Windows 10: Vicious circle of Windows Updates and "Windows is not activated"

Hello! I'll do the best I can to keep this rant-free.


Here's the short summary: Bought my Acer laptop in Jul/Aug 2018, which smoothly activated itself with a Win 10 Home Single lang digital licence, then started getting those updates, until they became pesky. These updates included the last of the two feature updates 1809, I believe, and then 1903, both of which successfully managed to muck up the activation status, only to reinstate it after some indeterminate and entirely random amounts of time, but not before causing considerable distress, and hours unsuccessfully spent on reading through and attempting various troubleshooting methods, including running the standard DISM, SFC, and slmgr commands, activation troubleshooter, chatting with tech support, and seeking help from this forum.


Given that 1909 was optional update, I didn't want to touch it with a 20-feet pole, to lose the activation status once more. However, most of the KB updates coming my way since about Nov 2019, were failing especially the dot net framework ones. Recently, I started paying a little closer attention to the event logs and was rather horrified to see the number of errors being logged by Windows systems and ran some of those DISM /restorehealth etc. commands, which seemed to indicate things were seriously cranky under the hood with the update service. I thought of reluctantly upgrade to 1909 hoping that would help rather than continuing with a broken build, which I must say helped. It's now up to date, but on the flipside, activation status is as I feared, is now broken.


Yes, I do have a valid OEM product key, my Windows was previously activated, and the status appears to be such as seen in my MS account, as well as, the activation troubleshooter. The whole experience has been frustrating, to say the least, and another weekend is now spent roleplaying an hapless IT administrator.


Screenshots for reference:

Earlier activation status:



Post yesterday's update:








I'm guessing, this too shall pass with patient resignation, but the question I have for the helpful, and knowledgeable community members here, is: what's the secret, best practices to a worry-free updated, permanently activated Windows 10 experience, if any? Will purchasing a retail licence help? Is it something to do with OEM licences? Should I just say thank you to Windows, and go elsewhere?


P.S. No hardware changes made

:)

 

Windows updates...

Oh. Your "Registry" must have gotten screwed up FLY3R. If for some reason you couldn't download your updates I suppose you could go to the update site, and run throught the steps 'till it fails activation. Then you could go up to "Tools > Manage Add ons > then disable "Windows Genuine Advatage Validation Tool." Of course you should only use this method if you are having problems updating your legitamate copy of Windows XP. Perhaps do to a corrupted piece of software? *Smile

 

windows xp installation and dual core am

could someone please list the steps they follow to install windows with a dual core processor and windows xp service pack to. I'm reletively new to amd dual core and i feel i'm missing a step. All help will be appreciated. thanx

 

Windows Updates failed to instal

I'm not sure how differant XP media center Edition is but you could clear the history \ cache if these folders are there.

Step 1 Register DLL files.

=================

By trying this step, we can check if the update engines are working properly.



1. Close all instances of Internet Explorer.

2. Click Start and Run, type "Regsvr32 atl.dll" (without quotes) in the Open box and click OK.



Note: There is a space between regsvr32 and atl.dll



3. Similarly, one by one, register the files listed below:



Regsvr32 msxml3.dll

Regsvr32 wuapi.dll

Regsvr32 wuaueng.dll

Regsvr32 wuaueng1.dll

Regsvr32 wups2.dll

Regsvr32 wucltui.dll

Regsvr32 wups.dll

Regsvr32 wuweb.dll

Regsvr32 qmgr.dll

Regsvr32 qmgrprxy.dll

Regsvr32 jscript.dll



Note: If you encounter errors while registering any of these files then skip that file and continue with the next one.



If the issue persists, let's move on to the steps below to verify Windows Update services and temporary folders.



Step 2 Verify the relevant Windows Update services.

=========================================

1. Click Start->Run, type "services.msc" (without quotation marks) in the open box and click OK.

2. Double click the service "Automatic Updates".

3. Click on the Log On tab, please ensure the option "Local System account" is selected and the option "Allow service to interact with desktop" is unchecked.

4. Check if this service has been enabled on the listed Hardware Profile. If not, please click the Enable button to enable it.

5. Click on the tab "General "; make sure the "Startup Type" is "Automatic" or "Manual". Then please click the button "Stop" under "Service Status" to stop the service.

6. Then please click the button "Start" under "Service Status" to start the service.

7. Please repeat the above steps with the other services:



Background Intelligent Transfer Service

Event Log

Remote Procedure Call (RPC)



Note: Event log service is enabled on all of the hardware profiles; this service does not have an option to enable or disable on certain hardware profile.



If it still does not help, let's proceed to step 3.



Step 3 Reload the Update temporary folders.

===================================

One possible cause is that the temporary folder for Windows Update is containing corrupted files. Let's erase all the files there to get the system clean.



1. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following command in the opened window.



Net stop WuAuServ



2. Click Start, Run, type: %windir% and press Enter.

3. In the opened folder, rename the folder SoftwareDistribution to Sdold.

4. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following command in the opened window.



Net start WuAuServ



Please test the Windows Update website and let me know the result. If the issue persists, to clarify the issue and provide more accurate troubleshooting steps, please assist me in collecting the following information.