Jim,
I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this.
In the above instructions you don't mention that when you make an "early" (pre-release) purchase and install of an upgrade to a Master License (from MC25 to MC26) neither the menus HELP > REGISTRATION INFO, nor the HELP > ABOUT MEDIA CENTER show the upgraded MC26 license info. They continue to show (in my case) the current MC 25.0.113 license info. Doing a license restore also causes you to lose 1 of the 20 yearly license restores (no biggie since you're always generous with license restores).
This situation leads most people, including me, to feel that something went wrong and that the upgrade license wasn't installed. However, as I recall, I had the same problem last year (posted about it, too) when I renewed MC24 to MC25. I believe, last year, you said that the new license info won't show up until the new version of MC xx is available and downloaded. However, as I also recall, after you install the new MC 26 version you still have to expend another "restore" in order to register and make the new version of MC26 "permanent" even though it was done in the earlier MC25 version.