Windows 10: Activate Windows forces wrong Microsoft Account

Hi.


When I go to Settings - Troubleshoot Activation, and click the message saying "I changed the hardware on this device recently" it will only allow me to log in with my personal hotmail address.


But this PC belongs to my employer and was sent to my home from our office so I can work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


The first PC they sent me died. So they sent me a second PC. I took the SSD drive and storage drives out of the dead PC and put them into the replacement PC.


Now I get the Activate Windows message on the screen, and I cannot do the troubleshooting because there is no way to log in with the correct company address.


Oddly, the Activate Windows message vanished after I logged out of all browsers and restarted the PC.


But now it has come back.


Please advise.


Thanks.

:)

 

Strange Windows 10 User Account issue.

Unfortunately I had done those steps numerous reboots, it just, reappears for no good reason. The base account isn't even a Microsoft account, it's a local account.

I haven't quite tried the built in administrator account on W10, but so far in my experience on my own computer, the built in account seemed to have absolutely no more control than I did on my own.

It's just strange, I go in, it warns me twice about deleting the account, then it's gone. Reboot, and it's back?

EDIT: Just to specify, both command line and Netplwiz both say only HIS account exists on the computer, it doesn't list this rogue account. This is what I meant in my first post about the fact that even Windows doesn't seem to believe it exists, HALF the time. *Frown

 

Windows 10 Activation through Microsoft Account Fails

Just for the record, what account you log in with has no effect on activation. The "Linked to your Microsoft account" is just an optional extra. If you switch to a local account it will just say "activated with a digital license". Switch to a Microsoft account and it will say "activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account". You could do a clean install using an account you have never used before and it will still activate. As long as there is a digital license for that device on the activation server matching the installed edition, it will activate. The account used has no bearing on that.

And deleting / removing a device from the list won't affect activation. You just won't see it listed. Reinstall Windows 10 again latter on, on that device and it will be back in the list. That list is just another optional extra.

 

Microsoft to Revamp Activation System with Windows 9

So... Lost an account - lost everything, huh? Don't like this system much, but I can't really blame Microsoft for doing that as long as it's the most popular way of handling "protected" stuff (Steam is a "good" example).
There are even few advantages:

• An access to updated and "personalized" ISOs (for example, purchasing Windows 8 will give you Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update when they come out). No need to struggle with Windows ADK anymore.
• Easy way of "unbinding" your license if you don't need it on your current (running) system and wish to install it on another machine.