Windows 10: Clean install of win10 but it asks me for act key

Hi guys. I have just clean installed windows 10. (also deleted windows.old files, basically I did a full erase). so now after I installed windows 10 pro it asks me for a product key. and now I cant rollback to win 8.1 so I can upgrade

:)

 

Will Window 10 download resume after STOP DOWNLOAD ?

Assume I follow your instructions and upgrade 8.1 to 10 using the Win10 system tray icon. Then I do a clean install with the Win10 ISO. What do I do when it asks me for keys during the Win10 clean install? Am I blocked? Or can I just not enter anything
in the key field and continue? Thanks,

 

on upgrading to win10 it asks for a cd key !

Hi Ahmed,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

We regret the inconvenience caused to you.

I suggest you refer to the article
How to Activate and resolve common Product key issues in Windows 10 created
by Andre Da Costa and check if it helps.

Let us know if you have any further query on Windows, we are glad to assist you further.

 

When you do the clean install, to a PC that previously had the Win10 Upgrade installed and activated, you need to choose the option to Skip the product key when installing. After Win10 is up and running, it will automatically reactivate.

If you did the clean install before the Upgrade got activated, most likely, you are stuck now and your only recourse would be to do the whole Upgrade all over again.

 

That's the problem eheh. I bought the laptop with windows 8.1 default OS. Then i upgraded to 10 which had activation code. And then i had some major bugs with the graphic drivers and the pointer that kept freezing so i decided to factory reset and to a clean install. I skipped the part with the act key. But it didnt activate after it finished installation. Then i searched on google some activator for windows 10 pro and downloaded it. Now the windows is activated...but i dont know if the program worked or the windows auto activated it self(with a couple of hours delay). Works good now...no more bugs. Smooth

 

You do realise you have an illegal activation, right? - Also that activator has limited activation (180 days for Pro and I think 30 days for Home) - just a matter of time before MS snuffs those out.

If you had Win10 activation before, a clean installation from an ISO of the same edition should activate automatically, resetting may not produce the same result.

 

The problem for me in parsing OP's problem is they aren't specific on edition, they say they bought the laptop with Win 8.1.

It does indeed sound like illegal activation, taking OP's info at face value.

Curious One - So, did the laptop come with Win 8.1 or Win 8.1 Pro?

 

Laptop came with with windows 8.1 pro. To be honest, i havent mentioned this. After i upgraded from 8.1, MS gave me as upgrade windows 10 home. but when i made the bootable usb drive with the windows 10 i downloaded from MS website, i made it with windows 10 pro, not windows 10 home...maybe thats why it didnt activate? what if i download the image again, and make the usb bootable with windows 10 home. would it activate automatially? since my upgraded free activated windows was windows 10 home...

 

If you clean installed Win 10 Pro after having activated a Win 10 Home installation, I'm not surprised MS would not activate the Win 10 Pro clean install.

What exactly do you mean by "after you upgraded from 8.1"? Upgraded from 8.1 to what? And then what exactly do you mean by "MS gave me as upgrade windows 10 home"?

If you had a properly activated Win 8.1 Pro, the Win 10 free upgrade via Windows Update should have "given" you a Win 10 Pro installation with no activation issues.

Now I can't reason out why you ended up going from Win 8.1 Pro to Win 10 Home unless you took the upgrade path from Win 8.1 Pro with the media creation tool/ISO having created the wrong installation media, that being Win 10 Home, rather than Win 10 Pro.

I would guess a redownload of ISO as Win 10 Home may well activate OK with clean install but then you've missed the opportunity to have the Win 10 Pro install you're entitled to. If you want to maintain and activate the Win 10 Pro you're entitled too, you may need to go back and reinstate the original Win 8.1 Pro operating system, confirm it's activated, and then go back through the correct upgrade and then clean install, both with Win 10 Pro.

 

Ok. So..when i bought the laptop, it already had win 8.1 installed and activated. Then i used the upgrade option for windows 10, and then my windows automatically installed windows 10 Home. So when i upgraded windows from 8.1 to 10, it installed windows 10 home, not pro. Only a couple of days later i chose to download an iso image from MS, and made a bootable flash drive with windows 10 pro. After that, i did a factory reset, and installed windows 10 pro. How can i restore to my previous win 8.1? i dont have a backup, or a system image of win 8.1... I am now trying to upgrade pc to windows 10 home, maybe it will activate. if not..i guess that the only thing remaining is to buy a new licence....

 

No, just redo the factory restore described on pages 23 and 24 of your user manual to get back to the out of the box state of Win 8.1 (not Pro according to what I see when I look up your Acer Aspire R3-471T at the Acer website). You will in that process LOSE any user data and programs installed after initial setup - so be prepared to restore data and reinstall programs as appropriate once you are finished changing operating systems. Do the MS provided UPGRADE to Win 10 Home (with appropriate downloaded media if not through Windows Update), THEN do the clean install of Win 10 Home which is all I can see you are entitled to.

On the other hand, IF you did have a duly activated Win 10 Home after your first upgrade attempt (of Win 8.1 to 10 Home), it may be as simple for you as running the appropriate media to perform a clean install of Win 10 Home. If that first upgrade was duly activated, your machine's hash has already been recorded on MS activation server and you should have no problem activating a clean install of the correct version.

 

Windows 10 Home should activate okay.

Sounds like you had Windows 8.1 Home and not Pro as you were supposed to have.

 

Thank you guys. I shall try do a clean install tomorrow since now im exhausted. ill get back with an answer tomorrow

 

Even if you use a USB stick or DVD, if you run the Upgrade from inside Windows, without manually entering a working Product Key, it will not allow you to change versions. Win8.1 Home will give you Win10 Home; Win8.1 Pro will give you Win10 Pro. I tested this out to confirm it worked this way. So, you must have had Win8.1 Home, even though you thought you had Pro.

 

I managed to install windows 10 home, it works good. It activated itself. Guess now I'm going to run into the freezing pointer problems again...thanks everyone ^^