Windows 10: Clean install not activated despite upgrading first.

Hi guys,

I've just done a clean install of Windows 10 but in settings it's showing as Windows 10 Home and not activated.

I upgraded from W7 Ultimate to W10 Pro without a problem so not sure why it's not activating.

I did format the main drive during clean install, would this of caused the problem?

Thanks in advance.

:)

 

Activation of a clean install failed (upgraded first)

To conclude it: Nothing helped. I am a licence shorter... Maybe the Windows won't activate because of the replaced disk. Now I cannot even use the old HDD installation because the disk began to fail (often chkdsk error found, access very slow). What a
terrible luck.

 

Activation of a clean install failed (upgraded first)

Hi

The problem is that you are trying to apply a Product Key to the installation and there is no Product Key associated with the Windows 10 activation when using the Free Upgrade version.

The Free Upgrade for Windows 10 uses a Hardware Based activation called
Digital Entitlement. This enforces the rule that the Free installation is fully supported for the Lifetime of the Device where it is installed.

After you complete the install of the Free Upgrade, you can replace the Hard Drive and perform a Clean Install of Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool.

Download Windows 10:

If you need to install or reinstall Windows 10, you can use the tools on this page to create your own installation media using either a USB flash drive or a DVD.

Download Windows 10

*****

The Activation should be automatic when you replace the HDD and reinstall using the ISO, as long as the installation was activated prior to changing the HDD.

Here is a reply from Gabe Aul about this situation.

Gabriel Aul on Twitter

My hdd became corrupt so lost everything if fresh install on win 10 pro and log in with msa will i still be able to activate window.

If Win10 was activated with your old HDD then yes, you should be able to replace, reinstall, & reactivate.

Regards

 

Did you activate the upgrade?

 

Yes it was activated.

I just read it may be down to me upgrading using the iso rather than waiting for windows app to push it to me.

Do you know if that's correct?

cheers

 

Hi, no that can't be the problem as it happened to me as well after upgrading from win 8.1 pro to win 10 pro.
After the clean install win 10 is not activated and it has passed 2 days now. I don't know what to do either. I have not seen many people with this issue I guess not many are doing clean install.
Thanks

 

If you haven't yet been activated, you can try forcing it via command prompt: run cmd.exe as an administrator, then type slmgr.vbs /ato. You may need to try a few times. It worked for me. Let us know if successful as I had same problem after clean install.

 

2 Days! I think i'll reinstall W7 and start again as i'm too impatient.

 

I've just given it a go but no luck.

The fact my system is saying home rather than pro is leading me to believe I could of downloaded the wrong iso to do the clean install with?

 

Yes I have tried that already and it didn't work it keeps saying the key is not valid. But I checked that windows 10 was activated after the upgrade. This is so frustrating now I even have a watermark in my desktop.
Shall I keep waiting or do the process again? If I do will it make any difference?

 

I don't know to be honest. It depend whether you can wait for a fix if there even is one.

I've rolled back onto W7 Ultimate now so will upgrade to 10 again shortly.

 

To be honest I can't wait but rolling back to win 8.1 and do the whole process is a bit of a pain.
Are you planning to do a clean install after the upgrade? If you do please let us know how it went and the steps you followed.
Thanks

 

Yeah it's royal pain considering I actually had everything set up nicely before doing so.

I'm not sure if I'll do a clean install yet, I may just try cleaning up whats left over from W7 manually but will update the thread either way.

 

I've sucessfully upgraded to Windows 10 Pro via a clean installation now.

The activation was instant so I believe my initial problem was probably due to using the wrong version of Windows 10 when performing the clean install.

 

Ohh lucky you mine is not activated yet, which version did you use initially?