Windows 10: I had windows 11 activated on a new pc and was working until an updated happened last...

Hi, my fiancé had a pc built together couple months a ago and bought the Windows 11 home 64bit edition. Everything had been working great until an uodate happened last night and as of today she noticed the windows watermark and asking her to activate a copy of windows. Extremely disappointing. What can be done to resolve this??

:)

 

Issues with activating a new PC with digital licence tied to an account (Windows 11)

I've recently built a new PC without an OS and installed Windows 11 on it. Upon setting it up, I signed in with the same account as I was signed in with my old PC, which was also running Windows 11 Pro. Windows on the new PC, however, doesn't seem to be activated - I already tried running Activation Troubleshooter many times, and I also Reseted my old PC. When I use Activation Troubleshooter and use "I recently changed hardware on this device" my new PC is not on the list - I see my old PC and laptop, but the new device doesn't appear on the list.

I was also considering contacting Microsoft Support, but unfortunately they only offer phone calls and the moment.

Thanks for your assistance!

 

How to activate Win 10 Home retail that was upgraded to Win 10/11 Pro on new PC

I built a new PC and would like to transfer my retail licensing from my old PC to my new one.

Timeline:

• Old Custom PC was built.
  
• Windows 10 Home edition was purchased from Microsoft Store 10/2020 for $139.00. I was provided a product key.
  
• Windows 10 Home edition installed to Old PC.
  
• Upgrade to Windows 10/11 Pro was purchased 08/2023.
  
• Old PC was upgraded to Windows 10 pro. Activation status shows as linked to my Microsoft account. Using CMD to produce product key does not work. Using slmgr /dlv command produces information stating I have retail licensing.
  
• New PC is built. Windows 11 Pro clean install and no previous information restored to this PC. Sign into Microsoft account during Windows setup.
  
• Reset old PC and wipe storage the secure and slow way in preparation to sell to a friend.
  
• New PC check activation status - NOT ACTIVE
  
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Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

• Troubleshoot button
  
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• I changed hardware on this device recently:
  
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  • Old PC was removed from my account, but at one point showed up here prior to removal and when attempting to use it it also failed.
    
  • The other linked devices are old PC's or my other handheld PC.
    
• Change product key > Entered my original Windows 10 Home product key from 10/2020 purchase and it does not work.
  

Next Steps?

• At this point I am trying to determine if my original license key was upgrade to be a 10/11 pro key or if it retains its Win 10 Home status and is only valid for a Win 10 Home installation. If this is the case and I were to install windows 10 home I do not see how I would be able to update to Windows 11 Pro again.
  
• I contact support.... Multiple times to no avail.
  
  • First call - confirmed all the same basic steps as above then transferred me to installation support. Installation support answered then hung up the phone at the end of my explanation.
    
    • I gave up for the night as this was ~11:30 PM
      
  • Today I have gone through all the same steps again with another agent before being transferred to technical support. Tech support remotes into my device and goes the the slmgr array of commands in attempt to resolve and when I get a "core error" tells my my installation of Windows 11 Pro is corrupt and provides an email with a set of instructions for a "custom installation". Steps are followed to go through the normal procedure of doing essentially a Windows 11 clean install via downloading the Windows 11 Pro ISO and navigating to setup. I opted to reinstall Windows 11 Pro and keep no files.
    
    • Clean install I opted to not restore any previous backups and setup as a new PC. After logging into my Microsoft account during setup I again navigate to Activation to arrive at the same result. Not Active.
      
    • Basic troubleshooting steps again leaves me in the same boat.
      
    • Support hung up as soon as I got past the initial robo voice questions.
      
    • Support will no longer even give me a callback when going through the "Get Help" options where I provide my phone number.
      
  • For context... at no point was I even slightly rude or impatient and opted to record every call.
    

Apologies for the novel, but would rather provide all the information up front. At this point I do not know where I am at in the support process and feel after spending nearly $250, after tax, on retail licensing I am being pressured with lack of support difficulties to spend another $200 on new licensing as I am many hours deep into this now with 0 resolution.

 

Can't activate Windows 11 pro on my new PC

My activation code that I used on my previous PC for Windows 11 pro was working fine, but after I bought a new PC and tried to activate Windows 11 pro on my new PC with the same activation code, it didn't work out. It tells me you don't have a valid digital key.