How to get Windows 8 developer license without Visual Studio
Read this article to learn how to obtain a Windows 8 developer license on computers without Visual Studio.
You need a Windows 8 Developer License to test your Windows 8 Apps on your computer and other computers. If you have Visual Studio 2012, you can get a developer license for Apps from the Store >> Acquire Developer License menu.
If you like to test your Windows 8 apps on other computers that do not have Visual Studio 2012 installed, you have a couple of options:
1. Run the App on the computer. When the app is executed first time, you will be prompted to go through the steps to obtain a developer license.
2. You can use Windows 8 power shell commands to obtain the developer license for Windows 8 Apps. You must open the power shell as an Administrator to get the elevated permissions required to obtain a developer license.
Follow the steps to open Powershell as an Administrator:
1. Press Win + C to open the Windows 8 Charms
2. Click on "Search".
3. Type "PowerShell" (make sure "Apps" is selected below the Search option)
4. Select the "Windows PowerShell" app from the search results on the left.
Now you can execute the commands from the command prompt in PowerShell.
The following commands are available:
Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration
This command will guide you through a wizard to login to your Microsoft account and obtain a Windows 8 developer license.
Get-WindowsDeveloperLicense
This command shows the validity status of the license and the expiration date.
Unregister-WindowsDeveloperLicense
This command allows you to unregister your Windows 8 developer license. When execute, you will be given 3 options - Unregister, Cancel or Suspect license.
If you unregister or suspend your Windows 8 developer license, some of your Windows 8 Apps may stop working.