Upgrade of Asus Vivotab RT to Windows RT 8.1

[Plantje]

I'm thinking of upgrading my Asus Vivotab RT to Windows RT 8.1

Currently the OS is in Dutch. I understood the Default System UI language should be EN-US. Does anyone know if resetting my Asus to the factory settings and choosing English in the new startup will make the Default System UI language EN-US? Or will it then be EN-GB?

Next to that I am wondering if the English OS version of Windows RT 8.1 still supports Dutch as input method (meaning I can get Dutch word completion and correction).

Finally I hope some people here have some experience with the Asus Vivotab RT on Windows RT 8.1. Please advise!

Thanks!

 

[JaromirK]

Hi,

I'm affraid that the question is more of if you can install it than if you would like to. Unfortunatelly the answer would be no... you can not install Windows RT 8.1 on Asus VivoTab RT yet.

To change Default system language you will need to do more than what you have just described:
Here are the steps which have worked for me (see "The windows 8.1 preview isn't available right now. Please try - Microsoft Community ):

1. Change your Language and Region to EN-US through Control Panel - Language
2. Ensure you have installed the EN-US language pack. (See: Language packs are available for Windows 8 and for Windows RT)
3. Open registry editor and navigate to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\NIs\Language. Find "InstallLanguage" and change this to 0409 (En-US)
4. Save and reboot.
- If you have already installed the download preview msi, you can simply go to the store and update now. Else, if you have been getting the "this update is not for your PC" error, continue as below -
5. Download and install the preview installer from Download Windows 8.1 Preview - Microsoft Windows (or use one of the aforementioned workarounds)
6. On reboot, check the reg key above is still set to 0409, then run WSReset.exe in an elevated command prompt. Let this complete, then you should be able to download the 8.1 preview update!

But after you manage to get and start installing the Windows 8.1 on your VivoTab RT you will face incompatibility error ( 0xc1900106 ). See while installation RT 8.1 preview i'm getting 0xc1900106 - Microsoft Community for more details.

I haven't found any workaround yet as I'm not even sure if it's a good idea to try it.

Please let me know if you were more successfull than I was.

Best regards,
Jaromir

 

[Plantje]

It is all very tempting, but perhaps I'm going to wait for a while.
Anyway... my brother has a Vivotab RT as well and perhaps he is going to try the method that you mentioned.

 

[JaromirK]

Cool. Please post here if you or your brother manage to successfully install it.

I will make a post here when I manage to install it as well. I'm really looking forward have the Windows 8.1 as I have heared quite a lot of positive feedback. It should be faster, has Outlook 2013 and modern UI is more user frendly.

 

[Plantje]

Just got a reply from a Microsoft employee. If you reset your Windows RT machine and set it to German (or another supported language) at startup you will be able to get the update. If you can go from that German Windows version to another language is still an open question. At least it'll save you doing registry adjustments.

 

[Plantje]

Hi, tried the registry change and I had the same 0xc1900106 notification. This seems to be something typical for the Vivotab RT.
After that I wiped the machine and reinstalled it. Chose English and the default system language was en-GB, so that was a no go!
Now I am wiping the machine again and I will choose German. I expect to have the 0xc1900106 again while installing the preview. But I heard people have been able to install it on their Vivotab RT!

 

[Plantje]

Ok, finally figured it out...I think.
1.Reset you RT device under ‘PC Settings’
2.Re-build, selecting either French or German as language.
3.Join to the Wi-Fi, bearing in mind that French or German keyboard layouts will be different, so you may need to change keyboard input back to QWERTY so it’s familiar to you.
4. Specifically for the Asus Vivotab RT: look for updates in Windows update. It should state a firmware update from (if I remember correctly 14-05-2013). This firmware update only appeared on my device with the German language; not while using the registry update that has been done here and there. The latter resulted in a 0xc1900106 message.
5.Go to the 8.1 preview website and download, run and install the patch.
6.Restart, and a banner will pop up prompting you to go to the Store to download 8.1
7.Go to the Store, download 8.1. Install.
8.Change language settings back to English (US) and then ta da!

On my computer Office 2013 started to complain throwing the message:
"Microsoft Office 2013 does not support upgrading from a preview version of Microsoft Office 2013. You must first uninstall these preview versions of Microsoft Office 2013 and associated technologies:
Microsoft Office Home and Student Plus Preinstall 2013".
So I have completely refreshed the machine again. And again everything appeared in German. After that I immediately changed the language back to English US without using the machine. Now it is fine. Only while restarting or when logging in some German words appear, but that's it! Perhaps that can still be changed by changing some registry keys. On the other hand I will be fine using this until the final version comes out!

It is GREAT!

 

[Plantje]

Still had 3 small "issues":
?Login screen states "Anmeldeoptionen" and "Kennwort"
?After logging in the screen mentions "Wilkommen"
?My 3G connection is called "Mobiles Breitband"


If you do the following:

Go into the registry editor (run regedit.exe) and navigate to:
HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Language
Go to the "InstallLanguage" string at the very bottom of the right pane and change it to the value 0409 (which is EN-US)


Now only the 3G connection is still called "Mobiles Breitband"