Windows 10 not activating

Well Microsoft outsources this to companies in India and frankly, they are poorly trained and flat-out lie at times. If they can't solve the problem they are just trying to get you off the phone.
 
alexsmith2709 said:
Hi,
I've never had this issue before and i dont know why this is not working.
I had a customer who brought there laptop in. It had a dying HDD so i have swapped it out and put an SSD in. I installed windows 10 (which it had on before but originally the laptop shipped with Win 8). It is now saying windows isnt activated so i typed in the key that produkey got but this still doesnt activate, so i used showkeyplus and used the original Win 8 key but this doesnt work either. Windows troubleshooter says i dont have a valid digital license and i need to buy a new copy from the microsoft store.

Has anyone got any other ideas i can try?

Thanks
Click to expand...

You need to understand that there are different product keys used for different types of activation that can be stored on your device. Using Produkey and similar software doesnt always give you the REAL product key. Devices can be offline activated using a combination of SLP keys and OEM Certs and a signed BIOS. SLP keys will only re-activate the OS if you use the OEM Media associated with your product. If you use generic media then you need to activate with the real product key which should be on a COA label on the device. Also upgrading to Windows 10 for free doesnt give you a Win10 product key, you get a Digital Entitlement. You should research on how to reinstall Windows 10 with a Digital Entitlement since you will not have a valid product key to activate. If Win10 cant be put back on it then you might be stuck reinstalling Win8
 
nlinecomputers said:
Can you explain that further? Works for me
Click to expand...
slui 04 doesn't work unless it's a Windows 10 key. If you're using a Windows 7/8 key then it won't open. This is an anti-piracy measure from Microsoft so people can't use Windows 7/8 keys and activate them a bunch of times to get legit Windows 10 activations.

The solution is quite simple. All you have to do is input the default Windows 10 key using CMD running as administrator

slmgr -ipk put key here including dashes

Then run the activation troubleshooter. If this doesn't work then you'll have to extract the key from the motherboard's firmware and put it in.
 
nlinecomputers said:
X18-15561 is Win 8 with Bing from what I can tell. I didn't think that would upgrade to Win 10 but if it had Win 10 on in the past the system ID will be registered with M$.
Click to expand...

I think this is the problem. Those versions of Windoze with only Bing were locked down to only that version which can be used/upgraded with the key. Forgot the exact version name but when they launched it was peddled as a secure lite version for low priced netbooks and the like. There were some threads on here about that when it came out but can't find them at the moment.

https://www.howtogeek.com/195934/what-exactly-is-windows-8.1-with-bing-do-i-have-to-use-bing/
 
Markverhyden said:
I think this is the problem. Those versions of Windoze with only Bing were locked down to only that version which can be used/upgraded with the key. Forgot the exact version name but when they launched it was peddled as a secure lite version for low priced netbooks and the like. There were some threads on here about that when it came out but can't find them at the moment.

https://www.howtogeek.com/195934/what-exactly-is-windows-8.1-with-bing-do-i-have-to-use-bing/
Click to expand...
It was/is eligible for 10. Have done many of them since I deal with the low end computers all the time.
 
Porthos said:
It was/is eligible for 10. Have done many of them since I deal with the low end computers all the time.
Click to expand...

What version of W10 does it update to? It may need the native W8 Bing running to update and that W8 version was not available to download from what I remember.
 
Porthos said:
10 Home
Click to expand...

Markverhyden said:
Yes, but was it a recovery like the OP or a functioning live OS.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter. The days of BS operating systems like Windows 7 "Starter" and Windows 8 "with Bing" are thankfully over. The lowest-tier OS that Microsoft does nowadays is Windows 10 Home. That means that if you use an older Windows 7/8 key to activate, the lowest-tier OS you're going to get is Windows 10 Home.
 
Free Upgrade to Windows 10 Home: https://www.askvg.com/windows-10-upgrade-paths-and-things-to-know-before-upgrading/



Following Windows versions will get the free upgrade to Windows 10 Home edition:

  • Windows 7 Starter
  • Windows 7 Home Basic
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • Windows 8.1 (without Pro)
  • Windows 8.1 country specific editions
  • Windows 8.1 Single Language
  • Windows 8.1 with Bing
Markverhyden said:
Yes, but was it a recovery like the OP or a functioning live OS.
Click to expand...

After the nov 2015 update where they allowed using keys and you did not have to upgrade first I recall always using images to install fresh. I always believed in fresh installs from 7 and 8. I am fairly sure I was able to get a DL automatically or copy and paste the bios key for activation.

Of course 3 yrs later I have not seen one still on 8 to see if it still works.

The OP did get it taken care of in the end(got a PM) so this issue is done this time around. ;)
 
alexsmith2709 said:
Asus say they havent ever blocked keys and don't know why it wont activate
Click to expand...
Same Problem here with a P550CA shipped with Windows 8 Pro and downgrade Option. The customer downgraded it directly. HDD had been replaced because the old one died. The n&p to a fresh Windows 7 (!) ended in the same result: Key is blocked, but not from Microsoft itself. Asus did not know anything and could not help. Long story short: bought a new Windows 7 key and activated the crappy ****. Customer is not amused about the extra costs.
 
Sorry, been quite busy and forgot to post the solution here. After a bit of back and forth with Asus I had to use a different OEM key to activate.
 
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