Windows 10: Activation error even though windows copy is actually genuine

Hello,Hope you are having a good day!


I have an issue here, I will try to explain as thoroughly and precisely as possible. Feel free to ask any more details. Thank you for taking the time out. Your help is hugely appreciated.



Under Start >Settings > Update & Security >Activation, I get the following message!

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So, I ran the troubleshooter and after few seconds got the following message.

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Now, some context is needed here. I had bought this laptop with a genuine copy of Win8. Then, when Win10 rolled out, I was prompted for a free upgrade and so I did note: I do not know whether I had upgraded to Win10Home or Win10Pro. As the matter of fact, I got aware of the existence of these two different versions of Win10 when I read the message given to me by the activation troubleshooter. For about a year after that upgrade everything was fine.


Then, I had handed over my laptop to a local laptop repair center for some hardware issues. After a few days of that event, the 'Windows copy not Genuine' watermark started to show up at the bottom right. Also, I noticed some changes in the order of icon arrangements along with one additional app icon that I had never seen before on my desktop after the laptop repair event. The point is, my laptop was locked with a password when I handed it over to the local repair shop, and I hadn't myself made these changes I just mentioned, then who did those? I am not sure whether there was any foul play involved there, and even if I knew that there was a foul play, I am not enough of a computer guy to find what went wrong there. Life went on and I ignored the watermark. PS tracking that particular local repair shop is, unfortunately, not possible


Now, I am trying to activate my Win10 back again, since, I do actually have a genuine copy. The only problem is I don't know how to access it I don't have the product key as I never had to bother about it. I got Win8 built-in with the new laptop. And subsequent free upgrade to Win10 was done without any hassle. Even Windows troubleshooter agrees that I have a genuine copy. And so did Windows GetHelp AI.




Today, I did the following:

1. Visited the link the troubleshooter gave me. Which is this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/20527/windows-10-activation-troubleshooter
2. Followed the instructions section under "You have a digital license for Windows 10 Home, but Windows 10 Pro is installed"
3. As per instructions: Downloaded the "Windows 10 installation media tool"
4. I let the tool run and followed the setup instructions.
5. Successfully installed Windows 10

A few issues there:

1. Under Start > Settings > Update & Security > Activation, I still get the same error in red as before.
2. On running the troubleshooter, I still get the same message as before
3. As per the description for "Windows 10 installation media tool" on it's webpage, the tool was supposed to ask me to make a choice of the Windows version i.e. home or pro to install. But, in reality, the tool instead assumed that I wanted to install Win10Pro and never even gave me an option to choose Win10Home this is important because activation troubleshooter keeps saying I have a license for Win10Home and not Win10Pro

Where do I go from here? I feel like I am out of options now. What am I supposed to do next?


Thank you. No, really, thank you. Any help is appreciated.

:)

 

Windows 7 not genuine problem

It seems like that's an OEM windows copy, it will do that the every time you reinstall the OS. If you have the key, next time you see the "not genuine windows copy" click it and choose to activate by phone, everything else is pretty straight forward as it explains step-by-step. If it doesn't work, then its highly likely that you got a Pirate copy.

 

Cannot activate genuine copy after clean install

Yes we can... we use the Win 7 SLIC and restore the SLP activation - see a previous post of mine in this thread. Solved Cannot activate genuine copy after clean install - Windows 10 Forums

 

Problem with my activation in windows 10 - Genuinity

Hi,

Thank you for posting your reply.

I suggest you to activate the copy of Windows 10 via phone by following the steps below:

• Press “Windows key + R” and type “slui 4” and press Enter.
• Select your Region/Country.
• Select the Phone Activation option, and hold on for a real person.

Hope the information is helpful.

Regards