Windows 10: Recently had to chat with MS online tech to reactivate, tell me why?

I have a win10 PC.
It had said activated and said linked to my Microsoft account.
I had been getting a few we need you to sign in again messages to verify it was me, which I dont understand that day.

Anyway, I put in a drive to clone the OS.
The drive had an older OS win7 on it.
I was going to clone win10 on top.

The PC went crazy, while booting up, it was halfway thru showing the desktop.
Suddenly, a new screen comes up saying 'Driver Power State Failure', I assume related to the new WDC 1TB drive I added.
Said, 'we need to collect some data' It took a while, then rebooted.
Then the reboot was taking an extremely long time, just circling ring thing, so long I cut power and turned on again, same long long time. I just left it. It boots up, but even though not finished booting, suddenly, same message, 'Driver Power State Failure'. and then 'we need to collect some data'. It takes a while then reboots. During the boot, I see message about repairing the PC, takes FOREVER to bring up the desktop, screen goes black, like I think it is dead. Finally the desktop appears. Took like 10 minutes to show the desktop. I was relieved.

I run Macrium reflect. At 97% finished, I notice a new message on the desktop, said 'Windows is not activated'
Macrium fails to clone the drive, said it does not have permission to read some files.
I notice a program called Sichbopvr, an ATSC TV program has lost all its configuration, needs an entire setup again.

I go to settings, activation, and it says you need to buy windows 10 etc....

So it lost activation! Stumped, clueless. Why? Angst!

Eventually, I log into my online MS account. I check status, says normal, nothing wrong there.
I see a link to online MS support chat. I connect, explain what happened, lady says we can fix this. She takes remote control.
She runs some command to retrieve the key from the bios. She goes to change product key and pastes it in there. Suddenly windows 10 is again activated!
She says it will never happen again?

What exactly happened here? What happened to the first key?
Can it happen again? How many bios keys are available in this PC?
What was wrong with the first key that was existing and it had been activated?

Did win10 deactivate because I added another hard drive? If win10 is linked to my online MS account with this PC, why did it deactivate?

Some pics

:)

 

Windows 10 - Very Slow Install - Kingston HyperX Predator SSD

So I had an online chat with Microsoft Tech Support today.

It consisted of me asking if they were ever going to comment on this problem, followed by them not answering and closing the online chat.

 

Reactivating win 10

Yeah, it's already the same name as the previous/deleted computer as all I changed was the mobo. Not reactivating though.

That chat link is useless, just connects to a bot which tells me to phone MS. Have you got a link where I can chat to a real person?

 

even though she said she retrieved key from bios, there is no key there. watching her, she ran some terminal command and a colored small window appeared with key which she copied and then pasted and it immediately activated. anyone know what she did?

whatever,glad it is again activated.

 

If anyone doubts this story, here is a response from MS in my email, she did a great job.
I watched what she did, but dont recall it all.
Microsoft Customer Support <CS3UR.GNRL.WW.00.EN.SUT.KSP.TS.1FL.ADK.SG.CH@css.one.microsoft.com>













Reply|
Thu 11/9, 7:13 PM
You
This is the e-mail regarding our chat session.
Kindly note down your case id, to make further help assistances. Your case id is xxxxxxxxxxx

Your re-joining link to re-connect back to me is,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, I removed the link.
You could follow the below troubleshooting steps at.,
[https://support.microsoft.com,https/....microsoft.com, Microsoft Community
Thank you for the patience and co-operation you showed throughout our chat session. It’s been my genuine pleasure assisting you today.

 

Ran showkey and a key is embeded in firmware, maybe this is the key ms tech used?
going to email to myself. maybe could be used again on this pc.
subbed xxxx for values

ShowKeyPlus - Windows Product Key Information
Product Name: Windows 10 Pro
Product ID: 00342-50212-00000-AAOEM
Installed Key: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OEM Key: Windows Vista OEM marker present in firmware

 

You have completely misinterpreted the output here. The installed key is whatever was used. There is no bios embedded key. PC must have had Vista which worked completely differently - I will not bore you with details.

I am not even sure the installed key is anything but a generic key. Show us the last five digits only and we can see if it is a genuine key or a generic key.

I think MS lady used some key but was not willing to divulge exactly what, so spun you a line.

 

ran speccy and got a diiferent key

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Computer type: Desktop
Installation Date: 11/2/2017 11:35:57 AM
Serial Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-BTDPP
---------------------------------------------------------------------
show key last digits
Installed Key:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-WB6GC

are either legit?
i used check key for both keys and they come back invalid using showkey plus. so what use is it??

 

I have never had a problem with showkeyplus. I would be more inclined to disbelieve speccy.

 

Just telling you what she said when I asked.
She ran a command, a small rectangular gold yellow colored box appeared. Inside the box was a typical activation text code line.
She copied it and pasted it into the change product key, it instantly activated.
I remeber thinking that box is really colorful. She did it all pretty fast.

I asked her, what did you do? And she said, you saw what I did, and I retrieved it from the bios.
I did watch her, but dont remember what she typed in. I was grateful she fixed it. But later on was wondering what happened.

 

So what is the showkey plus telling me exactly?

 

If you run showkey, and then click on the product codes displayed, that will X out all but the last 5 digits. Once you do that you can safely upload a screen shoot using the snipping tool.

A lot of those key finder utilities pull the key from the Windows registry. That key may or may not be the Key stored in the BIOS, if there is one. Showkey will retrieve the OEM embedded key from the BIOS, and show you the key that's actually in use. The generic key that you normally get with a Digital License for 10 Pro ends in 3V66t. I don't recognise either of the keys you posted. If one or both are OEM or Retail keys that would explain that though.

 

since the pc came preinstalled vista is oem key?
testing key withshowkey, claims its invalid.?

 

There is no OEM key per say in your case. No OEM embedded key anyway. Windows 7 and earlier have an OEM marker in the BIOS SLIC table but no actual key is stored there. In order for showkey to retrieve a Windows 7 OEM key, you would have had to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. That would store the Windows 7 key in the registry. There is no free upgrade from Vista To Windows 10 so no Vista key to retrieve. Your install was likely a clean install, wrong key for a Digital License though? Unless it was maybe a MAK key? What does Settings > Update & security > Activation show for activation?

 

Looking over things again, I noticed the troubleshooter said it found a DL for 10 Pro for that PC, and to use that DL you need to install 10 Pro. Only 10 Pro was installed, it says 10 Pro on the activation screen in your screen shot? Best guess is when you slaved that second drive in, your current Windows 10 Pro install got corrupted and wasn't detected as 10 Pro? Something like that? Or the mangled files broke activation?