Windows 10: Activation Problem

Loving WIn10 on my Dell 5558 as much as I do, I thought I'd pull my old Dell D830 out and get it installed on it. It came with Vista on it but when I got it, it had Win 7 Pro. I upgraded it to Win10 for a while but then I went through a Linux period where I thought it was the bomb. Linux was installed on the D830 when I pulled it out of the closet. I got W10 installed without any difficulty, however, I do not have the documentation for Win7 so I don't have the product key. Is here a way of getting this old machine reactivated or did I blow when I installed Linux?

:)

 

Can't Activate newly purchased windows 10 home

hi, I used the usb boot tool and installed windows 10S on my laptop. I realized I couldn't download anything not from the app store so I purchased windows 10 home. I was given a product key but it is not accepted in the activation settings. Just trying to
get this laptop operable.

Thanks

 

activation problem

I have created nokia account for my lumia 620, but when i try to download songs using Nokia music, it shows activation problem,plz help

 

If you had W10 installed and activated it should reinstall with no problems and activate.

 

You are going to have to actually purchase a Windows 7, 8 or 10 product key.

 

Well there are two conflicting answers. If it were to activate on its own, how long would the MS activation servers take to recognize it?

 

There are not two conflicting answers. labeeman was correct that if you had Windows 10 previously installed and activated on that computer then a reinstall should re-activate - within minutes of connecting to the internet the first time. However, labeeman's does not apply to your situation because as I understand your situation you have never had Windows 10 installed and activated on the computer in question. Since you don't have the Windows 7 product key that you had installed on that computer before - you will have to obtain another legitimate and unused Windows 7, 8 or 10 product key to activate Windows 10 with.

 

That I could not tell you. M$ has said that once you activate W10 it is good for the life of the machine provided you did not make any major hardware changes with no key needed. Did you reinstall with an interconnection for the box?

 

As I read your post you said you installed W10.

 

Oops, I just reread the OP - yeah it does look like Windows 10 was on that computer before. So there are three conditions that must be met:

1. Was the first upgrade to Windows 10 activated?
2. There was a timeframe at the beginning when Microsoft activation servers had issues and upgrade activation were not stored correctly. So your initial activation would have to not have been impacted by those initial issues.
3. Did you install the same edition and version of Windows 10 as was originally upgraded to? (IE: Windows 10 Pro, not the "n" or single language edition). Version is Home, Pro, Education, Enterprise, etc. Edition is regular Windows 10, Single Language Edition, "N" edition.

If those three conditions were met, then your Windows 10 should activate itself within minutes of connecting to the internet. You can try the automatic online activation again by opening an elevated ("run as administrator") command prompt and entering:

slmgr /ato

If any of those three conditions were not met - then see my post #3.

 

1. Yes, it was activated when I first installed Win10.
2. I had no idea about this server issues and hope their mistake isn't the problem. That isn't cool with me at all.
3. Yes, the same edition is installed now that was installed then.

I just read something that Paul Thurrott wrote that said the activation servers can take up to a day or two to go their thing.

 

You can always force an online activation attempt:

slmgr /ato

Post the results window here and we can troubleshoot further:

 

How would I go about an online activation attempt?

 

You can try the automatic online activation again by opening an elevated ("run as administrator") command prompt and entering:

slmgr /ato

Also, try slmgr /dlv and post those results as well.