to obtain special de-authorization codes. Alternatively, the technical support service may help you to reauthorize the computer after the upgrade process is complete,” the company states.
Unless testers take advantage of the workaround detailed above, they can end up no longer being able to play-back, rear or edit their collection of DRM content. Another symptom is the fact that access to a store offering DRM-protected content might be refused.
According to Microsoft, customers leveraging sources of copyrighted content such as the Apple iTunes store can find that they’re impacted by this issue if they upgrade to Windows 8.
“For example, assume that you have downloaded DRM-protected content from the Apple iTunes store. In this situation, you should de-authorize your computer in iTunes before the upgrade process so that your licenses and content will migrate correctly. When the upgrade process is complete, reauthorize the computer in iTunes,” the software giant added.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.