You can go, have a drink and say you almost resolved my problem. It's a pity I am too far away to pay for this drink.
I gave up transferring the PC and just loaded W8 from a CD and then moved data and programs.
Easy, should have done it first BUT the other solution looked very appealing before it revealed to be dodgy :-(
I also bought the license, of course. :-D
Thanks for your support and following the case.
Cheers.